WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today made the following statement at a Rules Committee hearing regarding H.R. 5771, a one-year extension of certain tax provisions:
“For much of this year, House Republicans have pushed forward on a plan to make a select number of corporate tax provisions permanent, at a cost of nearly $1 trillion. That included permanent bonus depreciation - at a cost of more than a quarter trillion dollars - a provision that when enacted in 2008 was never intended to be made permanent, and in fact loses its effectiveness were that to happen, according to CRS.
“Left behind in their plan were a whole series of provisions important to working families and small businesses - including provisions like the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief and the New Markets Tax Credit. And continuations of the expansions of the EITC and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit.
“We opposed that plan because it was fiscally irresponsible and it would have threatened many provisions vital to working families and small businesses.
“This one-year extension avoids that damaging plan. What’s more, it avoids a proposal almost as damaging that emerged last week that would also have given permanent breaks to a relative few, while costing more than $400 billion and leaving out critical provisions that help working families.
“I actively and publicly opposed last week’s proposal and the President issued a veto threat.
“In a matter of just weeks, millions of American workers and business owners are set to begin filing their tax returns - failing to act on extenders in this Congress threatens to disrupt the filing season and leave taxpayers with yet more uncertainty about which deductions and credits they are able to take advantage of.
“I want to say a word about a provision that is not in this package. The Health Coverage Tax Credit for more than a decade has provided vital health insurance assistance for workers laid off through no fault of their own as a result of trade agreements. It is critical it - along with the entire Trade Adjustment Assistance - be renewed before the end of this year, and I have introduced legislation along with Reps. Charlie Rangel, Adam Smith and Derek Kilmer to do just that."
