Chuck Schumer

Washington’s Theater of Infrastructure: The Trick Is To Get The Joke

Yesterday was a classic example of Washington theater at its best. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer left a White House...

May 1, 2019Howard Gleckman

Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms: TaxVox

The Nation’s Partisan Divide Is Infecting Tax Policy

“Don’t tax me, don’t tax thee, tax that fella behind the tree.” This bit of doggerel, attributed to the late Senate Finance Committee Chairman Russell...

May 30, 2018Howard Gleckman

Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Can Treasury Rewrite the New Tax Bill?

Last year, Congress proved it can act quickly—enacting the massive Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) just six weeks after the first version was introduced...

February 26, 2018Steven M. Rosenthal

: TaxVox

Thirty days, goodbye September, shutdown talks? Maybe in December.

About that possible government shutdown… The Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and outgoing Speaker of the House John Boehner will meet with President Obama “soon” for budget negotiations , and the House is on

September 30, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Highway Follies: The Never-ending Story

The House has a short-term patch for the Highway Trust Fund… Late Monday night, the House Ways & Means Committee released a plan to cover the Highway Trust Fund with $8.1 billion through mid-December 2015. The patch would use revenue collected by tightening IRS compliance rules. The House could

July 15, 2015Renu Zaretsky

Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Finance Committee Working Groups: Tax Reform is Hard

After six months and two extensions, the Senate Finance Committee’s five tax reform working groups presented their reports today to panel chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and top Democrat Ron Wyden (D-OR). For the most part, they reached no consensus on either specific reforms or a broad design for overall

July 8, 2015Howard Gleckman

: TaxVox

Tax Policy in September: Racing to a Grinding Halt?

Have it your way… unless you’re Burger King. Five Senate Democrats—Illinois’ Dick Durbin, Michigan’s Carl Levin, Rhode Island’s Jack Reed, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown—asked Burger King to not move its legal headquarters to lower-tax Canada. They accused it of trying to avoid

September 12, 2014Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Rules, Reform, Taxes and Wealth: No Harm in Trying?

Maybe the duck will walk again? Lawmakers are putting down their markers on anti-inversion legislation. Top Senate Democrats Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer have introduced a bill to curb “earnings-stripping” by multinational corporations—a practice where firms maximize U.S. tax deductions for

September 11, 2014Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

The Amazing [Anti-Inversion] Race

There’s tougher talk from Treasury. Secretary Jack Lew affirmed administrative authority to curb inversions, telling Bloomberg that “If Congress doesn’t act, we have to take the steps we can, which will reduce the economic value of inversions .” There’s more talk on the Hill, too. Senate Finance

September 10, 2014Renu Zaretsky

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Is Treasury About to Curb Tax Inversions on Its Own?

The Treasury Department put out the word that Secretary Jack Lew is considering regulatory curbs on corporate tax inversions, a step that may be intended to increase pressure on Congress to act once it returns from its summer recess in September. The matter of how much authority Treasury has to

August 19, 2014Howard Gleckman