It still feels like the calm before the storm, but federal lawmakers are back in town to kick off what could be a surprisingly interesting year for tax policy. Below are a few items we’ll be watching closely on behalf of the pass-through business community.

Tax Package in the Funding Deal?

The big news this weekend was the deal reached by party leaders to keep the federal government funded through 2024. The deal calls for modest increases in defense spending while keeping non-defense outlays at current levels. It also executes some of the targeted spending cuts that were agreed to in …

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Actual tax policy remains on hold in Congress (listen to our recent “Talking Taxes in a Truck” for that discussion) but there’s been some activity in recent weeks that’s worth highlighting nonetheless.  Specifically:

• Yesterday’s Finance hearing entitled, “Examining How the Tax Code Affects High-Income Individuals and Tax Planning Strategies”
• Wednesday’s Senate Budget hearing entitled, “Fairness and Fiscal Responsibility: Cracking Down on Wealthy Tax Cheats”
• A new Auten/Splinter paper examining income inequality and income shares

Here’s a quick summary of each and how it is all related to pass-through taxation.  Kind of like six degrees of separation minus …

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Massive deficits, the fiscal cliff, and Social Security’s pending insolvency are jump-starting a long overdue debate over real tax reform – specifically, how should we best reorganize the tax code to survive the fiscal hurdles we know are coming?

Three distinct voices have emerged recently to offer their views. Which offers the best hope for success? What impact would each have on small and family-owned businesses?  Here’s a review of the competing plans, together with some thoughts on how to best tax business income from the Main Street perspective. (In a follow-up post, we will put forward our own …

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