New Bush/GOP tax cuts going through Budget process

[papau]

While the budget itself cannot dictate the nature of the authorized tax cuts or the reconciliation tax cuts, the explanatory budget documents and the Senate debate suggest that the Senate expects the reconciliation tax cut bill to extend current law's $1,000 child tax credit (which, without extension, would drop back to $700 in 2005), marriage penalty relief, and expanded 10% bracket (both of which expire at the end of 2004) plus extension of the 15% rate for capital gains and dividends, which expires at the end of 2008.

The Finance Committee is likely to consider separate estate tax legislation similar to that proposed by Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), which would repeal the estate tax only for family-owned businesses and substitute a carryover basis regime for business assets.

Meanwhile the House reconciliation tax cut bill would also include extension of the 15% rate for capital gains and dividends through 2009.

Meanwhile our loss in the WTO and the EU's subsequent tariffs means we are finally serious about legislation to repeal the extraterritorial income exclusion, to enact tax incentives for manufacturers doing business in the U.S., and to reform international corporate tax rules (the "ETI bill") - but we Dems have added to S. 1637 a provision that would limit use of taxpayer dollars to pay for contracts that are outsourced to non-American firms and look likely to add a provision overturning Department of Labor rules on overtime pay -- SO the GOP are saying this will destroy America by forcing the GOP to not pass the WTO required tax change bill. Meanwhile in the House the Ways & Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA-22) introduced a new version of his ETI repeal bill, the American Jobs Creation Act, which differs markedly from the Senate ETI bill in its approach to international tax reform, but the new bill has "revenue raisers" - tax increases - that reduce the tax cut cost of the GOP bill to $3.8 billion (the generally noncontroversial non qualified deferred compensation (NQDC) rules that would restrict use of offshore trusts, triggers and haircuts in NQDC arrangements remain in the bill). - Other House folks like the alternative ETI repeal bill, H.R. 1769. H.R. 1769, sponsored by Representatives Donald Manzullo (R-IL-16), Charles Rangel (D-NY-15), Phillip Crane (R-IL-8), and Sander Levin (D-MI-12), which would replace the U.S. export tax system with a reduction in tax rates for domestic manufacturers. While the Thomas bill also includes some tax relief for manufacturers, its provisions also cover non-manufacturing and multi-national corporate tax rules so as to leave no Donner to the GOP behind.

And after all those mutual fund late trading fines have been paid and blasted around by the media to show corporate reform before the 04 election, the SEC is finding it hard to agree to an official do not screw the small investor rule - the Hard Close Proposal - that would require all mutual fund trade orders to be received by a mutual fund by 4 p.m. EST, in order to receive same-day pricing. Seems the GOP donor base is worried about all those Wall Street types that charge pension fund fees for using them as intermediaries and therefore may not get order completion because they are so slow - so they suggest the SEC rely on the Wall Street trusted Accountants audits of their procedures to prove that they're usually using "tamper-proof time-stamping".