Latest on Payroll Tax Hike and Extenders
Earlier today, the Senate voted earlier on its version of the “extenders plus” bill passed by the House a few weeks back. The vote, on a motion to waive a Budget Act point of order, failed miserably (45-52), indicating the Senate Leadership has a long way to go before they gather the sixty votes necessary to move forward.
With this morning’s vote behind us, the process moving forward is becoming clearer–Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) is expected to introduce a new substitute today. According to BNA:
Baucus is expected to draw up a new substitute amendment that will be a slimmed-down version of what the Senate defeated. That plan would have added $84 billion to the federal deficit, a figure that Republicans, and some Democrats, said was too high to stomach. Baucus has previously said that he would continue to work with senators of both parties to find 60 votes. Issues that could be modified to secure votes include Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians, unemployment insurance benefits, Medicaid funding to states, and possibly language making it more difficult for S corporations to avoid paying employment taxes.
As BNA indicates, the new effort will likely include a modified payroll tax hike. As with the House-passed provision, however, the new tax has been written behind closed doors and without the benefit of public scrutiny. It might be better than the flawed House effort, but we simply won’t know until it’s offered.
The next key vote will take place tomorrow, when the Senate considers Senator John Thune’s (R-SD) alternative “extender plus” package. This package includes all the tax extenders the business community wants, but strikes all the tax hikes the business community opposes (including striking the $11 billion payroll tax hike). Instead, all the tax relief and spending in the package are offset with spending cuts. As with today’s vote, Senator Thune is not expected to get 60 votes tomorrow, but we’re betting he does better than the 45 votes Senator Baucus got today.
Meanwhile, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) continues her fight on behalf of S corporations. As CongressDaily reported this morning:
Snowe is upset about an $11 billion tax increase on small services firms organized as S corporations; Baucus is preparing some tweaks to that provision, and the chamber’s 63-33 adoption of an amendment she co-sponsored to establish an office within the Treasury Department to help homeowners struggling with mortgage payments can’t hurt. Democratic aides said they still have some work to do on their side of the aisle before working to assuage GOP holdouts.
The S corporation community owes Senator Snowe a big debt. Meanwhile, with the first Baucus substitute gone and the second version “to be introduced,” we will just have to wait to see what they have in mind.
Small Business Tax Package Recap
With the Senate back in town this week, here’s a quick recap on the status of the S Corp reform tax title we’ve been advocating in Congress:
- First, on January 10th, the House passed a clean minimum wage increase and sent the legislation to the Senate.
- Second, on January 31st, the Senate added by voice vote $8 billion worth of small business tax provisions to the House wage increase, including an S Corporation Reform tax title incorporating several S Corp priorities.
- Third, on February 16th, the House adopted its own $1 billion small business tax relief alternative to the Senate package. This package failed to include any S Corporation provisions.
- Fourth, Senate Republicans insisted that the House meet them to “pre-conference” the differences between the Senate and House small business tax packages before they would allow the two bills to go to a conference committee for negotiation.
- Fifth, on March 23rd, the House added its $1 billion small business tax package to the Iraq War supplemental spending bill, despite the fact that a veto threat currently hangs over that bill’s future.
- Sixth, on March 27th, the Senate added its own, larger $12 billion small business package, including the S Corporation Reform tax title, to its version of the Iraq War supplemental spending bill.
- Seventh, on March 29th, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed members of the Appropriations Committee to the House/Senate conference and did NOT appoint Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus signaling the potential for conference negotiators to drop the tax bill from the supplemental bill to deal with it separately, at a later date.
And that’s where things stand, awaiting the return of the House from recess next week and the appointment of House conferees to work out the differences between the House and the Senate on these bills.
It almost goes without saying that the S Corporation Association is continuing to press our friends on the Hill to end this stalemate and pass these much needed reforms to the rules governing S corporations. We remain confident that these provisions will be enacted, it’s just a question of how long the process will take.
S Corp Gets Some Ink in INC.
