Every new year starts with optimism about what can be accomplished, even (or perhaps especially) in the tax world.
Then comes summer, and expectations dim.
That’s especially true on the federal law-making level in an election year. Democrats have adjusted their hoped-for pre-Memorial Day deadline to move a slimmed-down budget reconciliation bill that would implement higher taxes on the wealthy, combat climate change, and lower the cost of prescription drugs.
The same stop sign has been flashed internationally, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s global tax plan meeting resistance abroad and at home.
But there is some expected summertime movement expected on the state level.
Those three areas of tax get this holiday weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs. Here goes.
- Democrats set to blow through key date for moving Biden’s agenda, according to The Hill article by Alexander Bolton. Democrats now point to the start of the August recess as the new deadline to jump-start Building Back Better-cum-Building a Better America. Bolton writes that timetable gives them most of August to draft legislation and the month of September to pass it on the floor.
Good luck.
Also, Axios‘ Hans Nichols has a scoop on the mindset of Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who’s one of the main reasons why much of the Biden Administration’s tax agenda (and more) has stalled. Manchin is serious about moving a tax package, writes Nichols, adding that last week Manchin was “earnestly engaged in talks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over a climate, energy and deficit reduction package, reviving hopes for action this year.”
Call me when it happens.
- Yellen’s global tax plan meets resistance abroad and at home, writes the Associated Press’ Fatima Hussein, whose article was published in The Washington Post. The ranking Republicans on the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees argue the plan would make the U.S. less competitive in a global economy.
Also check out The Guardian piece by Graeme Wearden and Larry Elliott, reporting from World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They write in ‘Historic’ global tax deal on multinationals delayed until 2024 that the international finance community is having “difficult discussions” that likely mean the global tax deal could not come into force this year, as previously hoped.
C’est la taxes.
- State lawmakers, however, are having a bit better luck in changing their tax policies. In fact, reports the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s (ITEP) Just Taxes blog, Tax Discussions Heating Up as Summer Begins. ITEP says major state tax proposals and developments will be at least discussed and possibly enacted in California, Minnesota, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.
With apologies to Bob Dylan, the state tax times are a-changing.
I hope that fills your holiday weekend appetite for tax talk. Now get back to enjoying your long weekend! I am.
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