Key Takeaways
- Tax Legislation
- IRS
- Tariffs
- International
- In the Courts
- Strawberry Parfaits!
Tax Legislation
How much will you save or lose with Trump’s ‘big’ tax bill? – Szu Yu Chen, Shelly Tan, Rachel Lerman, and Jacob Bogage, Washington Post:
Besides extending those tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit high earners, the measure also would reduce spending on safety net programs, which benefit low-income households.
All told, the measure would mark a significant shift in federal benefits from low-income to high-income households, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and other independent analyses.
What House and Senate Republicans can’t agree on in Trump’s tax bill – Jacob Bogage, Washington Post:
Trump’s massive tax and immigration measure would extend nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts from his first term, while also ending taxes on tips and overtime and spending hundreds of billions on immigration enforcement and national defense.
Republicans broadly agree on those proposals, but GOP lawmakers in the House and the Senate have struggled to reach consensus on how to pay for them and on other policies that touch on child care, business investments and climate change — programs that could dramatically alter the economy and the federal government.
Trump Warns GOP: No Vacation Until Tax Megabill Is Done – Richard Rubin & Siobhan Hughes, Wall Street Journal:
Senate GOP leaders are revising their version in advance of potential votes later this week, searching for a mix that can garner a majority in the chamber, which is divided 53-47. Anything that gets through the Senate must pass the House, which is divided 220-212 in Republicans’ favor; any subsequent House changes would require another Senate vote. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave Washington for a recess next week but signaled they were prepared to stay to finish the bill.
Trump Amps Up Pressure on GOP Holdouts on His Massive Tax Bill – Alicia Diaz, Erik Wasson, and Cam Kettles, Bloomberg ($):
Among the remaining areas of contention is increasing the state and local tax deduction, a critical issue for House lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and California. Other unresolved issues include fights over Medicaid and the size of spending cuts.
White House ramps up sales pitch for Trump tax plan – Jordain Carney, Politico:
The legislation is far from finalized, but the Council of Economic Advisers is sending its first analysis of the Senate bill to Congress Wednesday. The report obtained by POLITICO is based on the Senate Finance Committee draft released last week.
Senators to Watch on Tax Megabill as GOP Leaders Hunt for Votes – Lillianna Byington, Bloomberg ($):
If Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) wants to bring the measure (H.R. 1) to the floor this week, he’ll need to secure the votes of at least 50 of the 53 GOP senators in the next few days. (Vice President JD Vance could cast the tie-breaking 51st vote.) That could be a challenge as some senators have reservations about the package, with some opposing cuts to Medicaid while fiscal hardliners who worry it would explode the deficit are lobbying for deeper reductions.
Bessent Predicts Republicans Reach SALT Truce in 48 Hours – Cam Kettles & Nacha Cattan, Bloomberg ($):
“Both sides are working through and I think that we’ll have a solution to that in the next 24-48 hours,” Bessent told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Lobbyists Are in ‘Mad Dash’ to Influence Senate GOP Tax Bill – Chris Cioffi, Bloomberg ($):
After months of waiting, House and Senate versions of legislation renewing much of the 2017 tax law are out. That’s kicked into high gear interests from companies seeking to preserve clean-energy credits, universities aiming to protect their endowments, and a slew of others.
Republicans want the legislation on President Donald Trump’s desk in a matter of days; a vote in the Senate is expected this week.
Senate GOP’s tax cuts projected to cost $4.2T — with costly SALT deal pending – Brian Faler, Politico:
That’s already more than the $4 trillion that House Republicans say they’re willing to spend on tax cuts, and it doesn’t include the cost of a hoped-for deal to loosen a controversial cap on state and local tax deductions that would likely add hundreds of billions of dollars more. It’s unclear whether the House will be willing to swallow the higher price tag.
Senate GOP Tax Cuts Cost $4.2 Trillion, Scorekeeper Says – Chris Cioffi, Bloomberg ($). “The tax portions of the Senate’s wide-ranging bill now under discussion would reduce federal revenue by about $4.2 trillion in the next decade when using traditional scoring methods, Congress’ official tax scorekeeper said.”
How Senate Parliamentarian Rulings Shrink the GOP’s ‘Big’ Bill – Lillianna Byington, Bloomberg ($):
Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has so far found that dozens of provisions, from space shuttles to electric vehicle contract changes, don’t comply with the Byrd rule. But it might not be fatal for all of the provisions as some GOP senators say they are working on tweaks.
Republican Move to Mask $3.8 Trillion Tax-Cut Cost Rings Alarms – Jarrell Dillard, Bloomberg ($):
Republicans are using a fast-track legislative process known as reconciliation, which will allow them to make President Donald Trump’s 2017 income-tax cuts permanent without Democratic support. The cost of such legislation has long been measured by comparing it to what would otherwise happen to the federal budget under the current law.
Senate Republicans want to start with a different assumption: that the current policy remains in place indefinitely. In that case, extending the 2017 tax cuts beyond 2025 wouldn’t add anything to federal deficits — because they’re simply maintaining the status quo. The Joint Committee on Taxation tallied a $3.8 trillion hit to deficits from keeping the 2017 rates in place another decade.