S Corp President Stephanie Silverman is quoted this month in INC. Magazine as part of a story on the new congressional leadership, “Learning to Love Nancy Pelosi.” As the story notes, business groups like the S Corporation Association are having to reconfigure their approach and expectations to reflect the new Democratically-controlled Congress. Here’s Stephanie:
- In the last Congress, there was a serious effort to abolish the estate tax. Today, Congress is considering bolstering the Internal Revenue Service’s budget for business audits and levying new payroll taxes on S corps. Stephanie Silverman, the president of the… S Corporation Association, says the group’s members are nervous about the payroll tax idea. The group is currently scheduling meetings with members of the House Ways and Means Committee to discuss the plan. “We’re trying to make them aware of how many S corporations there are in their states,” Silverman adds.
Senate Jobs Bill First Out of the Chute
With health care reform in a state of political limbo, Senate leadership is busy assembling a job-creation package that is likely to be the chamber’s next significant legislative effort.
Just before Christmas recess, the House hastily assembled and adopted a $154 billion spending package. In response, the Senate Finance Committee is working on a package that focuses more on tax relief than the House counterpart. As reported by Dow Jones:
The package would be paid for largely by re-directing funds that were available for the government’s bank bailout program, according to an outline dated Friday of possible measures being considered for inclusion in the bill.
The Senate document put the total cost of economic stimulus measures in the bill at $82.5 billion. A Senate Democratic aide cautioned that the document doesn’t reflect the most recent conversations among leaders about the plan, and some elements may change considerably.
A broad outline pitched to the Democratic conference today included pension relief, SBA lending provisions, energy efficiency tax credits, export promotion (IC-DISC users take note) and a proposal that would “provide a tax credit for between 10%-20% of increased payroll—to encompass both hiring of new workers and increasing part-time workers to full-time status.”
Tax policy veterans should recognize the employment tax credit idea from years past. Among others, Senator Kerry offered something similar as part of his Presidential platform in 2004. The proposal has been always been viewed skeptically, however, over concerns that it is poorly-targeted and only rewards those businesses that would hire new workers anyway.
Regarding timing, it’s still up in the air but we anticipate a Finance Committee markup in the next two weeks followed by floor consideration after the President’s Day holiday.
So what are your S-CORP takeaways? First, there’s an incredible amount of pent-up demand for tax policy in the Senate, and we expect this legislation to open the floodgates. It’s a tax vehicle, after all, so how can Chairman Max Baucus and Majority Harry Leader Reid keep extenders, energy tax incentives, and (perhaps less so) an estate tax fix on the sidelines once it starts moving?
Second, lots of other items are likely to catch a ride as well. Extended UI and Cobra benefits expire at the end of February, as does the temporary Doc Fix for Medicare payments. The timing of this package suggests those provisions stand a good chance of being included.
Finally, expect lots of message amendments regarding the expiring Bush tax relief. It all goes away at the end the year, after all, and none of the provisions listed above address this underlying policy challenge.
CBO Updates Budget Outlook
The CBO issued its outlook for 2010-20 today. Here’s the CBO on the short-term outlook:
CBO projects, that if current laws and policies remained unchanged, the federal budget would show a deficit of $1.3 trillion for fiscal year 2010. At 9.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), that deficit would be slightly smaller than the shortfall of 9.9 percent of GDP ($1.4 trillion) posted in 2009. Last year’s deficit was the largest as a share of GDP since the end of World War II, and the deficit expected for 2010 would be the second largest. Moreover, if legislation is enacted in the next several months that either boosts spending or reduces revenues, the 2010 deficit could equal or exceed last year’s shortfall.
And the longer term outlook:
Under current law, the federal fiscal outlook beyond this year is daunting: Projected deficits average about $600 billion per year over the 2011–2020 period. As a share of GDP, deficits drop markedly in the next few years but remain high—at 6.5 percent of GDP in 2011 and 4.1 percent in 2012, the first full fiscal year after certain tax provisions originally enacted in 2001, 2003, and 2009 are scheduled to expire. Thereafter, deficits are projected to range between 2.6 percent and 3.2 percent of GDP through 2020.
