Washington, DC – Today, Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) introduced H.R. 8, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act, blocking scheduled tax increases at the end of the year by extending current income tax rates for one year.
Camp said: “This bill will stop the tax hike facing every American who pays income taxes at the end of the year and give small businesses and families the certainty they need in these tough economic times. Despite more than three years of high unemployment, the President and Democrats who control Washington are calling for higher taxes that will eliminate more than 700,000 jobs. That is the wrong direction, and I call on President Obama and Congressional Democrats to join Republicans and abandon their pursuit of job-killing tax hikes.”
Key Features of the Legislation
The legislation provides a one-year extension of the low-tax policies originally enacted in 2001 and 2003 and then extended again in 2010. This extension serves as the bridge to tax reform in 2013 and would:
- Maintain existing tax rates and thus prevent a tax hike on January 1, 2013,
- Continue marriage penalty relief,
- Maintain the $1,000 child credit,
- Maintain a 15% top rate on dividends and capital gains,
- Preserve repeal of PEP and Pease,
- Maintain the estate tax at its 2011 and 2012 parameters (indexed for inflation),
- Provide higher Sec. 179 small business expensing limits,
- Preserve certain education-related benefits; and
- Provide a two-year AMT patch (covering 2012 and 2013)
Read the full bill text here and section by section summary here.