05/31/2019

Tax Extenders Draft Circulating on Hill

The draft calls for the estate tax to pay for EITC expansion

House Democrats have reportedly come up with a draft tax extenders package that would roll back the 2017 tax law’s estate tax parameters and expand both the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC).

The draft tracks with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal’s (D-MA) stated preference to use the estate tax to pay for an EITC expansion. Congressional Democrats have been critical of the 2017 tax law’s doubling of the estate tax exemption, claiming it only benefits the super wealthy.

That part of the Democratic draft could be problematic in negotiations with the Republican-controlled Senate, though other parts of the draft track closely with the tax extenders package that Senate Finance Committee leaders put out earlier this year. The Senate proposal released by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) would retroactively extend dozens of tax provisions that expired at the end of 2017 and 2018 through the balance of this year.

Grassley and Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) also recently announced the formation of five task forces charged with coming up with solutions on various extenders by the end of June, including whether to make them permanent or let them lapse.

“Ultimately, the jobs of these task forces are to identify reform proposals so Congress can end the unfortunate practice of kicking the can down the road, one year at a time,” Grassley said last week.

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.