Solar Stocks Soar as GOP Mulls Changes to Tax Credits in Bill – Ari Natter & Erik Wasson, Bloomberg ($). “Shares of solar companies surged after a Republican Senator said lawmakers are discussing changes to a provision in President Donald Trump’s broad spending bill that would abruptly end tax credits for rooftop panels.”
Public Land Sales Blocked From Inclusion in Trump’s Tax Bill – Ari Natter, Bloomberg ($):
The parliamentarian ruled the proposal — which would have raised billions through the sale of as much as 3 million acres of federal land — is outside of the scope of the fast-track budget process Republicans are using to pass the legislation implementing a $4.2 trillion tax cut.
GOP Budget Would Protect US From OECD Taxes, Rep. Says – Stephen K. Cooper & Dylan Moroses, Law 360 ($):
…
Rather than starting a "tax war" with countries racing to lower rates and attracting businesses, he advised that "cooler heads" should figure out how to move forward "so that we make sure that we continue to have a good, strong global economy that has a good focus on what are the tax policies that we ought to follow."
Estes Advocates for House Version of Revenge Tax – Cady Stanton, Tax Notes ($):
“Some of those tweaks that the Senate have talked about may go backwards in terms of looking at, like, raising the tax rates and other provisions that I think can be detrimental as we move forward,” House Ways and Means Committee member Ron Estes, R-Kan., told reporters June 24. “I like the version that came out of the House.”
Rural Hospital Fund Talks for Tax Deal Persist Amid Scrutiny – Erin Durkin, Bloomberg ($):
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) floated the idea of a provider relief fund last week that would be reserved for rural hospitals, community health centers, and nursing homes. On Tuesday, she and other Senate GOP lawmakers said discussions were ongoing despite questions from some Democratic lawmakers and policy experts about how effective a fund would be. When questioned about the level of funding, Collins said she is asking for “far more” than $20 billion.
IRS
IRS Lost Over 25 Percent of Workforce, Taxpayer Advocate Says – Benjamin Valdez, Tax Notes ($):
Collins, in her midyear report to Congress released June 25, estimated that a total of 26,441 IRS employees departed the agency between January 25 and June 4, with most of the departures occurring through the deferred resignation program.
Trump's budget bill could complicate 2026 tax filing season after IRS cuts, watchdog warns – Fatima Hussein, Washington Post:
The IRS workforce has fallen from 102,113 workers to 75,702 over the past year, according to the latest National Taxpayer Advocate report to Congress. The report Wednesday offered the first official numbers on the IRS job losses associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
IRS Planning for Tax Bill Implementation Underway, Official Says – Caleb Harshberger, Bloomberg ($):
“The consideration and developing the implementation plan started over six weeks ago. We sat down with these career technical experts, looped in working groups that include IRS Chief Counsel,” Derek Theurer, counselor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, said at the Bloomberg Tax Leadership Forum in New York. “So that process is already underway.”
Staffing Cuts Slow IRS FOIA Processing – Lauren Loricchio, Tax Notes ($):
Because so many employees participated in the deferred resignation program, “we have lost many of our experienced [FOIA functional coordinators] and new people are being trained to take over. This is causing a delay in processing the backlog of FOIA requests,” an employee in the IRS Disclosure Office told Tax Notes via email.
Exempt Org Audits Not Expected to Rise Amid IRS Staff Losses – Benjamin Valdez, Tax Notes ($). “Practitioners say they don’t expect historically low audit rates on tax-exempt organizations to rise as the IRS loses staff and funding but caution that the Trump administration has several other tools to challenge the nonprofit sector.”
Tariffs
Toys are getting pricier as tariffs kick in – Abha Bhattarai, Washington Post:
Although the full effect of President Donald Trump’s new import taxes has yet to show up in economic data, analysts say the toy industry — which relies on a steady flow of relatively low-priced imports — offers clues into how higher costs could soon ripple through the economy.
30 Groups Call for Fixes to Steel, Aluminum Tariff Regime – Asha Glover, Law 360 ($). “The U.S. Department of Commerce should improve the process under which steel and aluminum imports are subject to tariffs to minimize unintended consequences, the National Foreign Trade Council and other industry groups said in a letter released Tuesday.”
International
US Won't Stand in Way of Domestic Min. Taxes, Official Says – Kevin Pinner, Law 360 ($). “The U.S. government wants to preserve other nations' ability to levy domestic minimum taxes on American multinational corporations' local income while ensuring countries can't apply international rules to make those companies pay a minimum rate everywhere they operate, a U.S. Treasury Department official said Tuesday.”
More Countries Want to Address Credits Under Global Tax, US Says – Lauren Vella, Bloomberg ($). “More countries involved in international tax pact negotiations want to address the treatment of certain kinds of incentives under the global minimum tax, a US official said.”
In the Courts
Eaton Defends Refusal to Hand Over Records in Sixth Circuit – Amanda Athanasiou, Tax Notes ($). “An Ohio district court failed to properly balance competing IRS and foreign interests when it ordered Eaton Corp. to produce employee performance evaluations as part of a transfer pricing investigation, the company told the Sixth Circuit.”
What Day is it?
Finally, the day of my dreams, National Strawberry Parfait Day. Not coincidentally, it’s also National Day of Joy.
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