House adopts a $1.6 trillion discretionary spending cap for fiscal year 2023. This sets the stage for Appropriations subcommittees to begin marking up spending bills next week. House leaders hope to pass their version of a spending package before the August recess. The Senate is likely to move…more slowly.
Will EV tax credits make their way into a budget bill? Sen. Joe Manchin hit the brakes on a $7,500 tax rebate for electric vehicle buyers that was included in the House-passed version of the Build Back Better Act. Other Democrats are trying to revive the idea. Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan says the tax credit remains on the table. But TPC’s Thornton Matheson cautioned that “there’s still a very long way to go. It would be a lot more efficient, by any measure, to use a carbon tax to incentivize electric vehicle purchases… .Instead of making the electric vehicles cheaper, make fuel more expensive.”
Rick Scott walks back his tax increase plan. After months of controversy, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) now says his Rescue America 2.0 plan would not raise taxes on low- and moderate-income Americans. But he still insists “Able bodied Americans under 60, who do not have young children or incapacitated dependents, should work. We need them pulling the wagon and paying taxes, not sitting at home taking money from the government.”
Arrested: A South Carolina businessman who pocketed $224,000 in sales taxes. The South Carolina Department of Revenue alleges he failed to remit sales tax on $3.7 million in customer purchases from 2016 to 2021. The state also alleges he operated without a retail license and used several bank accounts to conceal his own purchases. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $60,000.
Excuse me: New Zealand plans to tax the gas of sheep and cattle. The country is home to 5 million people, 10 million cattle, and 26 million sheep. Nearly half of the nation’s greenhouse gases come from agriculture, mainly methane, but it has exempted these emissions from its carbon trading system. New Zealand would be the first country to charge farmers for methane emissions, starting in 2025. The plan would also offer incentives to farmers who reduce methane through feed additives or who plant trees.
Next Thursday, June 16, tune in to the 12th Annual IRS/TPC Joint Research Conference on Tax Administration. The virtual conference highlights researchers from the IRS, other government agencies, academia, and private organizations who will present their latest analyses of ways to make tax administration as effective as possible. Learn more and register here.
For the latest tax news, subscribe to the Tax Policy Center’s Daily Deduction. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekdays at 8:00 am (Mondays only when Congress is in recess). We welcome tips on new research or other news. Email Renu Zaretsky at [email protected].