Fairly recent -
Obama Proposal to Lower Unemployment Among Veteranshttp://levin.house.gov/press-release/levin-obama-proposal-lower-unemployment-among-veterans-important-michiganPresident Obama proposed a
broad CES in his 2011 State of the Union address.
However, it seems unlikely there will be sufficient bipartisan support for CES in Congress. Indeed, the House has been voting to rollback EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations and to defund clean energy development programs.
http://www.martenlaw.com/newsletter/20110317-calif-renewable-energy-standardsPresident Obama's $3.7 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 relies on dozens of ideas that have been previously rejected by a Democrat-led Congress and will face an even tougher road ahead under a new, larger Republican presence in the Capitol.
Obama renewed his pledge to
extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for only middle-income families at a cost of $1.25 trillion over the 2012-2021 period, as well as extending the estate tax law that was in place for 2009, where the exemption level was $3.5 million and the tax rate was 45 percent at a cost of $270 billion over 10 years.
It also includes a
$59.8 billion provision to renew and reform the lapsed Build America Bonds program, a $30 billion “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee,” and a repeal of about $20 billion in tax incentives given to the oil and gas industry. All of those ideas were unable to win the support of all of the Senate's Democrats in the 111th Congress and have already been rejected by Republicans controlling the House for the 112th Congress.
The few new proposals offered included a plan to
make portability of the unused estate tax exemption between spouses permanent, exclude from income student loan forgiveness on certain loans from the National Health Service Loan Repayment Program, and make the Federal Unemployment Tax Surtax permanent and raise the cap on the earnings subject to the tax from $7,000 to $15,000.To help people put more money into savings accounts, Obama resurrected a proposal from the last two years to
require employers with more than 10 workers to give employees an option to automatically put money into individual retirement accounts.]/b]
In a new spin to reduce the complexity of IRAs, however, Obama offered a new proposal to eliminate minimum required distribution rules for IRAs or annuity plan balances of $50,000 or less. Obama also proposed to allow all inherited annuity plans and IRAs to be rolled over to nonspouse beneficiaries within 60 days without any adverse tax consequences.
On the business tax side, the president's budget still contains a plan to assess a tax on the “covered liabilities” of the largest financial institutions operating in the United States, but the goal has shifted away from its focus on recouping potential losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and, instead, will largely seek to discourage excessive risk taking.
And much like his first two budget proposals, Obama called for
making permanent the research and development tax credit, but in a twist, this year he also called for expanding it, which would make the proposal cost $106 billion over 10 years. The way the credit is currently structured, taxpayers must choose between taking a 20 percent credit that Treasury and businesses find difficult to calculate or a “simpler” alternative research credit of 14 percent. Obama's proposal would increase the rate to 17 percent beginning Jan. 1, 2012.
On the individual side, Obama proposed
indexing to inflation the current exemption levels for the alternative minimum tax, to keep it from ensnaring more middle-income families. But the offset Obama proposed to pay for the AMT patch—curbing the rate that high-income taxpayers use to itemize tax deductions—was soundly rejected the last two years and is expected to receive the same treatment this year, especially now that Republicans control one branch of Congress.
That proposal includes
limiting the deduction on charitable donations and the popular mortgage interest deduction to 28 percent for households earning more than $200,000 ($250,000 for couples).The budget also reiterates Obama's
calls for individuals earning more than $200,000 per year to face income tax rates of up to 39.6 percent beginning in 2013. For everyone else, the lower tax rates created in 2001 under the Economic Growth and Taxpayer Relief Act would be extended permanently. The budget would also raise the capital gains tax rate and the dividends tax rate from 15 percent in 2010 to a maximum of 20 percent in 2013.
http://www.bnasoftware.com/News/Tax_News/Articles/Budget_Proposal_Relies_on_Tax_Proposals_Previously_Rejected_by_Congress.asp
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
