Washington Wire
Tax Teams and Section 199A
A couple of quick updates on the Ways & Means “Tax Team” front. First, the Main Street Employers Coalition today submitted comments making the case for a permanent Section 199A pass-through deduction.
The letter is addressed to the Main Street Tax Team, one of ten teams organized by Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith to identify solutions to the 2025 fiscal cliff, and it covers the various key aspects of the 199A debate – why …
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Elusive Tax Cheats
More evidence the campaign to target high-income taxpayers with more audits isn’t going too well. A new report by the Inspector General for Tax Administration at the Treasury Department (TIGTA) suggests the expanded audits are failing to raise the promised revenue. Here’s the WSJ’s take:
Unlike bank robbers, IRS auditors tend to look where the money isn’t. That’s what happened after the agency started scrutinizing more tax returns from the wealthiest Americans. A new …
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Defending 199A in Tax Notes
Tax Notes ran a letter to the editor this week penned by S-Corp President Brian Reardon. It responds to a recent critique of the Section 199A deduction and serves as a useful “cheat sheet” in rebutting the various claims we’ve seen over the years.
The first is that extending 199A will add to the deficit. As the piece points out:
The deduction was packaged with numerous tax hikes — the state and local tax cap, …
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Talking Taxes in a Truck Episode 38: Helping Students Read Better
Our latest podcast guest is Marc Matsoff, President of Read Naturally, a Minnesota-based company that helps developing readers of all ages.
Marc discusses the company’s fascinating history and how the S corporation structure has helped it stay in the family for three generations, as well as the various tax challenges they currently face – from the looming expiration of Section 199A to their inability to deduct their R&E tax regime.
This episode of Talking Taxes in a Truck …
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Congressman Steube Hosts Main Street Employers Roundtable
More than 20 business owners and members of the Main Street Employers Coalition convened in Sarasota, Florida yesterday for a roundtable discussion with Congressman Greg Steube. The key topic – the Section 199A deduction – was one that’s near and dear to the hearts of tens of millions of Main Street businesses nationwide, yet is scheduled to sunset at the end of next year.
The businesses …
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Main Street 199A Resources
Back in 2021, we posted all the studies and other information we’d compiled demonstrating the outsized role family businesses and other pass-through employers play in the American economy. These businesses earn the majority of business income and they employ more than six in ten private sector workers. Any conversation about the economy and American competitiveness needs to start with them.
That post was part of the fight over the Build …
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Breaking Down the False CTA Narrative
Tax Notes published a good summary of the state of play regarding the Corporate Transparency Act in last week’s edition, including highlighting the multiple lawsuits filed against the law and the several bills introduced to either delay or repeal the onerous new reporting regime. That said, a couple of items in the article caught our eye that are worth clarifying.
Compliance Costs
The article notes:
According to FinCEN estimates, businesses with simple beneficial ownership structures will spend …
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How Much is Fair?
Yesterday’s Senate Budget Committee hearing produced an interesting exchange that caught our attention. The hearing was entitled “Making Wall Street Pay Its Fair Share,” but when it came to defining exactly what “fair” means, the supposedly expert majority witnesses dissolved into an incoherent, dissembling mob.
It all started when Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) posed the question to the first committee witness, Sarah Anderson from the Institute for Policy Studies:
Sen. Johnson: What percentage of an American’s …
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