On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee approved a two-year, $95.6 billion tax extenders package by a 23 to-3 vote with Senators Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Pat Toomey (R-Penn.), and Dan Coats (R-Ind.) voting against the package. Chairman Hatch noted in his opening statement, “that this year marked the first time in 20 years that a new Congress began with the tax extenders already expired. In other words, we began this Congress with a built-in disadvantage when it comes to tax policy.”
The committee’s action places the Senate ahead of the House in renewing 52 individual, business and energy tax provisions including all of the expired AGC tax priorities. The expired provisions would be retroactively extended from 2015 through the end of 2016. Although, no Senate floor time has been scheduled to debate tax legislation – outside of provisions that raise revenue for the Highway Trust Fund – expect the full Senate to address expired provisions in the early fall.
To date, the House has approved a number of “permanent” tax bills including H.R. 636 which includes increased expensing allowances under Section 179 and the reduced recognition period for built-in gains; as well as H.R. 880 that would simplify and make permanent the research and development credit.
For more information, please contact Brian Lenihan at lenihanb@agc.org or (202) 547-4733. Return to Top