Joint Committee on Taxation

In the Revenue Act of 1926, the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees established the Joint Committee on Taxation (“JCT”).^[1] The Joint Committee is overseen by the leadership of the two tax-writing committees,^[2] and is staffed by nonpartisan tax attorneys and economists. JCT staff provide revenue estimates for current tax laws and proposed legislation, and develop report language analyzing proposed tax legislation under consideration by the two committees. The Congressional Budget Office, in its projection of revenues and deficits, is required by the Budget Act to use JCT revenue estimates.^[3]

• JCT: Overview of the Federal Tax System as in Effect for 2023
• JCT: General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 116th Congress
• JCT: General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 115th Congress
• JCT: The 2017 Tax Revision – Explanation
• JCT:  General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in 2016
• JCT:  General Explanation Of Tax Legislation Enacted in 2015
• JCT:  General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 113th Congress
• JCT:  General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 112th Congress
• JCT:  General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 111th Congress
• JCT:  General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 110th Congress
• JCT:  “Bluebooks” Reviewing Tax Legislation 91st – 109th Congress
• JCT publications prior to 91st Congress (back to 1920)

[1] Originally established as the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation by § 1203 of the Revenue Act of 1926, 44 Stat. 9, Pub. L. No. 69-20. See also Joint Committee on Taxation, Overview, accessed Jan. 8, 2023, https://www.jct.gov/about-us/overview/.

[2] See https://www.jct.gov/about-us/committee-members/.

[3] Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, § 201(f), 2 U.S.C. § 601(f), which provides, “For the purposes of revenue legislation which is income, estate and gift, excise, and payroll taxes (i.e., Social Security), considered or enacted in any session of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office shall use exclusively during that session of Congress revenue estimates provided to it by the Joint Committee on Taxation. During that session of Congress such revenue estimates shall be transmitted by the Congressional Budget Office to any committee of the House of Representatives or the Senate requesting such estimates, and shall be used by such Committees in determining such estimates.”