The House passed H.R. 8, which extends the expiring Bush tax cuts, by a vote of 256-171 (19 Democrats voted for the bill and one Republican voted against it). H.R. 8 is the Republican response to the Democrats package that passed last week. These bills are both designed to stake out positions for Election Day – Republicans are for extending all the tax cuts and Democrats are for extending all tax cuts for those families earning less than $250,000. Both parties are signaling that there is no chance they will compromise before Election Day to provide some certainty to the economy. AGC has urged the House, Senate and the President to extend all expiring and expired tax provisions for a year to provide economic certainty and to give Congress time to consider comprehensive tax reform.
The House also passed H.R. 6169, the Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act of 2012. This legislation provides an expedited process for considering comprehensive tax reform in the first half of next year, if a tax reform package meets the following criteria: consolidation of six tax rates into two rates of 10 percent and not more than 25 percent; reduction in the corporate tax rate to 25 percent; repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax; broadening of the tax base to maintain revenue of 18 to 19 percent of GDP; and change from worldwide to territorial tax system. This provides a framework for tax reform, in addition to an expedited process, and provides an idea where the negotiations will begin on tax reform after Election Day.
For more information, please contact Jeff Shoaf at (202) 547-3350 or shoafj@agc.org.
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