By Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representatives when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. There is a “trifecta” of alleged scandals, one of which involves the IRS, afflicting Washington right now. For veteran Washington scandal watchers it is likely still too early… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Tax Policy
Subscribe to Tax Policy RSS FeedUpdate on Tax Reform: Both Tax Writing Committees Looking to “Kick Start” Reform Process
Posted in Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representatives when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. Two weeks ago, the House Ways & Means Committee announced the formation of eleven bipartisan member working groups to study a range of tax reform issues and report back… Continue Reading
Update on Tax Reform: Working Towards “Regular Order”
Posted in Budget, Congress, Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representatives when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. In the face of many doubters, House Committee on Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp announced this month that he was establishing a series of subject matter, Member-level… Continue Reading
Tax Reform Moving Ahead Even As Congress Grapples with Sequestration
Posted in Budget, Congress, Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representatives when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. Skeptics are questioning whether comprehensive tax reform can happen in 2013 given the concern that Congress may use revenues needed for tax reform to avoid the so-called “sequester” cuts… Continue Reading
Chairman Camp, Ways and Means: Getting Serious About Tax Reform?
Posted in Budget, Congress, Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representatives when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. Yesterday (2/13), Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) of the Ways & Means Committee announced the creation of eleven “bipartisan working groups” to “sort out” the issues the members will… Continue Reading
Tax Reform in 2013? Maybe, Maybe Not
Posted in Budget, Congress, Legislation (Federal), Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representatives when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. Here are a few of the reasons why Congress may undertake tax reform in 2013, together with why not rebuttals: To avoid the March 1st sequester ($100.9 billion… Continue Reading
Prospects for Tax Reform are Improving
Posted in Budget, Congress, Legislation (Federal), Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representatives when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. One hesitates to predict these days what the new Congress might do in 2013-14. The past few years will not be marked by historians as a high water… Continue Reading
After ATRA: What’s in Store for Taxes?
Posted in Budget, Congress, Legislation (Federal), Tax PolicyUpdated: January 18, 3:20 pm By Joe Dowley Joe Dowley served as Chief Counsel of the Committee on Ways & Means, U.S. House of Representative when Congress last undertook fundamental tax reform. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, was quoted by BNA on Jan. 17th indicating that tax reform will go… Continue Reading
2012 Congressional Lame Duck Session: Webinar Summary and Recording
Posted in 2012 Elections, Appropriations, Budget, Congress, Legislation (Federal), National Security & Defense, Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley A momentous session of Congress looms ahead… We are carefully watching developments in advance of the elections to gauge likely directions once voters have spoken. There won’t be much time—or open deliberation—once the Lame Duck begins. Most decisions, if there are any, will come as a result of closed door meetings between Congressional leaders… Continue Reading
2012 Congressional Lame Duck Session: Webinar Notice
Posted in 2012 Elections, Budget, Congress, Legislation (Federal), National Security & Defense, Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley With the 2012 Congressional lame duck session fast approaching, there are a number of important issues for which public and private sector actors should be prepared. To help look more deeply into these topics, including a budget overview, sequestration, defense authorization legislation, taxes, and the implications of the Presidential and Senate elections, we… Continue Reading
Debate Focuses on Candidates’ Tax Plans: Kiss Those Itemized Deductions Goodbye?
Posted in Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley The first Presidential debate included a good deal of focus on the tax reform plans of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama and exposed a concept common to both that some might have missed in the hard-charging exchanges. If you itemize your deductions, depending on the level of your income, you may want… Continue Reading
Chairman Baucus on Tax Reform
Posted in Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley A relatively early, and small, step was taken today on what is likely to be a long road ahead. In a speech that amounted to a ringing endorsement of the need for tax reform, but that stopped well short of providing much more than themes, Chairman Max Baucus set forth his view… Continue Reading
New Revenues Make Up Half of Obama Budget Savings
Posted in Budget, Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Although key details have yet to emerge on corporate tax proposals, the President’s just-released budget calls for half of its $3 trillion in cuts over ten years to come from revenues. Nearly two-thirds of this $1.5 trillion would come as a result of permitting the Bush-era (2001 and 2003) tax cuts for families… Continue Reading
President Obama Unveils New Small Business “Start-up” Proposals
Posted in Budget, Legislation (Federal), Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley The Administration unveiled new proposals yesterday aimed at encouraging small business “start-ups” that build upon earlier-passed temporary tax breaks. The proposals are an effort to reach out to the part of the business sector which is responsible for “most new jobs” in the economy, according to a White House press release. The… Continue Reading
U.S. Debt Ceiling: Is Another Increase Inevitable?
Posted in Budget, Legislation (Federal), Tax PolicyBy Jim Schweiter On Thursday, January 12, the Obama Administration notified Congress that the United States is within $100 billion of reaching the federal debt ceiling, triggering a process that will result in the raising of the debt ceiling by an additional $1.2 trillion. It’s important to understand the federal debt limit and the process… Continue Reading
2012 Crystal Ball: Can This Congress Accomplish Anything Regarding the Nation’s Debt Crisis?
Posted in 2012 Elections, Budget, Legislation (Federal), Tax PolicyBy Joe Dowley Some might argue that it already has. It has put in place a budgetary “sword of Damocles” – a scheduled January 2013, 10-year “sequestration” – $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts largely to defense and other popular discretionary spending. It was passed by this Congress and its existence will dominate all other legislative activities… Continue Reading
The Inaugural Post: Welcome to the Politics, Law and Policy Blog
Posted in 2012 Elections, Cybersecurity, Energy Policy, Government Ethics, Health Policy, Infrastructure, Political Law, Tax Policy, TransportationBy Eric Tanenblatt Happy New Year and welcome to the new Politics, Law and Policy Blog: Bipartisan policy insights and political intelligence. This blog is a forum led by members of the Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, an international law and public policy firm with offices in nine… Continue Reading