This information is being passed around the Hill:
As you know, and since a number of offices have asked for more details, the Senate is attaching the Treasury bailout to the AMT patch/tax extenders bill (H.R. 6049) that passed the Senate 93-2 last week. Note that this language contains far more tax relief than tax increases (i.e., it is a net tax cut by tens of billions of dollars). Americans for Tax Reform remained silent on the Senate-passed extenders bill and said it was NOT a taxpayer pledge violation. The tax extenders section contains such things as:
- One-year AMT “patch” that passed the House last week;
- About $15 billion over ten years in alternative energy tax extensions;
- About $42 billion in (mostly) two-year extensions of various non-energy tax provisions (research and development, state and local sales tax, etc.);
- Mental health parity language that passed the House last week;
- About $8 billion over ten years in disaster tax relief that passed the House last week; and
Nearly $42 billion in tax increases over ten years on oil and gas production, unemployment insurance, and investment income.According to the Senate Steering Committee, the legislation also contains a number of provisions that may be construed as “tax earmarks.”…