And the impact on debt:
Under current law, the federal fiscal outlook beyond this year is daunting: Projected deficits average about $600 billion per year over the 2011–2020 period. As a share of GDP, deficits drop markedly in the next few years but remain high—at 6.5 percent of GDP in 2011 and 4.1 percent in 2012, the first full fiscal year after certain tax provisions originally enacted in 2001, 2003, and 2009 are scheduled to expire. Thereafter, deficits are projected to range between 2.6 percent and 3.2 percent of GDP through 2020.
And none of this includes the cost of health care reform, the so-called Medicare Doc fix, extending some or all of the Bush tax relief, the new stimulus provisions, or any of the other expiring provisions. Ouch.
With a deficit outlook like this, the Obama Administration is being pushed in two directions these days. They face demands to increase federal spending in the short run to help the economy while also being told they need to cut spending in the long-term to address the deficit and debt.
One way to deal with this conflict is to substitute smaller, less expensive proposals for the broad, macro reforms that have characterized the Administration’s agenda. President Clinton adopted this approach for many of his State of the Union addresses. As CNN reported after his 1999 address:
President Bill Clinton’s 1999 State of the Union address was classic Clinton. It was another long laundry list of proposals, some conservative, some liberal… Clinton’s 77-minute speech was so overflowing with proposals that by the time it ended it was almost hard to remember that Social Security was the first and most important proposal of the evening. In previous years, commentators criticized Clinton for this approach, complaining that the State of the Union should be more focused. But this year, most commentators simply gushed.
So did viewers, who typically gave Clinton’s annual State of the Union speeches higher marks than professional commentators.
President Obama’s proposal to increase the child credit is a worthy successor to the Clinton approach. The proposal would increase the value of the credit, but not as much as one might expect. It’s not going to be refundable, which means most families with children would not benefit until their incomes rise above $40,000 or so. And it’s capped, so families above a certain income level don’t get it either. Nonetheless, offering middle class families extra child care assistance sounds great in a speech.
Given the current economic and deficit picture, we expect tomorrow’s State of the Union address to place more emphasis on proposals like the child care credit expansion, and less on health care reform and cap and trade.
Estate Tax Fix Poses Threat for Family Businesses
As we have noted, the stars appear to have aligned for a big estate tax compromise later this year, most likely to be focused on freezing the 2009 rules for at least a year. This means the current top tax rate of 45 percent and $3.5 million exclusion will stay the same for a while. But there’s lots of mischief that can take place under those broad levels.
As tax reformers will tell you, the base is just as important in determining your tax burden as the rates.
With that in mind, several S-Corp allies have pointed out legislation introduced by Congressman Pomeroy (D-ND) earlier this year — H.R. 436 — and asked us whether the base broadening included in this bill might get considered later this year. The answer is a definitive “Yes.” According to our quick read, H.R. 436 would do the following:
- Freeze the tax rate and exclusion at 45 percent and $3.5 million;
- Restore the step-up in basis;
- Restore the recapture of graduated rates; and
- Limit the use of minority discounts for family businesses.
To put the total impact of these provisions in perspective, here’s a simplified example of a family business where current rules would value the business at $7 million, but under H.R. 436 the value would be $10 million. For comparison’s sake, we included the tax burden on that estate under the rules in place in 2000, this year, in 2010 when the estate tax repeal takes place, and under the Pomeroy bill.
| 2000 | 2009 | 2010 | H.R. 436 | |
| Top Rate | 55% | 45% | 0 | 45% |
| Exclusion | $1 million | $3.5 million | NA | $3.5 million |
| Estate Tax Base/Basis | $7 million | $7 million | $650,000 | $10 million |
| Estate/Capital Gains Tax | $2.9 million | $1.45 million | $1.4 million | $2.8 million |
As you can see, eliminating planning techniques used for closely-held businesses results in an estate tax under H.R. 436 that is nearly the same as the estate tax under the pre-2001 rules, and about twice as much as the current tax.
