Domestic Taxes

State and local governments would have to provide more information about their public pension fund liabilities under legislation introduced today by three House Republicans.

The Obama administration on Thursday issued additional guidance designed to make it easier for small businesses that provide health insurance coverage to their workers to claim a tax credit. 

The latest update clarifies which firms qualify for the new tax credit available this year, including for-profit and nonprofit organizations and those employers that pay a portion of employees' healthcare costs through a broad range of contribution arrangements, religious institutions and certain smaller businesses that cover their workers through multi-employer health plans, according to a release from the Treasury Department. 

This year, small businesses with fewer than 25 employees paying average yearly wages below $50,000 that pay for most of their employees’ health coverage may qualify for a tax credit of up to 35 percent of health expenses.   

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the tax credit will save small businesses $40 billion by 2019. 

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) said Thursday that he expects Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) will be the next chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

"My prediction is that Mr. Bachus will be the next chairman of the Financial Services Committee; that's the bottom line," he told the Consumer Federation of America, which is meeting in Washington. Neugebauer is a member of that committee, which will oversee the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform package.

A representative of Americans for Tax Reform warned Republican members of the president's deficit commission Thursday not to vote in favor of the commission plan when it comes up for a vote Friday, because the plan would raise taxes.

Incoming House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp (R-Mich.), Rep. Jeb Hansarling (R-Texas), outgoing Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) are all on the panel and have signed ATR's Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would permanently extend expiring middle-class tax cuts and provide relief for more than 20 million taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax. 

The House is expected to vote on the measure as early as Thursday, House Democratic leaders have said. Although the measure could pass the House, it's unlikely to garner any Republican support because it doesn't include an extension of all Bush-era tax cuts. 

Republicans and Democrats from both sides of the Capitol sat down earlier today with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Jacob Lew, White House budget director, to discuss a compromise on the expiring tax cuts. 

The measure permanently extends income tax breaks for households making $250,000 a year or less, along with permanently lowering the capital gains and dividends rates for the same income group at a cost of nearly $100 billion over 10 years. 

The House will vote Thursday on legislation to permanently extend tax cuts only on the middle class.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) has the stomach to go "toe-to-toe" with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) as the new chairman of the Financial Services Committee, according to the chairman of the American Conservative Union.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he and Republican Sen. Mike Johanns (Neb.) agreed Monday on the Senate floor to work out a compromise to legislation to repeal a tax-filing provision in the healthcare law.

The two spoke after the Senate voted down their rival proposals for repealing the provision. 

Baucus told The Hill he would call Johanns on Tuesday in an effort to reach a deal. 

Senate Democrats and Republicans agree that the healthcare law's 1099 filing provision -- which requires small business to file tax forms on supply purchases of $600 or more with a single vendor -- should be eliminated but they've presented different ways for doing so. 

The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday night on two different approaches to repealing a new 1099 requirement for business, none of which are expected to gain approval. 

To pass, the amendments all require 67 votes, a difficult threshold to meet with Democrats and Republicans split on how and if to pay for the change to the healthcare law.

Neither amendment — one by a Democrat and the other by a Republican — is expected to be approved, Senate aides said. 

Lawmakers are in agreement about eliminating the 1099 provision, which would require businesses to report all supply purchases of at least $600 or more with one vendor. 

Sen. Mike Johanns's (R-Neb.) amendment to repeal the 1099 provision is offset with unspent and unobligated federal dollars, to be identified by the Office of Management and Budget. 

Johanns tried to push through the repeal earlier this fall, but his fellow lawmakers asked him to change how he paid for the bill.

"My amendment boils down to using about 5 percent of these funds," Johanns said on the floor today. 

Wall Street's power brokers packed Elizabeth Warren's schedule during her first six weeks as head of the newly formed consumer protection agency.

Warren, the new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and an advocate of tough financial regulation, has met either on the phone or in person with the chief executives of some of the largest firms, including American Express’s Kenneth Chenault, Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit, J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Niall Booker, HSBC-North America and Ed Clark of TD Bank, among other, according to her schedule released Wednesday by the Treasury Department charting her appointments starting Sept. 20. 

One of the more detailed entries show Warren also meeting with Richard Davis, the chief executive of U.S. Bancorp, at Old Ebbitt Grill, a Washington restaurant near the White House.