Visit AGC’s Action Center to Urge Congress to Support Renewal of AGC-Supported Extenders
As of publication time, a deal to extend the 50 plus tax provisions that expired at the end of 2014 remained in flux, with few details available coming from the lead congressional negotiators. AGC has had a multitude of meetings with congressional offices before and after the Thanksgiving Day recess to promote our nine extender priorities. Please visit AGC’s Action Center to send a letter to your members of Congress in support of these nine extender priorities.
In a meeting with House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) on Wednesday, Chairman Brady said negotiators were approaching extenders in a three-step process: first, agree on the permanent items being sought (i.e. research and development (R&D) tax credit, deductions for teachers' out-of-pocket expenses, and the deduction for state and local sales taxes); second, agree on integrity/anti-fraud measures for the Earned Income Tax Credit and indexing for the Child Tax Credit; and third, examine what other issues might be able to get into the extenders deal. On the third point, Chairman Brady made the point about regular order, saying that items that had already been considered in some way by the Committee would get priority.
Observers believe the extender debate will leak into next week, at a time when congressional leaders are signaling that all remaining legislative priorities (i.e. highway conference bill, nominations, budget reconciliation, Syrian refugees, education reform conference and a government funding measure) would be cleared by Dec. 11. Even with the cramped schedule, there has been chatter that Chairman Brady would convene a formal markup meeting next week to take a permanent extenders package through his committee as part of the regular order edict ordered by the new Speaker of the House. AGC believes, at this point in time, the best case scenario would be a three year deal for the renewal of all expired extenders to 2017, but a likely outcome is a two-year deal for 2015 and 2016, similar to the package as approved by the Senate Finance Committee in July.
For more information, please contact Brian Lenihan at lenihanb@agc.org or (202) 547-4733.