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News & Views |House Tax Panel Preparing for Markup on Extenders BillWednesday, September 22, 1999 OnLine The House Ways and Means Committee staff is preparing a $57 billion bill for consideration in the next week or two that would extend the research and development tax credit and other expiring provisions, congressional staff said September 22. The House tax panel could mark up the bill later this week, staff said, though no
precise date has been set yet. The markup date is important because any new tax increases
included in the measure probably would have effective dates related to when the committee
acts. |
The bill would include five-year extensions of the research and development tax credit, and the active financing exception under subpart F, congressional staff said. The measure also would extend the Section 127 exclusion for undergraduate education for two and a half years. Graduate education would be excluded. The bill will contain no revenue offsets, staff said. It is important to remember that the legislation still has not been finalized and that last minute changes are still possible, staff cautioned. Archer Sets Target Date House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, said he wants the extenders measure signed into law by October 7 to ensure that the Internal Revenue Service has enough time to update tax forms to accommodate tax law changes made this year, congressional aides said. The October 7 deadline is somewhat artificial considering Congress previously passed tax legislation as late as December and has expected the IRS to implement the changes on tax forms. |
| Clinton Veto President Clinton is expected to veto the massive Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act tomorrow, and it is looking less and less likely that Congress will approve a $300 billion to $500 billion tax cut this year aside from the extenders package. As for a legislative vehicle for the extenders, no final decisions have been made yet. Congressional procedures make it difficult for leaders to control the legislative process in the Senate, so they probably will decide how to package the legislation based on what is possible in the Senate. The extenders could end up as a stand-alone tax bill, but that would require agreement from all Senators not to oppose or amend the measure when it reaches the Senate floor. Another approach would be to add the extenders to the omnibus spending bill, like Congress did last year, congressional aides said. The advantage to this approach is that it would be difficult for a Senator to block the must-pass bill that would be required to keep the government operation. House and Senate lawmakers also have been looking at a small-business tax-relief package that would lessen the pain firms would face from a proposed increase in the minimum wage, congressional staff said. The timing of action on this bill is much less certain. Among the items lawmakers are looking are at are increasing the Section 179 expensing
limit to $30,000, increasing the business meals deduction, and accelerating the repeal of
the temporary Federal Unemployment Tax Act surtax, which is now set to expire after 2007.
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