There could be a revised BCRA out this week, with a vote next week. GOP Senator John Cornyn told reporters yesterday, “We're just trying to get a good picture of what the alternatives are, and hopefully next week we'll be prepared to take the bill up and vote on it.” An updated draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act could come out this week, while lawmakers await the CBO score of an earlier iteration.
BRCA-related tax provisions, in cartoons! Vox has a handy graphic explaining the tax cuts within the Better Care Reconciliation Act. The bottom line remains: The benefit cuts disproportionately affect the poor, while the tax cuts largely benefit wealthy.
JCT scores Trump budget revenue raisers. President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget included a handful of revenue-raisers. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that requiring Social Security numbers for people who claim refundable tax credits would raise about $30 billion over 10 years. Critics of the proposal say it would hurt children who would benefit from the Child Tax Credit. Other budget proposals, such as regulating paid tax preparers, would raise only a few hundred million over the decade.
Three options for the debt ceiling, perhaps. The House Freedom Caucus wants the debt ceiling addressed before the August recess. It would support (1) issuance of GDP-linked bonds to pay the nation’s bill if we reach the debt ceiling and presidential authorization of the sale of certain government assets to raise funds for those payments; (2) allow the debt ceiling to be attached to the budget resolution and require spending cuts of $250 billion; or (3) link the debt ceiling to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, if the repeal were separate from replacement legislation.
Budgets in glass houses… TPC’s Richard Auxier and Kim Rueben consider the now-resolved Illinois budget battle, with some cautious optimism: Lawmakers eventually crossed party lines to build a consensus fiscal plan. “Illinois' budget drama is not that different from other states in 2017—and that's both bad and good news.”
If it acts like a hotel, should it be taxed like a hotel? TPC’s Tax Hound took a vacation in the sharing economy last month, which prompted questions about taxes. She finds that the space between home sharing and providing lodging services sits in at least three shades of gray.
How could Trump’s proposed child tax credit benefit more families? TPC’s Elaine Maag explains that the President’s proposed child care tax deduction has some flaws. It would deliver the most benefits to high-income families and do very little to help the low-income households that need it the most. She suggests an alternative: Congress could expand the existing child tax credit (CTC), an idea that has the support of Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and other members of Congress.