This is obviously a simplified example that doesn’t include many of the nuances associated with estate planning. Moreover, a smaller estate would experience less of an impact from changes to the valuation rules whereas larger estates would see a substantial increase.
For both, however, changing the rules under which estates are valued seriously threatens the ability of family-held businesses to survive one generation to the next, and should be treated very carefully by policymakers.
So while business groups are focused on the rates and exclusion, we should be just as worried about proposals that would affect the base. Be prepared to see this issue gather more ink in coming months.
So What’s Next?
With Washington focused like a laser on the stimulus package for the past few months, a natural question is: “What’s next?” Your S-CORP team has been asking around, and here’s what we’ve come up with:
Energy Bill: Both the House and the Senate will consider energy legislation this year that, among other items, will include a tax title extending and modifying expiring energy tax items like the Section 45 production tax credit. Many of these popular provisions are scheduled to expire at the end of the year and need to be extended. The Senate may move as early as March on a stand-alone bill, while the House looks like it will pair traditional energy issues — a renewable electricity standard, energy efficiency standards, and tax items — with a carbon cap-and-trade bill.
Housing & Financial Services: Congress is geared up to take up President Obama’s housing plan this spring together with a rewrite of the rules governing what’s left of Wall Street and the mortgage markets. The housing plan will cost money, so we expect a tax title to offset the revenue loss.
Rangel “Mother Bill”: Remember the “Mother of All Tax Bills” introduced in 2007? It swapped the AMT for higher income tax rates, cut the corporate rate while broadening the business tax base, and targeted benefits at low and middle-income families. Word is Mr. Rangel has been redrafting and could reintroduce the package sometime this spring. Once again, his goal would be to encourage an active discussion over the future of tax code. Actual action will likely wait until 2010 or later.
Middle-Class Tax Relief: Senator Baucus has made noises about moving legislation to provide permanent middle-class tax relief. Such relief could include an effort to permanently extend the middle-income tax rates, the child tax credit, and marriage penalty relief.
Estate Tax: An estate tax compromise is on the table and likely to be considered before the kids go back to school next fall. (See above)
Health Care Reform: We expect a push to provide Americans with more health insurance options at some point this summer. While most of the bill will be focused on Medicare, Medicaid, and an expansion of health coverage, we expect changes to the current tax treatment of health benefits to be included. Swapping the current health care deduction with a tax credit would not only balance the tax treatment of health care consumption, it would also raise lots of money that could be used to expand coverage.
As you can see, Congress’ plate is full. Even if only half of these items get addressed this year, it is a full agenda with lots of opportunities for mischief.
Moreover, with the deficit approaching $2 trillion and Congress done with the $800 billion stimulus package, its focus should shift to budget neutral reforms and deficit reduction, placing even more pressure on the tax code and taxpayers.
We’ll keep watch and make sure closely-held businesses are represented.
Congress Reaches Deal on Stimulus
Sometimes, Congress meets a deadline. Six weeks ago, congressional leadership and the new Obama Administration had set out the Presidents’ Day recess as the deadline for getting the economic stimulus package to the President’s desk.
With the House’s vote on final passage today and the Senate expected to consider the bill as early as this evening, all indications are they’ll make it. Here’s a quick summary of the $789 billion package as outlined by the conferees:
- $301 billion in family and business tax relief (down from $350 billion in the Senate bill).
- $70 billion in renewable and energy efficiency provisions.
- $140 billion in higher payments to states through Medicaid and a new State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.
- Extended unemployment and increased food stamp benefits.
- $45 billion in highway and transit funding.
- $35 billion in Health IT, basic scientific research, and comparative effectiveness.
Here’s a full summary of the Ways and Means and Finance Committee portions of the package and the final JCT table.
Built-In Gains Relief in Final Stimulus Package!
A provision to provide built-in gains relief to hundreds of thousands of S corporations is part of the final stimulus package moving through Congress. The President is expected to sign the package into law early next week.
