Legislative Activity International Tax Reform v. Inversions Following up on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch’s (R-UT) recent acknowledgment that his “corporate integration” proposal has been delayed, at least by “a few weeks,” it now appears that the House Ways and Means Committee may miss its self-imposed goal of March 31 by which to release … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Still Divided on Labor’s Fiduciary Rule With the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fiduciary Rule now with the Office of Management and Budget and being prepared for release in final form later this spring, last week Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) emphasized his opposition to the proposal, noting that he is … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Democratic Tax-Writers Remain Focused on Inversions, Despite Push for International Tax Reform Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee held its first hearing on international tax reform this session. During the hearing, Members and witnesses discussed the need for tax reform, the benefits and challenges that come from doing international tax reform … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Continue Push for International Tax Reform As part of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady’s (R-TX) continued commitment to moving forward with international tax reform – at least to some extent – this Congress, on Wednesday, February 24, the Committee will hold a hearing to discuss international tax reform. The … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Committees Mark-Up Fiduciary Rule Legislation as Senators Introduce Companion Bills With the Department of Labor (DOL) having recently submitted its Fiduciary Rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – officially beginning the countdown before DOL’s proposal is released in final form – last week, the House Ways and Means and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax-Writers to Scrutinize Obama’s Budget With President Obama set to release his FY 2017 Budget Proposal on the morning of Tuesday, February 9, House and Senate tax-writers this week have scheduled numerous hearings to review the tax and revenue portions of the Budget. The proposals – at least some of which are sure … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Tax Writers to Hold Retreat as Senator Hatch Hatches His Own Plan for Reform After being delayed due to winter weather, the House Ways and Means Committee is set to hold its retreat this week. As expected, the retreat will afford Republican tax-writers an opportunity to flesh out their agenda for the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity With Tax Extenders (Mostly) Behind Them, Tax-Writers Likely to Focus on International Tax Reform With Congress (somewhat unexpectedly) having enacted permanent tax extender legislation prior to adjourning the first session of the 114th Congress, tax-writers are now expected to move forward with their efforts on international tax reform – though the substance and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Moving Toward Resolution on Tax Extenders With potentially only five legislative days remaining before Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year, tax-writers and congressional leaders are continuing their work to finalize a tax extenders package, with the House having scheduled time to vote on potential legislation this week. Thus far, Republicans … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax-Writers Begin to Focus on BEPS, Tax Extenders Still Remain Though international tax reform negotiations may have fallen apart for 2015, tax-writers this week will hold their first hearings to address efforts by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to counter corporate tax avoidance as part of more than two years … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Conference Highway Bills as Tax-Writers Turn to Extenders With highway funding authorization set to expire on Friday, November 20, House and Senate lawmakers this week will be tasked with conferencing their versions of highway funding legislation. In addition to differences in the transportation provisions, there still remains a key difference between the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Republicans May Select New Ways and Means Committee Chair With Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-OH) having now officially resigned from his post as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, this week it is expected that House Republicans will elect a new leader of the tax-writing committee. Presently, the race … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Take Up Short-Term Highway Extension as Lawmakers Work on Tax Title for Longer-Term Bill This week, House lawmakers are set to take up a short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund, extending the program’s authorization through November 20 in hopes that the House and Senate can come together on a longer-term … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Lawmakers Schedule Markup of Transportation Bill Without Revenue Provisions Last week, on Friday, October 16, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released a six-year, $325 billion highway funding bill (the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015); a markup of the legislation is scheduled for Thursday, October 22. Notably, while the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity International Tax Reform-Highway Funding Negotiations Stall Following months of coordination between House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and senior Senate Finance Committee member Chuck Schumer (D-NY) regarding tying international tax reform to highway funding, aides for the two lawmakers last week announced that negotiations had stalled as a result of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax Reform Still in Ryan’s Sights Despite Boehner’s Departure Last week, following the sudden announcement by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that he would be stepping down from Congress at the end of October, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and various other Committee members quickly confirmed that the Committee … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax-Writers May Punt Highway Bill…Again On July 29, just prior to adjourning, the House overwhelmingly approved a three-month compromise highway spending bill. This three-month extension, which also costs $8 billion and expires on October 29, was passed with hopes that both chambers will now have sufficient time to negotiate a compromise on tax … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax-Writers Running Out of Time on Highway Bill Following the passage last week of the House’s $8 billion five-month highway patch, the Senate continues to remain focused on moving forward with its own bill, which provides for a six year highway reauthorization and three years’ worth of funding (more than $47 billion), with … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax-Writers Running Out of Time on Highway Bill Last week, the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 312-119 an $8 billion five-month highway patch that includes various tax compliance-related pay-fors, which themselves raise nearly $5 billion. If the House is successful in getting the Senate to agree to its short-term extension … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Finance Committee Tax Reform Working Groups Release Reports Last week, on Tuesday, July 8, the Senate Finance Committee released the long-awaited reports from its five bipartisan Tax Reform Working Groups, which were formed to “spur congressional comprehensive tax reform efforts in the 114th Congress.” The groups focused on: (1) Individual Income Tax; … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Deadline for Senate Finance Committee Working Groups’ Proposals Nears, Talk of International Tax Reform Continues After being delayed for a second time, the Senate Finance Committee Tax Reform Working Groups are expected to submit their reports to the full Committee on Tuesday, July 7. Presently, it is unclear the extent to which (if … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Finance Committee Working Groups to Submit Tax Reform Proposals After having been provided additional time to finalize their proposals for consideration by the full Committee, the Senate Finance Committee Tax Reform Working Groups are due to submit their proposals by this Friday, June 26. The Working Group that appears to have made … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Concerned with BEPS, International Tax Reform Moves Forward Last week, G-7 leaders (i.e., finance ministers and central bank governors from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) met in Germany to renew their commitment to coming together on a “feasible” proposal to address base erosion and profit … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Repealing Medical Device Tax House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced last week that the House plans to take up legislation to eliminate the excise tax on medical devices during the week of June 15. The Protect Medical Innovation Act (H.R. 160), which was introduced by Representative Erik Paulsen … Continue Reading
