Domestic Taxes

Lawmakers in both parties are already touting their favorite pet projects for inclusion in tax reform.

A new GOP effort to pass tax reform by tying it to the next increase in the nation’s debt ceiling could split Democrats.

Conservative heavyweights have "strong concerns" with the proposal to slow the growth of entitlement spending.

The issue has received such scant attention that neither John Boehner nor Eric Cantor has taken public positions.

A pair of Democratic senators has introduced legislation to permanently extend enhanced versions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the child tax credit.

The bill from Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) would also expand eligibility for the EITC and the child credit.

“Enhancing the earned income tax credit should be a bipartisan goal, as President Reagan called EITC the most effective tool in fighting poverty,” Brown said in a statement. “We need to reward Americans who work hard and play by the rules and ensure that they can work and continue to take care of their families.”

“This bill is pro-family, pro-work legislation that would permanently extend critical refundable tax credit provisions that have helped lift millions of working families out of poverty,” Durbin added.

More revenues plus less spending could equal a delayed debt-ceiling fight.

Southern Europe's economy could help drag down the north.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen's views on unemployment now center stage at the Fed.

Fed wonders if banks can handle interest rate rise.

New York looks to expedite trial of former AIG chief.

A senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee has introduced legislation to permanently extend an education tax credit beloved by many Democrats.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s (D-Texas) office says his bill would also make the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) more accessible to students with Pell grants.

“Higher education success should depend on how hard you work, not how much you can afford to spend,” Doggett said in a statement. “Making this tax cut for tuition and textbooks permanent and easier to claim for families is critical to our future competitiveness.”

The Senate advanced a bill to allow states to collect online sales tax and will vote on it May 6.

Tax writers on both sides of the aisle sounded skeptical about rolling back the deduction for home mortgage interest on Thursday, underscoring the challenge Washington faces in giving the tax code a thorough rewrite.

Lawmakers at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing called the deduction a lifeline for the middle class and a helping hand toward the American dream of homeownership.

And while both Democrats and Republicans said that the tax code needs to be made simpler, few lawmakers showed any appetite for making radical changes to the mortgage deduction, which is both popular and expensive to maintain. The tax break cost the government an estimated $68 billion in 2012, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).

Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said at the hearing that real estate taxes was “an area that needs careful, thoughtful review” and that the mortgage interest deduction had helped many potential homeowners reach their goal.

“While I often joke that the code is more than 10 times the size of the Bible with none of the good news, what I should also add is that not everything in the code is bad,” Camp said in his opening statement.

A Senate Finance Committee white paper on possible federal tax code changes for energy suggested establishing a carbon tax in place of most or all energy tax incentives.

The paper offered the carbon tax with a range of other policy options to help chip away at a Congressional Budget Office-estimated $16 billion of foregone energy-related tax expenditures in fiscal 2013.

The paper, released Thursday, came with the disclaimer that the policy suggestions “do not necessarily have the endorsement” of committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) or ranking member Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).