The Houses tax extenders bill would provide a one-year retroactive extension of approximately 50 tax
extenders, meaning the tax extenders would expire after December 31, 2014.Prior to passing H.R. 5771,
lawmakers in both the House and Senate had been working together on a broader bipartisan tax extenders
deal that would have provided more certainty to taxpayers by extending most provisions for two-years and
making certain provisions like the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit permanent. However ,
effective. Initially, following the release of the Houses bill, Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (DOR) and other Senate Democrats suggested they would still seek to pass an across-the-board two-year
extension for expired tax extenders. Such an approach would have applied retroactively for one year and
prospectively for one year, thus effectively extending the expired tax provisions through December 31,
12/10/14 - The Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget, Bipartisan Nonprofit public education committee - "Slipping Permanent Tax Breaks into the
Lame Duck" - crfb.org/category/blog-issue-areas/tax-extenders - Accessed
12/11/14 - JDD
Lawmakers have tried several times to revive tax provisions that expired last
year and extend them permanently, at a substantial cost to the national debt. They're trying again.
After an incredibly expensive $440 billion deal to extend the tax extenders fell apart after an
appropriate veto threat from the White House and concerns about the
enormous cost, Congress appears to be reviving piecemeal elements
of this deal by taking up some of the same permanent provisions in the last week of the lame-duck
Congress. The legislation being put forward would revive three of the tax extenders
dealing with charitable contributions and continue them permanently, while adding $11 billion to the
extend the rest of the 50 or so tax extenders for just one year, also without offsets, which would cost about
$42 billion. (The charitable provisions are about $650 million, less than 2 percent of the bill's $42 billion
cost.)
12/10/14 - The Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget, Bipartisan Nonprofit public education committee - "Slipping Permanent Tax Breaks into the
Lame Duck" - crfb.org/category/blog-issue-areas/tax-extenders - Accessed
12/11/14 - JDD
After proposing a nearly $450 billion budget-busting deal on the tax extenders
that received a veto threat from the White House, Congress is
scaling back its plans to a one-year retroactive extension of the
extenders. This $42 billion plan would end the uncertainty on tax extenders for the upcoming filing
season by extending the provisions for 2014, but it would leave the issue to be dealt with again next year
(with extensions again needing to be retroactive). Furthermore, many of these policies were meant to
encourage economic activity or provide economic stimulus, but by being done retroactively, this extension
is simply providing a windfall for activities that have already taken place. Retroactive tax cuts are poor
policy and a sign of a broken legislative process.
something that Congress must do this year to ensure our economy and job growth continues to move
also is critical for Congress to act quickly, because not doing so would impact the opening of the tax filing
season, according to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen. He told a convention of
accountants that the tax filing season would be delayed if Congress drags its feet on the issue into the
month of December. The debate may center on how long these tax extenders will last. It appears the U.S.
Senate would like to approve them through the 2015 tax year, but the House may want to only approve
them through the 2014 tax year, leaving the new Congress to deal with the issue again next year. I
believe that some of these provisions should be made permanent. Items like the research and
development tax credit have proven to be major job creators. More than 70 percent of R&D credit dollars
According to Ernst
and Young LLP, the credit benefits around 18,000 medium and large
companies. The Treasury Department reports that companies
receiving the credit employ almost one million workers, and many of
those are high-tech, high paying jobs. As you can see, this is not just an issue that
support salaries of workers performing research here in the United States.
impacts business. For example, a teacher's ability to deduct classroom expenses, the ability for Texans to
deduct sales taxes and the ability to deduct some higher education expenses for parents are all on the line
if these extenders aren't renewed. There may be some who believe we should wait and overhaul the
entire tax system instead of doing another temporary patch. While a tax overhaul is much needed, our
economic recovery is still far too weak to further delay these provisions that have proven to create jobs