Republicans have introduced legislation that would push to make Tax Cuts permanent for individual tax payers.
This week, House Republicans are poised to release what they are calling “Tax Reform 2.0,” their update to last December’s massive rewrite of the tax code. GOP leaders promise a floor vote by the end of the month.
As a matter of substance, and against the backdrop of December’s historic changes, the new proposals are more “0” than “2.” But as a matter of politics, they put Democrats in a tough position heading into the midterm elections. Still Democrats may have some options.
Based on what we know from brochure-like previews, the centerpiece of Tax Reform 2.0 will be to “make permanent” some of the more politically appealing tax cuts passed last December. Just a bit of background is necessary to understand what this does and does not mean:
Under complex congressional rules, in order to get last year’s tax reductions through the Senate, Republicans had to insure that the revenue loss over 10 years came in under $1.5 trillion. Republicans’ wish list of cuts would have cost more than that. So they worked into the law that some tax reductions would automatically expire within the 10-year window.
This is welcome news because as we reported last week Republicans were considering not making them permanent before midterms due to being scared of political fallout.
