Dive Brief:

• Rep. Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, released his proposed tax reform package this week to the dismay of many advertisers.
• The package proposes to cut the advertising tax deduction by half in the first year and decrease it further over the next 10 years. 
• To help small businesses, the first $1 million could be expensed if the total budget didn't exceed $2 million. 

Dive Insight: 

Advertisers, and many business owners, are understandably upset at the idea of losing ad tax deductions. It doesn't seem like the proposed reform package is meant to encourage business growth because a reduction in tax breaks for advertising will result in less advertising. Camp's argument is that the proposed reform also offers an overall corporate tax rate reduction from 35% to 25%, which would help offset the costs of advertising. Opponents of the proposed reform claim that if the cut wasn't detrimental to businesses, there would be no need for small business accommodations. At least now advertising lobbyists have a clear target to go after.