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 The newly elected speaker is a long-time champion of thoroughly
overhauling the tax code, a politically difficult project that has
eluded Washington since 1986.
"How reassuring it would be if we actually fixed the tax code," said
Ryan, who ran for vice president in 2012, in his acceptance speech
after being elected speaker on Thursday.
In his former roles heading budget and tax committees, Ryan built
Republican support for dramatic changes in how the nation raises and
spends money, perhaps encouraging presidential candidates to think
big too, conservative tax experts said.
"The level of consensus is very strong," said Grover Norquist,
president of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative group that
advocates for lower taxes and smaller government.
Although their tax rhetoric is often short on details, the
Republican Party's numerous presidential contenders agree on two
things: taxes are too high and too complicated.
 Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and real-estate mogul Donald Trump
would consolidate the existing seven income-tax brackets to three
and raise deductions for low-income filers.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio would create two tax brackets and
introduce a new child tax credit, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz
favors a flat tax of 10 percent.
Former business executive Carly Fiorina would cut the tax code to
three pages. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson calls for a flat tax
based on biblical principles.
Any tax overhaul, especially the radical approach that some
candidates favor, would face huge obstacles. Most would cause sharp
declines in government revenues, which could mean slashing popular
health and retirement programs.
Bush's and Cruz's tax plans would collect $3.7 trillion less over 10
years, while Rubio's plan would reduce revenues by $6 trillion and
Trump's would result in a whopping $12 trillion drop, according to
the Tax Foundation, a free-market think tank.
Efforts to close loopholes likely would meet a buzz-saw of
opposition. Homeowners, for example, would fight any effort to
reduce the home mortgage interest deduction, a tax subsidy that
costs the U.S. Treasury $70 billion a year in lost revenue.
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"These plans are aspirational," said James Pethokoukis, a fellow
with the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "The fact that
you have these huge, popular tax breaks really limits what you can
do."
Ryan's predecessor as House speaker, John Boehner, showed little
interest in tackling a tax code overhaul. "Blah, blah, blah, blah,"
he said in 2014 when asked about one plan, which gained little
traction.
Ryan, by contrast, had planned to overhaul taxes as chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee before he reluctantly agreed to take
Boehner's job.
With a Republican in the White House, "it is quite likely in the
first two years you see an attempt to do a dramatic overhaul of the
tax code," said Rohit Kumar, a former top Republican Senate aide who
is now with PwC.
Even if Republicans win control of the White House and both chambers
of Congress, they probably would not have big enough majorities to
move legislation without Democratic support.
"At the end of the day, I think they'd step back from the precipice
and just tinker around with the current system," said Steven
Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute's Tax Policy
Center.
"But you never know. We are living in strange times," he said.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Dan
Grebler)
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