Congressional Research Service Reports - 531 Matching Results
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- Coal Excise Tax Refunds: United States v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co.
- In 1998, a U.S. district court held that the imposition of the coal excise tax, or black lung excise tax, on coal destined for export was unconstitutional. The process of refunding the tax has been controversial. This is because some coal producers and exporters have attempted to bypass the limitations in the Internal Revenue Code's refund scheme for bringing suit under the Export Clause in the Court of Federal Claims, seeking damages from the United States in the amount of coal excise taxes paid. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held the court had jurisdiction under the Tucker Act to hear the suits and allowed them as an alternative to the Code's refund process. However, in a 2008 decision, United States v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co., the Supreme Court unanimously held that taxpayers must comply with the Code's administrative refund process before bringing suit. Meanwhile, H.R. 1762 and S. 373 would provide an alternative method for taxpayers to receive coal excise tax refunds.
- International Tax Provisions of the American Competitiveness and Corporate Accountability Act (H.R. 5095)
- No Description Available.
- Pension Reform: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001
- No Description Available.
- Taxpayer Protection and IRS Accountability Act of 2002, H.R. 3991
- No Description Available.
- Pension Reform: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001
- No Description Available.
- Taxpayer Protection and IRS Accountability Act of 2003, H.R. 1528
- No Description Available.
- The Tax Exclusion for Employer-Provided Health Insurance: Policy Issues Regarding the Repeal Debate
- Employer-provided health insurance is excluded from the determination of employees' federal income taxes, resulting in significant tax savings for many workers. The federal income tax exclusion -- the focus of this report -- is criticized for several reasons. These arguments about the exclusion merit careful consideration as Congress is starting to debate broad health care reform for the first time in 15 years. This report discusses this issue at length, including advantages and disadvantages to keeping the income tax inclusion as Congress undergoes the health policy reform process.
- Energy Tax Policy
- This report discusses the history, current posture, and outlook for federal energy tax policy. It also discusses recent energy tax proposals, focusing on the major energy tax provisions that were debated as part of omnibus energy legislation in the 108th Congress (e.g., H.R. 6), which may be reintroduced in the 109th Congress.
- Disaster Tax Relief for the Midwest
- The Midwestern Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008 is intended to assist with the recovery from the severe weather that affected the Midwest during the summer of 2008. The Jobs, Energy, Families, and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 includes some similar provisions, but these are not limited to the Midwest disaster. The disaster relief in the three bills is similar to that provided to assist with the recovery from the 2005 hurricanes and the 2007 Kansas tornadoes. This report broadly discusses the disaster relief provisions in other relevant legislation.
- Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds
- In the first days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an unprecedented number of Americans contributed over $2.7 billion in donations to assist in the relief of victims. According to a 2004 Rand Corporation study, that money amounted to only a modest share (7%) of the $38.1 billion “quantified benefits” provided to victims of the terrorist attacks. The Rand Study reported that payments worth $19.6 billion (51%) were disbursed by insurers and $15.8 billion (42%) were disbursed by government programs.
- Energy Tax Policy: An Economic Analysis
- The report provides background on the theory and application of tax policy as it relates to the energy sector, particularly with respect to the theory of market failure in the energy sector and the suggested policy remedies. This background provides a context for understanding how current or proposed energy tax policy may affect other policy objectives or be affected by such objectives.
- Tax Incentives for Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Vehicles
- No Description Available.
- Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Premiums: Fact Sheet
- Financing for social security -- Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance -- and the Hospital Insurance part of Medicare is provided primarily by taxes levied on wages and net self-employment income. Financing for the Supplementary Medical Insurance portion of Medicare is provided by premiums from enrollees and payments from the government. This report describes these taxes and premiums.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2000: Analysis of Census Bureau Data
- This report examines recent trends in retirement saving and the policy implications. The aging of the American population and the impending retirement of the "baby boom" will place significant strains over the next several decades on both Social Security and on retirees' own financial resources. With continued increases in average life expectancies, retirees in the 21st century will have to stretch their savings and other assets over longer periods of retirement than were experienced by their parents and grandparents.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions or regulations on lobbying activities of non-profit organizations. Public charities, social welfare organizations, religious groups, and other non-profit, tax-exempt organizations are not generally prohibited from engaging in all lobbying or public policy advocacy merely because of their tax-exempt status.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions or regulations on lobbying activities of non-profit organizations. Public charities, social welfare organizations, religious groups, and other non-profit, tax-exempt organizations are not generally prohibited from engaging in all lobbying or public policy advocacy merely because of their tax-exempt status.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2007
- This report discusses various issues that impact the retirement income of Americans. About half of all workers in the United States participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan of some kind, a proportion that has remained relatively stable over the past thirty years. Because the majority of assets held in retirement accounts are invested in stocks, trends in stock prices have a significant impact on households' retirement account balances.
