Who will sit at the tax table? The White House plans to work privately with GOP leadership to craft a tax bill. Gary Cohn, director the National Economic Council, says “We don’t want to be negotiating the tax bill on the floor.” He promises a draft during the first two weeks of September.
Where does that leave everybody else? Rank-and-file members, and even members of the tax-writing committees, will have little say if the effort goes as Cohn hopes. They won’t be happy. Meanwhile, Blue Dog Democrats—a group of 18 members—met with members of the President’s economic team this week, urging them to seek bipartisan reform, reports The Hill.
What will become of the border-adjustable tax? House Speaker Ryan didn’t mention the proposal in his Tuesday tax reform speech to the National Association of Manufacturers. Instead he talked generally abut a “territorial tax,” which is quite different. "The relative absence of a robust endorsement for border adjustment was a concession from the Speaker," said David French of the National Retail Federation.
And about revenue neutrality. At a press conference yesterday, Ryan said any tax bill would not increase the debt over the budget window. Yet, he’s still promising a major tax cut. How will he make the math work?
The House approves an expansion of nuclear power plant tax credits. The bipartisan bill passed by voice vote. The bill allows nuclear power plants entering into service after 2020 to benefit from the production tax credit. The credit subsidizes electricity generated from nuclear power plants at 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour. Tax-exempt rural cooperative and public utilities could use the credit, too. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the measure would cost about $16 million over 10 years, perhaps an indication of how few nukes are likely to come on line.
Will Oregon see a corporate tax overhaul? The state’s House Democrats postponed a vote on Oregon’s $8.2 billion school budget for another week as they try to negotiate a tax deal. But the outlook for their plan to replace the state’s corporate income tax with a gross receipts tax remains dim. Any bill that raises taxes requires a three-fifths supermajority in both legislative chambers in order to pass.
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