Domestic Taxes

Immigrant families in Detroit, Columbus and Cincinnati on Wednesday gathered outside public buildings holding signs with the slogans "We love taxes!" and "Viva Taxes" in an effort to show that immigration reform would bring needed revenue to the government. 

Similar demonstrations are planned for Thursday, Tax Day, in San Francisco and Washington, DC. Read more...

The struggling housing market requires a watchful eye as the economy begins to rebound, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a joint House-Senate panel Wednesday. 

Bernanke is concerned about the housing market that has continued to see rising foreclosure rates that lead to falling prices, combined with a lag in new construction starts.

Despite the White House's repeated promises to keep taxes low for the middle class, 63 percent of Americans say they expect their taxes to increase in the next year, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday. 

Only 4 percent expected their taxes to decrease while 30 percent expected no change. Answers to the question, last asked in 1994 after Republicans took over majorities in the House and Senate, were generally consistent across income levels but varied by political affiliation.  

In each income bracket, the majority of respondents expect their taxes to rise -- 74 percent of those making more than $75,000 a year, 64 percent making between $30,000 and $74,999 and 53 percent making $30,000 or less.

When the question was last asked 16 years ago, 35 percent expected their taxes to rise, 20 percent expected them to go down and 41 percent expected no change. 

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday introduced legislation that essentially bans airlines from charging a fee for carry-on bags. 

The bill is in reaction to Spirit Airlines' recent announcement that it would charge passengers $45 for each bag brought onto their airplanes. 

"When you charge for a carry-on bag it is a slap in the face for anyone who flies," Schumer said, adding, "We're fed up with airlines that keep nickel and dime-ing the passengers from departure to arrival." 

President Obama on Wednesday predicted lawmakers would put aside their partisan differences and create a financial reform bill that Democrats and Republicans could support. 

"I am actually confident that we can work out an effective bipartisan package that assures that we never have 'too big to fail' again; that consumers are adequately protected when it comes to financial instruments...; that we have a strong mechanism to regulate derivatives," he said. 

Obama's comments came before talking with Democrat and Republican members on financial reform.

Michael Mundaca, Assistant Treasury Secretary for tax policy, on Tuesday told Ways and Means members that President Obama's budget proposal to repeal several tax breaks used by the oil and gas companies would not affect the hiring decisions of these businesses. 

"The amount of tax incentives we are proposing to repeal are less than 1 percent of the revenue generated in the oil and gas industry," he said. "We don't think it will have a significant affect on prices, so we don't see that there will be a significant [knock] with respect to employment." 

Mundaca's comment came during a committee hearing on creating jobs by promoting green energy.  Read more...

Expiring tax breaks for dividends will be in the spotlight this year thanks to Wall Street’s rally and record deficits.

Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters on Tuesday that by Memorial Day he wants to pass a small business jobs bill as well as legislation extending several expired tax breaks.

"My hope is we can pass both of them in the next 6 weeks," he said, adding, "we've got to get them done."  Read more...

With a slew of job-creation bills on the agenda, lawmakers will face a difficult time finding ways to pay for legislation following passage of a paid-for healthcare law.

Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe said expanding spending in the comprehensive healthcare law has essentially robbed other bills of valuable offsets. The move could stall legislation, including a small business jobs package backed by Snowe.

Several offsets were shifted from the tax extenders and other bills to help pay for the healthcare measure, including the black liquor provision. 

"A lot of the offsets that were used for unemployment benefits and the tax extenders were utilized for healthcare reform in order to expand it," she told reporters Tuesday. "That reverberates, it affects other issues critically important like unemployment benefits and the tax extenders."

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Tuesday introduced legislation providing protections to taxpayers. 

"This legislation helps taxpayers who are struggling in this economy by making it easier to enter into payment arrangements with the IRS," Lewis said in prepared remarks. "It also helps low-income taxpayers by improving IRS services available to them and helps small businesses and nonprofit organizations by relaxing the record keeping requirements for employer-provided cell phones." 

Lewis chairs the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, a group that supervises the IRS.