Congressional tax-writers are skeptical that a broad year-end tax bill will come together in the waning days of this session. They had hoped for a year-end agreement to fix errors in the 2017 tax law and address expiring or expired tax breaks but have been unable to agree on a package.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) said this week that his support for a tax bill is contingent on expanding the Earned Income Tax (EIT) credit and the child credit. House Democrats also want to raise the $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions, which GOP lawmakers flatly oppose.
The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and its UBIT Coalition, of which OSAE is a member, have been pressing Congress to repeal the 21-percent tax on nonprofit parking and transportation benefits in any year-end tax package or government funding bill. While repeal of the nonprofit tax has bipartisan support and is at the front of a list of tax provisions that tax writers want to include in a year-end package, it’s looking more likely that cleanly extending expired tax provisions might be the only item that comes out of negotiations before next year.
ASAE and members of the UBIT Coalition are concerned that 2020 will be consumed by impeachment proceedings and the impending presidential election/ Thus, they have blanketed Capitol Hill with urgent requests to fix this tax issue as quickly as possible.
While the tax discussions continue, appropriators and House and Senate leadership have tentatively agreed to a spending deal to avert a government shutdown after Dec. 20. The agreement in principle sets up votes next week.
“We’re hoping to reach a place this morning, in fact, to see just how close we are to passing a real bill instead of having a CR, but we are not going to have a shutdown of government,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said at her morning press conference on Dec. 12, 2019.
This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.