Once he does, firms that converted to S corporation or existing S corporations that acquired other businesses in the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and — beginning next year — 2003 will be able to dispose of built-in gains assets without paying the punitive level of tax.
This provision, which originated in the Senate and was championed by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), survived the conference process between the House and Senate due in large part to our S-CORP Champions in Congress including key House advocates Representatives Ron Kind (D-WI), Steve Kagen (D-WI), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), and Danny Davis (D-IL). Our House allies sent a letter to House Leadership this week urging for the inclusion of the Senate’s BIG relief provision.
S-CORP Chairman Dick Roderick noted, “Built-in gains relief has been a priority of the S Corporation Association for years. Congress’ adoption of this provision is the result of lots of hard work educating policymakers on the importance of allowing closely-held businesses access to their own capital.”
Roderick also had words of praise for Senator Lincoln and Representative Kind. “Senator Lincoln and Representative Kind have worked tirelessly to improve S corporation rules. They really understand the important role closely-held businesses play in economic growth and job creation.”
Stimulus Update
The Washington Post reports that the Senate Stimulus bill is short of the 60 votes needed for it to move through the chamber. As the Post noted:
Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide an immediate boost to the economy.
The vote in the House did not help, with all Republicans and 11 Democrats opposing the House version of the package. The unified Republican opposition in the House will likely empower Republicans in the Senate to stand together as well.
But the opposition rests not just with Republicans. Some Democratic members have expressed opposition as well. $800 billion in new spending and tax relief is a huge package, especially with the deficit already projected to exceed $1.1 trillion in 2009.
So what’s likely to happen? Look for moderates in both parties to put together a list of spending items that need to be cut in order for them to support the remaining package. As the Post reports:
Nelson said he and Collins have agreed to “tens of billions” in cuts, although he said he is skeptical that the effort will reach Collins’s target of $200 billion in reductions. The pair has counted up to 20 allies in their effort, with more Democrats than Republicans at this point.
Whether Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) find the right balance, or another group of Senators come to the table, we expect a compromise to be worked out over the next couple days. The Senate may be in this weekend, but it’s unlikely to leave without passing some form of the package first.
S Corps Lose an Ally
The S corporation community lost one of its greatest advocates the other day with the passing of Don Alexander. As our friend Martin Vaughn with Dow Jones reports:
Donald C. Alexander, who served as Internal Revenue Service Commissioner from 1973 to 1977, died Monday night at 87. Besides leading the IRS, Alexander held a wide range of other public service positions, including serving on the Commission on Federal Paperwork and as commissioner of the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. He was director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years in the 1980s. Most recently, Alexander was a partner at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLP, from 1993 until his death. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star for service in the 14th Armored Division during World War II.
Don was always a southern gentleman, and he was always focused on improving the rules for S corporations. He testified on behalf of the community before Congress many times. Here is just one sample of his views.
Stimulus Package Discussed
Following a closed-door planning session today of members of the Senate Finance Committee, we expect the Committee will mark-up the tax portions of a stimulus package as early as January 22nd. As we indicated previously, committee members are committed to exerting their jurisdiction over the tax portions of the package. Moreover, there appears to be a growing debate over certain provisions in the Obama plans. As Dow Jones reports this afternoon:
“When asked about specific tax cut proposals made by Obama, Kerry said, “I think there are cuts that are not going to stand the test of whether they will create jobs. Coming in for specific criticism were an Obama plan to give companies a $3,000 tax credit to offset the cost of new hires, and a $500 tax credit for workers that would be spread out over a period of time in take-home pay. “Is a $3,000 tax credit going to get you to hire somebody to build cars that nobody’s buying?” asked Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., speaking to reporters after the committee meeting.”
