Time to Pay Attention to Congressional Tax Proposals

For the past many years, there has been a steady stream of proposals regarding tax reform coming from Washington, D.C.  Up until now, the proposals all had one thing in common: they had no chance of being enacted due to opposing views held by the House, Senate and the President.  In fact, the last significant round of tax changes came with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, and that only happened because Congress and the President were forced to deal with some major expiring tax provisions, aka “the fiscal cliff”.

But now it’s time to pay attention.  With the House, Senate and Presidency under Republican control, it is very likely that we will see significant tax changes and maybe even some broader tax reform in 2017.  And there’s a common theme for tax policy among the Republican Congress and President-elect Trump: lower the top tax rates for businesses and individuals.

The President-elect and the House of Representatives’ “Tax Reform Blueprint” both propose to lower the top tax rate on individuals to 33%.  Also, both agree on reducing business taxes.  The House Blueprint would cap the tax rate on business income at 25%.  The President-elect wants to reduce the top tax rate on C-corporations to 15%.  There also appears to be some areas of agreement on international tax reform, which might include some incentives for corporations to repatriate foreign earnings at favorable rates.

In summary, faced with the likely prospect of lower taxes in 2017 or 2018, taxpayers should be thinking about methods to defer income (from 2016 to later years) and accelerate deductions.  And pay close attention to the tax proposals coming out of Washington D.C.  It will be interesting and things could move quickly.

Contact us if you have questions regarding the upcoming tax proposals and visit our Tax Services page to learn more about the services that we offer our clients.

You’ve heard our thoughts… We’d like to hear yours

The Schneider Downs Our Thoughts On blog exists to create a dialogue on issues that are important to organizations and individuals. While we enjoy sharing our ideas and insights, we’re especially interested in what you may have to say. If you have a question or a comment about this article – or any article from the Our Thoughts On blog – we hope you’ll share it with us. After all, a dialogue is an exchange of ideas, and we’d like to hear from you. Email us at [email protected].

Material discussed is meant for informational purposes only, and it is not to be construed as investment, tax, or legal advice. Please note that individual situations can vary. Therefore, this information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice.

© 2024 Schneider Downs. All rights-reserved. All content on this site is property of Schneider Downs unless otherwise noted and should not be used without written permission.

our thoughts on
Tax, Tax Policy BY Kirk Mitchell
Summary of President Biden’s 2025 Revenue Proposals Released in Treasury’s Greenbook
The Importance of Certified Business Valuation Professionals
Tax, Tax Impact BY Jared Sofranko
IRS Tax-Exempt and Governmental Entity New Compliance Programs
Tax BY Brianna Lundy
Employee Retention Credit: IRS’s Voluntary Disclosure Program Expiring on March 22, 2024
Pell Grant Program Facing Shortfall
Pillar Two is Here; Is Your Company Ready?
Register to receive our weekly newsletter with our most recent columns and insights.
Have a question? Ask us!

We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a note, and we’ll respond to you as quickly as possible.

Ask us
contact us
Pittsburgh

This site uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best user experience. Cookies assist in navigation, analyzing traffic and in our marketing efforts as described in our Privacy Policy.

×