Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) released reports this week from three of the six task forces he charged with examining tax extenders.
Grassley initially said the task forces would report their findings by the end of June. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, and Grassley are hoping for solutions on which of the tax breaks should be consolidated, made permanent or allowed to sunset. Reports from committee task forces on energy and individual tax provisions did not reach definitive conclusions, according to Bloomberg BNA.
It’s expected that the Senate Finance Committee will debate its own version of tax extenders in September instead of taking up the tax package advanced by the House Ways and Means Committee in June. The Ways and Means tax extenders bill is offset by ending higher exemption levels for the estate tax at the end of 2022 instead of 2025 as currently scheduled, and that is unlikely to win support from Senate Republicans should it pass the House.
The Ways and Means Committee also advanced a measure to repeal the 21% tax on the value of so-called fringe benefits, such as free parking and mass transit assistance, that nonprofit employers offer or are required to provide to employees. NFDA as part of the ASAE UBIT (Unrelated Business Income Tax) Coalition have been advocating for repeal of this tax since it was enacted as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Repealing the tax has bipartisan support but House Democrats included UBIT repeal in a tax bill that also expands the Earned Income Tax Credit and makes the Child Tax Credit fully refundable. All of the tax bills passed out of the Ways and Means Committee in June with just Democratic support, and Democrats’ insistence so far on finding a way to pay for tax extenders by raising taxes elsewhere is a non-starter for Republicans.