The top tax rates for individuals and corporations would be slashed to 25 percent from 35 percent under tax reform proposals unveiled on Wednesday by a senior Republican tax writer.
Republican Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, also called for a "territorial system" that would exempt 95 percent of offshore corporations' profits from the U.S. corporate income tax.
A summary of Camp's proposals, released on his committee's website, said his plan "would lower top tax rates for both individuals and employers to 25 percent" and "transition the United States ... to a territorial system."
It also called for a "transition rule" that would apply a 5.25 percent tax rate on corporate profits presently being held offshore "whether or not such earnings are repatriated."
Camp's proposals come as the pace of negotiations within Congress' "super committee" on deficit reduction accelerates toward a November 23 deadline. By that date, the panel must find at least $1.2 trillion in budget savings over 10 years.
Camp is a member of the panel, but he made his tax reform proposals on his own, in his role as Ways And Means chairman.
"If we are serious about creating a climate for job creation, now is the time to adopt tax policies that empower American companies to become more competitive," he said in a statement accompanying the summary of his plan.