- Comparison of Tax Incentives of Domestic Manufacturing: 108th Congress
- The enacted provision of this legislation (H.R. 4520), following the passage of the Senate’s version (then S. 1637) and the House bill (H.R. 4520) followed the Senate version, which allowed a deduction and would cover unincorporated firms as well as corporations. However, the proposal contained the broader definition of manufacturing in the House bill which included oil and gas extraction, utilities, construction, and electricity. This report discusses the provisions in these two versions of the subsidy as well as some of the issues surrounding alternative methods of providing a manufacturing subsidy.
- Comparison of Tax Incentives of Domestic Manufacturing in Current Legislative Proposals
- This report presents two approaches that have quite different implications for tax administration and Compliance. First, additional domestic investment would have both a direct tax benefit effect, and an indirect effect through increasing the ratio of domestic to world production. Secondly, if one considers the other provisions of H.R. 2896 and S. 1637, these provisions provide benefits (in some cases quite large benefits) to investment overseas that could more than offset any domestic incentive.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions or regulations on lobbying activities of non-profit organizations. Public charities, social welfare organizations, religious groups, and other non-profit, tax-exempt organizations are not generally prohibited from engaging in all lobbying or public policy advocacy merely because of their tax-exempt status.
- Tax Benefits Enacted in the 108th Congress for Military Personnel
- The Military Families Tax Relief Act (MFTRA) contains several provisions that: 1) increase the death gratuity payment and make it fully tax-exempt; 2) provide members of the military with extended time to defer capital gains resulting from the sale of their principal residences; 3) exempt from income benefits received from the Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program; 4) expand combat zone filing rules to include military personnel involved in contingency operations; 5) extend the criteria defining membership in veterans’ organizations; 6) create an above-the-line deduction for overnight travel expenses of National Guard and reserve members; and a few other items.
- Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds
- From Summary: This report also discusses the amounts of money collected and distributed by some of the larger victim relief funds such as the New York State’s World Trade Center Relief Fund Distribution, the Twin Towers Fund (established by Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City), the Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund, September 11th Fund (organized by United Way), Safe Horizons, the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund and several Firefighters and Police Relief Funds.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth: A Summary of Recent Data
- No Description Available.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth: Trends from 2001 to 2004
- No Description Available.
- Brief Facts and Statistics
- This report provides facts and statistics about Social Security that are frequently requested by Members of Congress and their staffs. It includes information about Social Security taxes and benefits, the program's impact on its recipients' incomes, federal tax receipts, federal spending and the economy, administrative information, and selected facts about Medicare.
- 527 Organizations: How the Differences in Tax and Election Laws Permit Certain Organizations to Engage in Issue Advocacy without Public Disclosure and Proposals for Change
- This report compares the tax and election laws relating to political organizations and political committees in an attempt to highlight the differences between them, and discusses some of the proposals in the 106th Congress to require additional reporting by organizations engaging in political activities. This report does not address the taxation of other tax-exempt organizations making political expenditures taxable under IRC § 527. The report will be updated as new proposals are reported.
- Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Legislation in the 109th Congress
- This report reviews the status of energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation introduced during the 109th Congress. Action in the second session has focused on appropriations bills; the first session focused on omnibus energy policy bill H.R. 6 and several appropriations bills. this report describes several major pieces of legislation, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Transportation Equity Act. For each bill listed in this report, a brief description and a summary of action are given, including references to committee hearings and reports. Also, a selected list of hearings on renewable energy is included.
- Minimum Distribution Requirements for Foundations: Proposal to Disallow Administrative Costs
- No Description Available.
- Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation:
- No Description Available.
- The Effects of Government Expenditures and Revenues on the Economy and Economic Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis
- Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
- The Effects of Government Expenditures and Revenues on the Economy and Economic Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis
- Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.