Enacted Tax Legislation – Historical
Tax Legislation Timeline
- March 23, 2018: Congress Passes, President Signs $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill including Tax Technical Corrections
- Feb 2018: CRS: The 2017 Tax Act – Comparison to Prior Law
- Dec. 22, 2017: President signed the tax bill.
- Dec. 20, 2017: House voted 224-201 to give final approval to the tax bill, clearing it for the President’s signature. Senate passed the tax bill 51-48, on a straight party-line vote.
- CLICK HERE to read the Joint Explanatory Statement (report language explaining the tax agreement — scroll down to page 191)
- CLICK HERE to read the full legislative text of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
- CLICK HERE to read the UPDATED Joint Committee on Taxation revenue table.
- CLICK HERE to read the CBO Cost Estimate.
- CLICK HERE for Joint Committee on Taxation Distributional Analysis.
- July 27, 2017: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) issued a joint statement on tax reform.
- April 26, 2017: White House one-pager: 2017 Tax Reform for Economic Growth and American Jobs
- Dec. 28, 2016: TPC – “Ten Tax Policy Issues to Watch in 2017”
- March 30, 2016: IRS releases FY 2015 Data Book
- March 24, 2016: JCT released Estimated Budget Effects of the Revenue Provisions in the President’s FY 2017 Budget
- March 14, 2016: Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation’s “bluebook” estimates that tax bills passed in 2015 will add $653 billion to the federal debt — primarily from making several “tax extenders” permanent and continuing other credits and deductions for 2 – 5 years, without any budgetary offsets.
- Dec 18, 2015: Congress passed and the President signed the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill for FY 2016 and a $622 billion tax cut (10-yr cost) that makes permanent or extends a variety of expired tax credits and deductions and suspends or delays other taxes. The House passed the tax bill 318-109 and the spending bill 316-113, followed by Senate passage of the combined spending and tax package 65-33. Politico account of how the spending and tax package came together.
- HIGHLIGHTS OF THE $622 BILLION “PATH” TAX EXTENDERS BILL:
House Ways & Means Committee statement on the Tax Extenders bill (“PATH” Act)
Senate Finance Committee statement on the “PATH” Act
Legislative Language of the “PATH” Act
Section-by-section summary of the “PATH” Act
JCT Technical Explanation of the provisions of the “PATH” Act
JCT revenue estimates of the “PATH” Act
- In general, the tax bill makes 19 of the 52 so-called tax “extenders” permanent, renews the remainder for periods ranging from 2-5 years, and makes other changes at a total cost (additional federal debt) of $622 billion over 10 years
- Provisions made permanent (with modifications) include: the R&D credit; small business expensing; refundable child tax credit; AOTC college tuition credit; Earned Income Tax Credit; deductibility of state sales taxes in states w/o income tax; deduction for teachers’ supplies; transit benefits; certain commercial bldg. depreciation provisions; certain charity-related provisions; and certain real estate provisions including the low-income housing credit
- Delays the effective date of the so-called “Cadillac Tax” (on high-cost employer-sponsored health plans) from 2018 to 2020 Background on the Cadillac Tax
- Suspends for 2 years the 2.3% medical device excise tax (2016 and 2017)
- Dec. 16, 2015: Statement of Administration Policy supporting passage of the spending & tax package which it says are “largely free of new unrelated ideological riders.”
- October 9, 2015: G20 finance ministers formally endorsed OECD’s BEPS plan. Financial Times looks at winners and losers under BEPS.
- October 5, 2015: The OECD released its final package of measures to address base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), an ambitious effort to harmonize tax laws across boundaries.
- July 13, 2015: JCT releases backgrounder on Federal Excise Taxes
- June 23, 2015: JCT releases overview of provisions relating to financing Highway infrastructure
- June 22, 2015: JCT releases description of proposals on Repatriation of Foreign Earnings
- June 16, 2015: JCT releases paper on Long-Term Financing of the Highway Trust Fund
- April 1, 2015: JCT releases General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 113th Congress
- March 16, 2015: JCT releases Present Law and Selected Policy Issues in the U.S. Taxation of Cross-Border Income
- January 26, 2015: Nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation report on impact of “dynamic scoring” of tax legislation.
- January 15, 2015: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced the launch of five bipartisan Finance Committee Tax Working Groups to spur congressional comprehensive tax reform efforts in the 114th Congress. Policy focus areas for the working groups include: 1) Individual Income Tax; 2) Business Income Tax; 3) Savings & Investment; 4) International Tax; and 5) Community Development & Infrastructure. Click here for the 5 working groups and their co-chairs.
- Dec. 19, 2014: President signed HR 5771, the 2014 “tax extenders” legislation. JCT bill summary.
- Feb. 26, 2014: House Ways and Means Committee releases comprehensive tax reform plan.
- Nov.18 – 21, 2013: Senate Finance Committee releases discussion drafts on reform of business taxes:
Baucus Proposal on Cost Recovery, Tax Accounting JCT Technical Explanation
Baucus Proposal on Tax Administration JCT Technical Explanation
Baucus Proposals for International Tax Reform JCT Technical Explanation
- Aug. 21, 2013: With impending mark-ups this fall of tax reform legislation, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has begun a series analyzing the $1.3 trillion of tax expenditures (credits, deductions, exclusions and other preferences). Link here.
- May 6, 2013: JCT report to the House Ways & Means Committee on reform proposals submitted to its tax reform working groups.
- March 2013: GAO report on corporate tax expenditures
- Feb. 13, 2013: Ways & Means Committee announces tax reform working groups
- Feb. 1, 2013: JCT releases estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures
- Jan. 10, 2013: Tax Provisions in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (Tax Policy Center)
- Jan. 8, 2013: Overview of federal taxes as amended by the Jan. 2013 fiscal cliff legislation
- Jan. 4, 2013: Nonpartisan CRS summary of the fiscal cliff deal.
- Jan. 2, 2013: President Obama signed into law the “American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012” (ATRA) which, in general permanently extended the Bush tax cuts for most taxpayers, allowed expiration of the payroll tax cut, delayed automatic spending cuts “sequestration” for two months, and extended expiring unemployment insurance for one year.
CRS summary of the fiscal cliff agreement
Highlights of the January 1, 2013 Fiscal Cliff Agreement:
Makes permanent the Bush tax rates for income up to 400k for individuals and 450k for joint filers
Above that threshold the tax rate increases from 35% to 39.6%
Above that threshold tax rates for capital gains and dividends increase from 15% to 20%
Reinstates limits on the personal exemption and itemized deductions on income above 250k/300k
Extends the current estate tax exemption amount, but raises the rate to 40%
“Tax extender” provisions extended through 2013
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) permanently fixed (i.e. indexed to inflation)
Avoids the “SGR” automatic cuts (27%) in Medicare physician pay for another year
Extends through 2013 long-term unemployment benefits
Extends through FY 2013 most federal farm programs and policies, including dairy prices, in order to prevent a spike in milk prices
Delays automatic spending cuts to March 1, 2013 and reduces the required $109 billion across the board cuts in defense and nondefense spending (“sequestration”) from $109 billion to $85 billion. (It also delays until March 27 a separate $11 billion sequester of defense spending scheduled to occur because current defense spending exceeds the statutory cap set in 2011.)
