Still fighting over stopgap funding. As Senator Cornyn predicted, President Trump changed his mind about a short-term spending bill to keep the government open after today. The Senate passed a measure to fund several agencies, including the IRS, until February 8 but does it not include money for the border wall Trump wants. After first saying he'd support that bill, Trump said yesterday he will not sign it. The House then passed its version of the spending bill that includes $5 billion for the wall. There is no chance the Senate will accept those changes. The drama continues.
A last gasp for cleaner air with a carbon tax proposal in the Senate? Democratic senator Chris Coons of Delaware and lame duck Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona introduced a bill that would impose a tax of $15 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019, increasing by $10 each year to nearly $100 per ton by 2030. Proceeds would be rebated monthly to US households. The GOP-controlled Senate won’t consider the bill any time soon. And Trump, who has claimed climate change is a Chinese hoax, won’t sign it.
JCT releases the TCJA Blue Book. The Joint Committee on Taxation has released its comprehensive technical description of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The document is the definitive explanation of the TCJA for lawmakers and practitioners.
Cooperative economic development—partnership, or piracy? A new report from the Urban Institute and TPC considers how and why some local governments are cooperating with each other to boost economic development. The report highlights the literature, explores two regional case studies, and includes interviews with local policymakers. Although research is limited, the authors identify themes that can inform cooperative economic development.
It’s that time of year again… TPC’s TPC’s Howard Gleckman counts down the 10 worst tax ideas of 2018, and picks the winner of the Tax Vox lump of coal.
Not that it matters, but…. The House also passed the GOP's lame duck tax bill. The Joint Committee on Taxation says the it would add nearly $100 billion to the deficit over the next decade. Half the revenue loss would come from provisions to further delay some of the tax hikes in the Affordable Care Act. Like the spending measure, the tax cuts also will die in the Senate.
Seattle’s soda tax collections blow estimates out of the… water. The city collected over $16 million from its tax on sugary drinks in just nine months. Officials estimated the city would collect $15 million over the entire year. Why the discrepancy? Perhaps the city’s baseline assumptions were off… Or maybe consumers are willing to pay the extra pennies for sugar.
Hedge fund investors might have surprisingly high tax bills for 2018. Bloomberg explains how the TCJA’s limit on the deduction of interest could affect “trader hedge funds” which trade stocks or other assets frequently. IRS rules released last month “create the worst possible situation,” said a tax lawyer at Proskauer Rose LLP.
If you’d like to tell us about a new research paper or have any comments about the Daily Deduction, TPC’s summary of the day’s tax news, write Renu Zaretsky at [email protected]. You can sign up here to receive the Daily Deduction as an email newsletter every weekday morning (Mondays only when Congress is in recess) at 8:00 am.