Exactly what replaces those unpopular tax cuts — more tax relief or more spending — is an open question. Let’s hope it’s more tax relief for businesses. Having both the Ways and Means and Finance Committee members weigh in on the stimulus package, however, gives our S corporation allies a better chance to make the package more small business friendly, especially with regard to built-in gains reform. We expect the Ways and Means Committee to also hold a mark-up as early as the week of the inauguration. S-CORP In the News
Speaking of small business tax relief, the Baltimore Sun published an op-ed by S-CORP Executive Director Brian Reardon highlighting the history of the small business corporation and outlining how Congress can best help ensure the small business community is adequately armed to respond to the on-going economic recession:
What should Congress do? First, follow President-elect Obama’s lead and make small business tax relief the center of any economic stimulus plan. Relief that increases small business’ access to capital would be especially timely. For S corporations, the tax code forces many of them to sit on appreciated assets rather than sell them and put the money to better use. Another rule prohibits them from accepting direct foreign investment. Changing these out-of-date rules would free up capital and encourage new business formation.
Second, keep the rates on small business income low – certainly no higher than what large corporations pay. Actions like these would signal to millions of small businesses that they will not be punished to pay for the excesses of Wall Street, which should make it easier for them to grow their businesses and create jobs.
New Members on Ways and Means
The House Ways and Means Committee for the 111th Congress is now complete, with both Democrats and Republicans announcing their final additions to the committee. House Republicans had six seats to fill and announced their selections yesterday. New members include:
Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-07)
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (FL-05)
Rep. Geoff Davis (KY-04)
Rep. Dean Heller (NV-02)
Rep. David Reichert (WA-08)
Rep. Pete Roskam (IL-06)
Earlier this week House Democrats filled their one remaining spot on the Ways and Means Committee with the selection of Linda Sanchez (D-CA), after Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) turned down the position in December. Combined with the Democrats’ earlier additions, that’s a total of 11 new members for the tax-writing Committee.
You can bet your S-CORP team will be reaching out to new and old members alike in coming weeks. Small business tax relief is on the table, and we need to get the message out.
Tax Relief Grows in Proposed Stimulus
Congress is back and ready to legislate. First out of the box will be the long-anticipated economic stimulus package. Unlike previous efforts, the current push has the benefit of support from leadership in the House, Senate, and the new Administration, so we expect a sizable package to reach the President’s desk prior to the February recess.
What exactly will the package include? Details are being negotiated right now but the broad outline remains the same — a large package of spending on infrastructure, relief to cash-strapped states in the form of increased federal Medicaid payments, and tax relief to businesses and families. What has changed is the relative size of the tax relief, which continues to grow as the economy shrinks.
According to our friends in the press, the Obama team is currently targeting a package of $775 billion, including approximately $300 billion in tax relief. On the tax side, contending provisions include:
- Relief to Working Taxpayers: Some variation of candidate Obama’s “Making Work Pay” proposal is likely to form the core of the tax/refund relief, perhaps as a permanent adjustment to employer withholding totaling $500 per taxpayer.
- Small Business Expensing: The higher $250,000 limit on small business expensing expired at the end of 2008. Package will likely include a two year extension of that higher limit.
- Other Business Provisions: In addition to expensing, other business breaks could include extending loss carry-backs, bonus depreciation, tax credits for firms that hire new workers, and other business incentives.
- Local Government Relief: This proposal would remove the applicable Alternative Minimum Tax on certain municipal bonds.
Also part of the mix is the S Corporation Association priority of Built-In Gains tax reform. As S-Corp readers know, such relief would help small businesses strapped for cash access much-needed capital by unlocking valuable assets they have had to hold for an overly restrictive time period.
As far as process goes, negotiators from the pertinent committees and the Obama team are meeting right now. The Senate Finance Committee had earlier indicated it might mark up a stimulus package this Thursday, January 8th. That target date appears to be pushed back to later in the month due to logistical as well as policy concerns, but the Committee has made clear to Senate Leadership and the Obama team that they intend to be part of the process of putting together this bill.
That’s good news for S corporations, since many of our champions on built-in gains and other reforms are Senate Finance Committee members. We’re continuing to reach out to them, our Ways and Means Committee friends, and the Obama economic team to make sure they understand the value to the economy and job creation of helping S corporations better access their capital.
Bottom line – the stimulus package is being actively developed and we expect it to move from proposal to law within the next six weeks.
