Everybody’s Working For The Weekend
Republican TCJA working group in the Senate, too? Taking a cue from House Ways & Means Chair Jason Smith (R-O), top Senate Finance Committee Republican Mike Crapo (R-ID) wants to establish GOP working groups to examine expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). TaxNotes reports (paywall) that before the TCJA, congressional tax writers often created bipartisan working groups. Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) plans to discuss views of that structure with committee members.
Prospects dim for the House-passed tax bill. Passed with a bipartisan majority earlier this year, the tax bill that would expand the child tax credit and restore some corporate tax breaks may not withstand opposition from Senate Republican leadership. Crapo continues to oppose the bill, and some Republicans who support it would rather address it next year, after the November election, reports The Washington Post.
IRS sets future audit rate expectations. The agency released yesterday its annual update on its work since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in Aug. 2022. The IRS also released a summary of current work and changes planned for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 across taxpayer service, tax compliance, and technology modernization. That includes plans to increase the audit rate of taxpayers earning more than $10 million annually from 11 percent in 2019 to 16.5 percent in 2026. The agency also wants to triple the audit rates of large corporations with assets over $250 million, while increasing the audit rates of business partnerships with assets over $10 million by tenfold over a seven-year period.
GOP lawmakers propose repeal of the electric vehicle tax credit. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and 18 Republican colleagues introduced a bill that would eliminate the electric vehicle (EV) tax credit worth up to $7,500 for new EVs ($4,000 for used EVs). It would also repeal the commercial clean vehicle credit and cut the investment tax credit for EV charging stations. While the bill is unlikely to advance this year, its prospects could change after November.
Iowa adopts a new flat income tax rate. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill this week that establishes a flat income tax rate of 3.8 percent. The state currently has three income tax rates ranging from 4.4 percent to 5.7 percent. The measure builds on a 2022 tax cut that would have established a flat income tax rate of 3.9 percent in 2026. The new flat rate goes into effect in 2025.
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