Legislative Activity As June Nears, Tax-Writers Press Forward with Tax Reform Proposals Following last week’s Senate Finance Committee hearing to discuss Chairman Orrin Hatch’s (R-UT) “corporate integration” proposal as relates to the pros and cons of a dividends paid deduction regime, this week, on Tuesday, May 24, the Committee will hold its second in a … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Press Onward with Tax Reform Efforts; Tax Extenders, Highway Funding Coming Into Focus With tax-writers having moved trade legislation out of their respective committees, the Senate Finance Committee’s Tax Reform Working Groups have begun to hold roundtables to brief their colleagues on the status of their work and to receive initial feedback. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Consider Energy Tax Reform On Wednesday, September 17, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing titled “Reforming America’s Outdated Energy Tax Code.” During the hearing, discussion centered on how to best address certain energy-related provisions within the U.S. Tax Code. Lawmakers discussed taking a technology neutral, “performance-based” approach, rather than considering the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Vote on Highway Funding Bill This week, the Senate is expected to vote on H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, which recently passed the House by a vote of 367-55. The bill would patch and reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) through May 2015 by using transfers … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Highway Funding Bill, Other Tax Measures This week, the House is expected to vote on H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014. The bill, which was reported out of the Ways and Means Committee along party lines on July 10, would patch the Highway Trust Fund … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Finance Committee Aims to Markup Highway Funding Bill While not yet noticed, the Senate Finance Committee is expected to markup a short-term highway funding bill before the week-long July 4 holiday recess; however, it is possible that the markup will slip until Congress returns the week of July 7. While disagreements remain … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Reid, Paul Working on Repatriation Bill to Fund Transportation Infrastructure On June 10, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) indicated that they are working on legislation that would allow corporations to repatriate foreign earnings at lower rates, suggesting that this revenue could be used to fund improvements to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Ways and Means Marks Up Six More Tax Bills, Expected to Continue Work on Extenders Through Summer On May 29, the House Ways and Means Committee held a markup of six bills (four extenders and two new provisions) seeking to make the following tax provisions permanent: (1) conservation contributions; (2) IRA distributions; (3) … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Take Up Temporary Tax Extenders Package; House Takes Different Approach During the week of May 12, the Senate is expected to take up the EXPIRE Act (S. 2260), which provides a two-year extension for certain tax extenders, which expired on January 1. The Senate’s approach for dealing with tax extenders differs … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Ways and Means to Hold Markup of Six Extender Bills On Tuesday, April 29, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a markup of six bills to permanently extend the business tax provisions discussed in the Committee’s hearing on April 8. The bills are: HR 4429, “To amend the Internal Revenue Code … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Ways and Means Committee to Hold First Hearing on Tax Extenders; Finance Committee Passes Tax Extenders Bill On Tuesday, April 8, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold its first hearing on tax extenders to consider those expired provisions that should be made permanent or provided long-term extensions. This will likely be … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Wyden, Camp to Take Next Steps on Tax Extenders On March 24, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) sent a memo to his Committee members regarding next steps on tax reform. In the memo, Chairman Camp suggests that the Committee will: (1) continue its efforts to educate Members and stakeholders; … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Wyden Planning Extenders Markup in Early April Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) is planning to hold a markup of a tax extenders package sometime in early April. While an official date has yet to be announced, there has been suggestion that Chairman Wyden is planning to hold the markup on April … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lew Before Taxwriting Committees on Presidents’ Budget Proposal Following last week’s release of the President’s FY 2015 Budget Proposal, Treasury Secretary Lew appeared before the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees to discuss the Administration’s proposal. In addition to addressing the Administration’s budget, Members discussed comprehensive tax reform, specifically focusing on … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Camp Releases Tax Reform Discussion Draft On February 26, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released his long-awaited plan for comprehensive tax reform. The Patton Boggs analysis of Chairman Camp’s discussion draft is available here. This Week’s Hearings: Tuesday, March 4: The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Exploring Alternative Solutions … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY House Tax Overhaul House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) has told GOP panel members he will release a “comprehensive discussion draft” this week of a tax code rewrite. While getting a major change in tax law this year is widely considered to be a long shot, this marks a turning … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Chairman Camp Announces Tax Reform Delay House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) stated last week that comprehensive tax reform legislation will not be circulated this year. The Chairman had aimed to release a comprehensive reform draft this year for markup in committee, but other occurrences like the government shutdown had slowed … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Farm Bill Conferees On Saturday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) named farm bill conferees. The Republicans appointed 17 members, including 12 Agriculture Committee members, two Foreign Affairs Committee members, two Ways and Means Committee members, and one member to represent the Republican leadership. Republican conferees … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senators Submit Tax Reform Letters to Finance Committee; Promised 50 Year Secrecy on Tax Expenditure Submissions Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) asked their Senate colleagues on June 27 to provide proposals in response to a “blank-slate” approach (i.e., assuming elimination of all tax expenditures from … Continue Reading
