Various components of the tax reform proposals that have been put forth by the Congress as well as the President could have significant impacts on REITs. In 2016, the Republican leadership and Republicans on the House Committee on Ways and Means unveiled a plan titled “A Better Way Forward on Tax Reform,” known as the “Blueprint.” Below is a brief summary of some of the highlights of the Blueprint, as well as some of the ways in which recent Trump administration proposals differ, and some of the considerations applicable to REIT investment in particular.

The tax reform process is made unpredictable by the significant differences between the political and policy process in the House and in the Senate tax writing committees. A united Republican majority stands behind the Blueprint. Democratic members of the Ways and Means Committee have thus far withheld their support, and they have not been invited to participate in the discussions. There have not been hearings or an opportunity to vote on the Blueprint as yet. In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has indicated that the Senate will develop its own version that could differ from the House version. Chairman Hatch seeks to build a consensus within the Senate Finance Committee to draft a package that can win bipartisan support. To that end, he is working with ranking member Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and meeting with each of the Republican and Democratic senators of the Finance Committee to seek their views in an attempt to produce bipartisan legislation that can win Republican and Democratic support on the floor of the Senate. Once the Senate has completed its consideration, as in 1986, the House and Senate will hammer out a compromise in consultation with the White House.