Camp Introduces One-Year Tax Renewal Following White House Veto Threat

Outgoing House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., introduced legislation on Dec. 1 to retroactively renew a set of tax breaks for only one year, following a White House veto threat on a tax extender package previously brokered between Camp and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Trade supporters have eyed the tax extenders bill as a possible vehicle for Generalized System of Preferences renewal, along with other trade legislation (see 1411170027). But President Barack Obama and a chorus of Democrats assailed the Camp-Reid deal as serving predominately large corporations.

Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., praised the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, HR-5771 (here), in a statement after the bill’s introduction. “I actively and publicly opposed last week’s proposal that would have given permanent tax breaks to a relative few, while costing more than $400 billion and leaving out critical provisions that help working families,” said Levin (here). “This one-year extension avoids that damaging proposal.” Following President Barack Obama’s executive action to limit deportation of illegal immigrants, many Republicans rejected a few tax break proposals that they said would be available to the immigrants permitted to stay in the country.

The White House signaled on Dec. 1 its aim to keep hammering away at a package. “These were conversations that were taking place among people who work on Capitol Hill,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest in a news briefing. “But certainly the White House is eager to participate in discussions about economic policies, including the so-called tax extenders, and putting those policies in place in a way that would not just help well-connected corporations, but actually offer substantial assistance to working people, too.” Meanwhile, Reid threatened on the same day to keep the Senate in session through Dec. 19 (here). The one-year tax extension will mean those tax breaks will essentially expire immediately after passage.