How do the GOP presidential candidate tax plans stack up against one another? TPC tells the story in two charts.
International tax reform takes the congressional stage next week. The Ways & Means Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, February 24, to explore the current global tax environment and ideas for reforming the US international tax system. Also on the Hill: On Tuesday, OMB director Shaun Donovan will testify on the federal budget before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Appropriations, Financial Services and General Government.
As for the GOP and spending bills… House and Senate leaders wanted to pass 12 spending bills before the fall elections—which basically means this summer, since Congress will be on extended recess beginning in July. But now, it will be nearly impossible to meet this schedule, given the fracas over a Supreme Court nominee and spending disputes between House GOP hard-liners and their leadership. GOP House Appropriations committee member Tom Cole insists Congress will pass those bills for the first time in 20 years, but acknowledges the internal GOP conflict. “If you want to change this stuff, go win the presidential election. That’s actually a [lot] more helpful.”
Speaking of helpful things in an election year. Have you set aside time for next week’s TPC forum on tax policy in 2016? Are you curious about how tax policy will shape up as the year progresses? What role will it play in the election? Are we situated for a major reform in 2017? TPC hosts a conference next Thursday at Brookings to cover these questions and more. Keynote speakers are House Ways & Means Chair Kevin Brady and the Senate Finance Committee’s top Democrat Ron Wyden. If you can’t be there in person, you can watch the live webcast.
The feds shut down a tax prep chain. A federal court in Chicago shuttered Servicios Latinos, Inc. The national chain has about 84 stores in 30 states, and prepared 42,000 income tax returns since 2012. But the Treasury alleges that the company falsely claimed child tax credits and Earned Income Tax Credits, claimed incorrect filing statuses, and reported wrong income and expense figures. As a result, the IRS estimates that the US lost more than $4.7 million in 2014 alone.
The late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia... He was well known for his trenchant and often acerbic opinions. But he also had a legendary sense of humor, which seemed to come out in, of all things, tax cases. Bloomberg BNA's Syd Gernstein has some highlights.
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