Tax Cuts And Tax Administration
Extending the TCJA would be costly. Would it matter? Bloomberg reports that the estimated $4.6 trillion cost of extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has done little to dim prospects for its renewal among Republican lawmakers or curb Wall Street’s enthusiasm. At the same time, the nation’s debt load and interest costs are heavier than they were in 2017. US government debt climbed from 76 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 to 97 percent of GDP in December 2023, while annual net interest payments climbed from $263 billion to $890 billion.
Thursday: The 14th Annual IRS-TPC Joint Research Conference on Tax Administration. The IRS and TPC invite you to attend the only annual conference focused on tax administration research. Experts from the IRS, other government agencies, academia, and private organizations will discuss some of the latest analyses seeking to make tax administration as effective as possible. Learn more and register here.
TIGTA: IRS needs a comprehensive strategy to address a huge backlog of adjustment source documents. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) notes that the backlog of documents used to adjust a taxpayer’s account reached 2.6 million in November, up 241 percent since May 2020. The IRS agreed with TIGTA’s recommendations to update and correct document inventories and develop a strategy to resolve the backlog.
If not congestion pricing in New York City, then what? TPC’s Lillian Hunter reviews the surprise decision of New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to indefinitely delay implementation of the first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan for the Central Business District in Manhattan. The plan was always going to be a political lift, but Lillian concludes that scrapping a well-researched and long-expected plan without a path forward for commuters may be the worst possible option.
A joint state forum on taxing digital products might be on the horizon. TaxNotes reports (paywall) that members of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board, the Federation of Tax Administrators, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Multistate Tax Commission have expressed interest in meeting in a collaborative forum to facilitate state taxation of digital products.
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