The House passed a spending bill — but when will the Senate follow suit? The House passed a short-term spending bill good through April 28, 2017, and headed home for the holidays. The Senate could pass it today, but Democrats Joe Manchin (WV) and Sherrod Brown (OH) want to do more to protect the health and pension benefits of retired coal miners. They may keep the Senate in session through the weekend to settle the issue.

Tax reform is already in hot water over border adjustability. The House GOP tax plan’s “border adjustments” would exempt exports from corporate tax but impose a levy on imports. TPC’s Howard Gleckman notes that while the idea is conceptually sound, it is already creating a firestorm of opposition from retailers and the influential Koch Brothers. Koch Industries says it supports comprehensive tax reform, but complains that  border adjustments would “adversely impact American consumers by forcing them to pay higher prices on products produced in and goods imported to the US.” The problem: TPC estimates that border adjustability would generate $1.2 trillion over 10 years that the House GOP needs to buy down corporate rates. 

There’s a new player in the tax prep business. Forbes.com reports that Credit Karma, the San Francisco-based credit monitoring firm, will compete with Intuit and H&R Block in the online tax prep biz. It promises free filing for both state and federal returns for all individual filers, regardless of income. The downside: The firm will use personal tax data to market credit cards to its filers. 

Portland, Oregon, tries to make a dent in income inequality. Its city council voted this week to raise the business tax on companies that pay their CEOs at least 100 times their median worker pay. The surtax will apply to about 550 publicly traded companies that do business in the city and pay its business income tax.

Another company will make a reverse Brexit. McDonald’s Corporation will leave its Luxembourg tax base and set up shop in the United Kingdom. Its new international holding company will manage most of the royalties received from licensing McDonald’s intellectual property rights outside the US. McDonalds will pay UK corporate tax. 

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