Since returning from summer recess, Congressional leaders and the Trump Administration have been focused on tax reform with the so-called "Big Six" aiming to share an outline of their plan with tax-writers by the end of this month.
Congress has once again put off until the very end of the year important work on tax extenders, only now working to meld the House and Senate versions passed months ago.
Congress is facing a hefty to-do list, including tax extenders and a massive spending bill that must get done by Dec. 11 in order to avert a government shutdown.
Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee approved legislation to address the temporary tax deductions, credits and incentives that expired at the end of 2014, or so-called "tax extenders," in an effort to avoid another last-minute extension.
The House may vote on a bill—as soon as today—that would extend for 2014 only the so-called tax “extenders,” while an omnibus spending package is expected to hit the House floor next week.
When Congress returns to Washington, D.C. next week, there are several must-pass pieces of legislation awaiting them, including appropriations bills, reauthorization of Ex-Im Bank, tax extenders, the internet tax moratorium, and much more.
Negotiations behind the scenes continue as leaders in both the Senate and House work on a number of bills to address--to varying degrees--the tax extenders, including several business provisions such as Section 179 expensing and the research tax credit. On May 13, the Senate attempted to consider the extenders package, however, the measure was stalled because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Republicans were locked in a dispute over whether they would be able to offer amendments to the legislation. Since Reid invoked a procedural move restricting senators from offering amendments on the floor, the minority in turn blocked the procedural motion by a vote of 53-40 that would have allowed the bill to move forward—60 votes were required for passage. Meanwhile, on the House side, the Ways and Means Committee approved six additional bills to make several temporary tax credits permanent on May 29. The committee has now advanced 12 bills making tax extenders permanent, in contrast to the single package put forward by the Senate.
The Senate Finance Committee on April 3 will markup legislation, released earlier this week by Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), that would extend a set of expired and soon-to-expire tax breaks commonly known as “tax extenders.”
Dozens of temporary tax provisions—known as extenders—expired at the end of 2013 when Congress failed to extend them for another...
Dozens of temporary tax provisions, or "extenders" are scheduled to expire at the end of 2013 given their exclusion from the broader budget deal and the fact that the House already has recessed for the year with the Senate recess slotted to begin at the end of this week.
