Republicans introduce new version of end-of-year tax bill with an eye toward speedy passage – By Colin Wilhelm (washingtonexaminer.com) / Dec 10 2018
House Republicans introduced new end-of-year tax legislation Monday to reform retirement savings, delay Obamacare-related taxes, and provide technical corrections to the tax overhaul President Trump signed last year.
The bill also provides tax benefits related to natural disasters, including last month’s wildfires in California, and provisions to reform the Internal Revenue Service — which initially looked to be dropped.
Much of the legislation, tucked into a separate but unrelated bill to ease its path to becoming law, resembles a similar bill introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady R-Texas, two weeks ago. But gone are extensions of expired temporary tax credits, known as “extenders,” for various industries, ranging from horse racing to NASCAR to clean energy.
The bill would now loosen rules prohibiting religious nonprofit organizations from direct involvement in politics, and expand 529 college savings plans to apply for apprenticeships — two items aimed at increasing Republican support.
Brady acknowledged to reporters that the bill rewrite aimed to bring more of his colleagues on board after Democrats, especially in the Senate, balked at the tax bill when it was first introduced last month.
The bill also would delay several Obamacare taxes that have previously been postponed, thanks to opposition from both parties. It would delay Obamacare’s implementation of the medical device tax, a 2.3 percent tax on the industry, until 2025. Currently it is set to go into effect in 2020.
It would also suspend the “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health insurance plans through 2022, moving the date it was supposed to take effect back by another year. Another tax on health insurance would be delayed by another two years, until 2022. The GOP bill would also repeal a tax on tanning salons.
“100 percent bipartisan doesn’t necessarily move the needle for Democrats,” said Brady, a Texas Republican. “It is important that we have strong Republican support to pass this.”
Republicans need several Democrats to support the bill in order to meet the 60 vote threshold to advance legislation and avoid a filibuster in the Senate. Congressional leaders may end up adding the tax bill to either end-of-year government funding legislation, or to another in their laundry list of must-pass items in order to expedite passage.
The tax extenders, which would have allowed some companies to claim benefits retroactively, were intended in part to help build support by appealing to parochial interests, but faced opposition from a wide swath of outside groups that oppose the yearly practice of re-upping temporary tax breaks. Last week a coalition of influential outside groups from across the political spectrum, from the free-market groups Americans for Prosperity and Heritage Action to the progressive organizations Public Interest Research Groups and the Economic Policy Institute, wrote congressional leadership telling them to “end the practice once and for all.”
Though never formally scheduled, a vote on the package had been planned before the end of November, but was delayed in part because several departing Republicans were not available to vote on the bill. Attaching the bill to another expiring item with bipartisan support could avoid similar attendance issues.
But for now House Republicans will need buy-in on the other side of the Capitol to move the package.
“We’re looking for the green lights from Democrats in the House and Senate, and Republicans in the Senate for these tax provisions,” said Brady. “We are not wed to what vehicle is used to move them to the president’s desk.”
But Brady said he and his staff determined from discussions with colleagues in the House and Senate that it would be best to put the end of year push on a separate track from tax benefit extenders.
