Tax Policy - The S Corporation Association

IRS Ramps Up

Doug Holtz-Eakin has a thoughtful blog post this week on the deterioration of our “voluntary” compliance tax system.

Whenever the term “voluntary” is used when discussing taxes, the tendency is for the audience to bust out laughing. Okay, sure, but it’s a real concept that used to be the heart of our tax system. Rather than send tax collectors door-to-door to make collections, our system relied on taxpayers calculating their own liability and then sending in the appropriate amount.

It was fairly unique in the world yet, as Doug points out, our compliance rate consistently ranks at the top at a solid …

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admin2023-10-19T17:21:26+00:00October 19, 2023|

Tax Implications of the Speaker Battle

Last week, eight House Republicans, led by Representative Matt Gaetz (FL), voted with the entire Democratic conference to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy. What implications does this action have for Main Street businesses and tax policy? Here’s our take.

Short-Term Tax Outlook

When the House votes for a new Speaker and gets back to business, its focus will return to those remaining appropriations bills necessary to fund the government. Last month’s CR gave Congress an extra 45 days (until November 17^th) to get them done and, at the time, we expected those efforts to crowd out other priorities, including consideration of the …

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admin2023-10-09T16:54:29+00:00October 9, 2023|

Our SALT Parity Campaign Back in the News

Richard Rubin is out with a new piece in the Wall Street Journal that highlights just how successful our SALT Parity efforts have been. The article centers on an upcoming Tax Policy Center analysis which finds these reforms save businesses $15-20 billion each year, double what the Journal estimated last year.

As longtime readers know, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) imposed a $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local tax (SALT) deductions taxpayers can claim on their federal return. While C corporations were exempted from the cap, most pass-through businesses owners were subjected to …

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admin2023-08-29T14:59:48+00:00August 29, 2023|

Section 199A Reality Check

Chuck Marr, who heads up tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, took to Twitter recently to slam the Section 199A deduction. It’s a perfect example of the empty rhetoric deployed by critics of the provision:

There’s a lot to unpack here so we’ll start from the top. First, Marr is correct that pass-through businesses do not pay the corporate tax – they pay tax at individual rates.

These days, that’s a critical distinction, as the 37-percent top individual rate is well above the 21-percent corporate rate. So are …

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admin2023-08-17T17:52:24+00:00August 17, 2023|

Support for 199A Reaches New Heights

The effort to make permanent the Section 199A Main Street business deduction just hit a significant milestone.

In just two weeks the Main Street Tax Certainty Act (H.R. 4721), introduced by Congressman Lloyd Smucker, has garnered the support of more than 100 House cosponsors. Among those backing the legislation are Democratic Representatives Henry Cuellar (TX) and Josh Gottheimer (NJ), and all 25 Republican members of the Ways & Means Committee.

Section 199A was enacted in 2017 to encourage job creation and new investment by private businesses. It also helps private companies compete with large, publicly-traded corporations. Without the deduction, pass-throughs would …

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admin2023-08-01T14:36:44+00:00August 1, 2023|