Bailout Watch
The ongoing soap opera of the auto bailout continues, with Congress failing to find a means of balancing the needs of Detroit with the concerns of taxpayers and Senate Republicans. As a result, the bailout stalled in the Senate last week and the Administration appears poised to step in and use whatever authority it has — TARP, Treasury, Fed — to provide the companies with the liquidity necessary to survive into the New Year and the next Administration. A nice little Christmas present for the Obama economic team, indeed.
Whatever happens, what is clear is that the plight of Detroit will continue into next year and will provide yet another catalyst for a major stimulus package early next Congress. Just how early may surprise folks.
The Senate Finance Committee reportedly plans to begin formal consideration of a stimulus package January 8th, twelve days before President-elect Obama is sworn in. According to our friends at Dow Jones:
The package is expected to include between $600 billion and $700 billion to jump-start the economy, and congressional leaders say they want to pass it before President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20.
For those of us focused on the tax code, that means the next vehicle for tax provisions will be drafted over the next couple weeks. How much of the package will be devoted to tax relief?
The panel’s chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said in a news conference last week that tax cuts for businesses and individuals could comprise as much as half of the package. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday estimated the tax portion of the package at closer to one-third.
With that time table in mind and with tax policies on the table, we’re working with our allies on the Hill to ensure that S corporation changes to the built-in gains rules are considered as part of this package. If the economy needs capital, S corporations are sitting on lots of it, and BIG relief would help put it to work. Our Hill champions are working the issue, armed with a letter from our association allies as well as a statement of support from four Senators to their leadership.
New Taxwriters Selected
The combination of Democratic gains and lots of retirees means the Ways and Means Committee will be welcoming at least eleven new faces when it reconvenes for the 111th Congress. Democratic gains shifted the ratio of the overall House close to two-thirds/one third, so Democrats last week set the new ratio of Members on the Committee at 26 Democrats to 15 Republicans — up from 24-17 in the 110th Congress — and selected four of the five new members necessary to fill the seats. New Democratic Members include:
Rep. Danny Davis (IL)
Rep. Bob Etheridge (NC)
Rep. John Yarmuth (KY)
Rep. Brian Higgins (NY)
Note: One of the seats was offered to Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ) but apparently he turned it down, so an additional name will have to be selected. On the Republican side, Representative Dave Camp (R-MI) was selected Ranking Member following the retirement of current Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA). Republicans did not make any other committee membership decisions but rather put off the appointment of six new members to fill the vacancies when Congress returns in January.
On the Senate side, the report is the same as just after the election, with leadership waiting to see how the election in Minnesota goes before setting committee ratios and picking new members. One new development is President Obama’s selection of Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) to be Secretary of Interior. His departure from the Finance Committee means Democrats will likely have two new members on the committee next year rather than just one.
Estate Tax Update
We’ve forecast that one of the few tax challenges likely to get addressed in 2009 will be some sort of deal on the estate tax. As readers know, the estate tax is scheduled to go out of existence in 2010 only to return from the grave the following year, looking very much like the youthful and hungry estate tax of the year 2000. This repeal and restoration routine gives both sides a strong incentive to come to a compromise — estate tax apologists don’t want to face its repeal in 2010 and estate tax critics don’t want to see its resurrection in 2011.
We noticed that Len Burman over at the left-leaning Tax Policy Center agrees. In an open letter to President-elect Obama, he raises the red flag over the pending estate tax repeal from the pro-estate tax perspective:
One more thing. You probably want to fix the estate tax before the end of 2009. Otherwise, the tax disappears for only a year in 2010, returning in full force in 2011. We just don’t want to see how greedy potential heirs would respond to the incentives created by a one-year “death tax” holiday…
Yeah, Len just wants to make the world safe from greedy heirs. Thanks. Setting aside the obvious question of who’s greedier — individuals with money or policy makers who want to take it from them — his point just reinforces our notion that the estate tax is going to be front and center of policymakers come next summer.
