Ron Wyden Becomes Senate Finance Committee Chairman

On February 12, the Senate approved by unanimous consent a resolution naming Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.  The position was recently vacated by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), who resigned from the Senate to become U.S. Ambassador to China.

Wyden has been a longtime supporter of comprehensive tax reform, sponsoring legislation in 2007 and 2011 to revamp the tax code.  His 2011 bill, The Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2011, S. 727, was cosponsored by Senator Dan Coats (R-IN).  The Wyden-Coats bill  proposed to reduce and simplify individual and corporate income tax rates and eliminate many tax expenditures.  It would have preserved the Housing Credit and replaced municipal bonds with bonds that would allow investors to receive a tax credit instead of exempting interest from taxable income.

During his career, Wyden has also cosponsored several NCSHA-supported tax bills, including Housing Credit cap increase legislation in 1999 and the Housing Credit and Bond Modernization Act of 2003.  He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1980, where he served until he was elected to the Senate in 1996.