Smith Moving to Extend Trump-Era Tax Cuts in June

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) is working to release tax legislation by mid-June that would extend the business and individual tax provisions in the GOP’s signature 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Tax writers are still working on the package, but the business provisions are likely to include a full restoration of research and development deductions, full bonus depreciation and removing caps on business interest expensing.

The legislation could serve as a starting point for negotiations on a bipartisan tax package that could pass in a divided government, but Democrats have said they want provisions included that also expand social safety net provisions in the tax code, such as an expansion of the child tax credit.

Many Democrats are also balking at GOP plans to extend the individual tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which they say disproportionately benefit the wealthy. The Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that extending the individual provisions of the 2017 tax law – currently set to expire in 2025 – would add $2.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.

“The hypocrisy of Republicans in Washington is truly breathtaking,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wrote in an op-ed last week. “Over and over again, we hear from the Republican leadership about how deeply concerned they are about the large deficit and national debt that we have. Really?”

Smith has consistently countered that the GOP’s 2017 tax law reduced the tax burden on families and businesses while generating tax revenues of $4.9 trillion for fiscal year 2022, $900 billion higher than the CBO projected for 2022 when the bill was signed into law.

“These results show that Washington does not have a revenue problem and the path to fiscal sanity is through drastically curbing wasteful spending,” Smith said.