Second Stimulus on the Horizon
A second stimulus package is being formulated up on the Hill, but is by no means a done deal at this point. Just before adjourning for the election, the House passed a $61 billion bill containing infrastructure spending, aid to state governments and increased unemployment benefits, which will likely serve as a starting point for second stimulus discussion. That package included:
- $30 billion for infrastructure projects including highways, bridges, transit and water projects;
- $1 billion for public housing;
- $2.6 billion for food stamp program;
- A temporary increase in Federal Medicaid assistance to states; and
- An extension in unemployment benefits.
Other items that could be contained in a second stimulus package include the Columbia Free Trade Agreement, middle class tax relief, and changes to the TARP program. Emily Barrett from the Wall Street Journal reports that Treasury is “under pressure to broaden eligibility for assistance to smaller banks, as well as the cash-strapped autos sector.” Other actions related to the stimulus include:
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with the CEO’s of America’s automakers last week to discuss billions of dollars of additional assistance to the industry. The two leaders subsequently asked Treasury to make relief to the automakers part of the $700 billion TARP plan.
- President-elect Obama made an economic stimulus his top priority at last week’s press conference. He indicated if one was not enacted during next week’s lame duck session, he would make it the first order of business in 2009. He also indicated that the package needed to focus on assisting the middle class with job creation and an extension of unemployment benefits.
- RollCall reports that Majority Leader Hoyer (D-MD) is suggesting that, absent an agreement with the Bush administration — which he described as “elusive” — the House might not ask rank-and-file members to come back next week.
All this activity suggests that, while the odds of a package getting enacted are extremely high, it will probably be early next year before anything moves.
Endangered Tax Species — LIFO
Your S-CORP staff is tempted to create an Endangered Species List for tax provisions. Deferral and Section 199 would top the list as the most likely to be extinct before the end of the next Congress.
LIFO accounting is another. A subset of accounting and tax professionals have been pursuing LIFO for years, and they are closing in. The Joint Committee on Taxation — the tax professionals that Congress uses to help them assess changes to the tax code — fired another shot last week.
In its annual “Tax Expenditures” report, the Committee has for the first time (to our knowledge) listed LIFO. For those of you who don’t follow such things, a tax expenditure is a congressional concept identifying tax provisions that divert from the basic approach to taxing income and measuring the revenue lost by those provisions — tax credits, certain deductions, and lower rates on investment income all qualify as tax expenditures. The concept was first introduced into budget speak in the 1960s and has been highly controversial ever since.
Conservatives especially dislike the idea since it implies that all your income is the government’s and if the government chooses not to take it from you, then that’s the equivalent of giving you a subsidy. Supporters argue that the point is to give policy makers better information on how much certain tax policies reduce revenues so they can make better decisions.
Either way, getting LIFO listed as a tax expenditure gives LIFO opponents one more argument to make in attempting to repeal it.
We will write more on this in the future, but suffice to say that LIFO does not belong on the tax expenditures list anymore than FIFO does. Moreover, while the JCT states its goal in revising the methodology of the expenditure report was to create a more neutral approach, we’re not sure they succeeded.
Capital Gains and Dividends
We’ve written about the likelihood that the capital gains rate is going up in the next couple years. Lots of our members would like to know just when that is going to occur so they can plan accordingly.
The economic distress of the last year and the rising deficit opens the possibility that Congress could enact a rate hike next year but make it effective January 1, 2010. The outcome of the prospective effective date would be to stimulate economic activity — and federal revenues — in 2009. A similar rate increase adopted in 1986 (made effective January 1, 1987) resulted in an enormous increase in federal tax revenues in 1986 as taxpayers rushed to sell their assets and qualify for the lower rates.
As S-CORP readers know, we favor lower rates over higher ones, especially when the higher rates only apply to S corporations and not C corporations. That said, encouraging asset sales at a time when many investors and companies are being forced into asset fire sales already might not be the best policy. Encouraging sales of appreciated property into a bear market may have the opposite of the intended economic effect by further driving down asset prices for everyone.
Get Email Updates
- S-Corp Supporters
