Will Tax Reforming Be Forgot And Never Brought To Mind?

Congress is adjourned. The Daily Deduction will appear Mondays until it reconvenes.

Could Dave Camp's proposal and the corporate inversion debate prompt tax reform in 2015? TPC's Bill Gale considers how they might shape developments in 2015. “Camp's proposal provides the means to think seriously about tax reform. The inversion debate offers a reminder of why tax reform could be beneficial. Whether progress is made on these issues in 2015 is an open question. But despite long odds, many political leaders seem motivated to pursue it in the coming year.”

Dynamic scoring of tax bills might not matter all that much. TPC's Howard Gleckman considers the new rules crafted by the House GOP leadership. They would not require dynamic scoring for all bills, and the “qualitative assessment” required of the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office might not lead to an accurate budget score. Couple that with their call for a highly uncertain 20-year estimate of how tax changes would affect the economy. Bottom line, as Howard concludes: Projecting how tax changes affect the enormous and complex US economy is incredibly tough—no matter the method.

Governor Brownback and Kansas: A gubernatorial lesson learned? Republican governors are considering ways to avoid the Sunflower State's big budget troubles, Politico reports. Instead of huge rate cuts that were supposed to pay for themselves and instead left Brownback with a massive budget deficit, other chief executives may instead advance smaller tax cuts over extended time periods and offsets to protect revenues. Perhaps most important: They say they'll make fiscal promises they can actually keep. Tax plans will be touted as “incremental” or “evolutionary” instead of “revolutionary.” It might prove an interesting contrast with congressional Republicans, who are pushing for major rate-cutting tax reform and hope to use dynamic scoring to avoid big offsetting reductions in popular tax preferences.

Some Republican lawmakers in Minnesota are considering tax increases. Priority items such as transportation and Medicaid for frail seniors might require them. Meanwhile, Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Democratic legislative leaders have said that no general tax increase is needed in 2015. Strange tax times, indeed.

A certain capital gains tax rate dropped for capital residents. Outgoing Mayor Vincent Gray officially lowered the capital gains tax rate for DC residents who invest in DC-based technology companies. The rate will drop to 3 percent on such investments held for at least two consecutive years. There is just one catch: It is not scheduled to  take effect until 2019.

Did you miss the annual TaxVox Lump of Coal of Awards? Check out the ten worst tax ideas of 2014 presented by TPC's Howard Gleckman. There were so many to choose from that there was a tie for first place.

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