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Transportation Fuel Taxes: Impacts of a Repeal or Moratorium

Description: Steep increases in the prices of gasoline, diesel, and other transportation fuels have prompted some Members of Congress to seek to ease the effects on households and businesses. Interest has focused on possible repeal or suspension of the levying of all or part of the federal excise taxes on those fuels. Current market conditions and the small amount of tax relief incorporated in most proposals, however, raise uncertainty as to whether prices to individuals and businesses would fall and whethe… more
Date: March 28, 2000
Creator: Fischer, John W. & Gelb, Bernard A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Federal Excise Tax on Gasoline and the Highway Trust Fund: A Short History

Description: Excise taxes have long been a part of our country's revenue history. In the field of gasoline taxation, the states led the way with Oregon enacting the first tax on motor fuels in 1919. By 1932, all states and the District of Columbia had followed suit with tax rates that ranged between two and seven cents per gallon. The federal government first imposed its excise tax on gasoline at a one cent per gallon rate in 1932. The gas tax was enacted to correct a federal budgetary imbalance.
Date: March 29, 2000
Creator: Talley, Louis Alan
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Conservation Reserve Payments and Self-Employment Taxes

Description: Farmers enrolling their land in the Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) receive payments for refraining from farming their property and for engaging in certain conservation practices mandated by the Department of Agriculture. These payments are described in the contract with the Department of Agriculture as "rental payments." Farmers would like to treat the income as "rental income" because it would not be subject to self-employment taxes, but the Internal Revenue Ser… more
Date: May 1, 2000
Creator: Morris, Marie B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Recent Tax Changes Affecting Installment Sales

Description: On December 17, 1999, President Clinton signed the Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (H.R. 1180; P.L. 106-170). This Act contained revenue provisions extending several popular tax benefits such as the work opportunity tax credit, the welfare to work tax credit, and the applicability of the nonrefundable personal tax credits to the individual alternative minimum tax. To pay for the extension of these tax benefits the Act also included several tax changes that increased revenue. Among these… more
Date: May 11, 2000
Creator: Esenwein, Gregg A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Fact Sheet on Congressional Tax Proposals

Description: A general tax cut (H.R. 2488), costing $792 billion over 10 years, was vetoed in September 1999. A more narrowly focused bill (H.R. 1180) extending certain expiring provisions was adopted in December. Several tax proposals have been or are likely to be considered in 2000. The largest of these was marriage penalty legislation (H.R. 6 and S. 2346). Tax provisions are also included in health care legislation and minimum wage legislation; the latter passed the House on March 9 and included distress… more
Date: May 25, 2000
Creator: Gravelle, Jane G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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

Description: 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.
Date: June 26, 2000
Creator: Morris, Marie B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Value-Added Tax as a New Revenue Source

Description: Some Members of Congress have expressed interest in the feasibility of using a value-added tax (VAT) to either replace all or part of the income tax or finance health care reform. A VAT is imposed at all levels of production on the differences between firms' sales and their purchases from all other firms. Policymakers may be interested in the following aspects of a VAT: revenue yield, international comparison of composition of taxes, vertical equity, neutrality, inflation, balance-of-trade, nat… more
Date: July 10, 2000
Creator: Bickley, James M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Earned Income Tax Credit: Current Issues and Benefit Amounts

Description: The earned income tax credit (EITC), established in the tax code in 1975, offers cash aid to working parents with relatively low incomes who care for dependent children. The EITC is the only federal cash aid available to all working poor families with children. For eligible filers with income tax liability, the EITC reduces their taxes.
Date: September 1, 2000
Creator: Gish, Melinda
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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

Description: Virtually all political organizations are "section 527" political organizations, which means that they are tax-exempt. 527 organizations are created to influence the election or defeat of public officials. This report compares the tax and election laws relating to political organizations and political committees prior to the enactment of P.L. 106-230 in an attempt to highlight the differences between them, and discusses some of the proposals in the 106th Congress to require additional reporting… more
Date: September 7, 2000
Creator: Morris, Marie B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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

Description: Virtually all political organizations are "section 527" political organizations, which means that they are tax-exempt. 527 organizations are created to influence the election or defeat of public officials. This report compares the tax and election laws relating to political organizations and political committees prior to the enactment of P.L. 106-230 in an attempt to highlight the differences between them, and discusses some of the proposals in the 106th Congress to require additional reporting… more
Date: September 7, 2000
Creator: Morris, Marie B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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

Description: This report compares the tax and election laws relating to political organizations and political committees prior to the enactment of P.L. 106-230 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. For developments after … more
Date: September 7, 2000
Creator: Morris, Marie B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) Tax Benefit for Exporting and the WTO

Description: The Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) provisions of the U.S. tax code permit U.S. firms to exempt between 15% and 30% of export income from taxation. FSC was enacted in 1984 to replace another tax benefit for exporting - the Domestic International Sales Corporation (DISC) provisions. U.S. trading partners had charged that DISC was an export subsidy, and so violated the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). In 1998 the European Union (EU) complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO, G… more
Date: October 11, 2000
Creator: Brumbaugh, David L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Renewal Communities and New Markets Initiatives: Legislation in the 106th Congress

Description: On May 23, 2000, President Clinton and Speaker Dennis Hastert announced a bipartisan agreement on a renewal communities and new markets legislative initiative which would provide tax credits and investment guarantees designed to draw equity capital into impoverished areas. Following two months of negotiations over the specific language of the initiative, H.R. 4923 was introduced on July 24, and passed by the House under suspension of the rules the following day
Date: October 12, 2000
Creator: Mulock, Bruce K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Major Tax Issues in the 106th Congress: A Summary

Description: Taxes have been a major focus of congressional attention during the first half of 2000. In part, Congress has returned to many of the issues it addressed last year. In August, 1999, Congress passed a set of tax cuts with the Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act (H.R. 2488; TRRA). However, President Clinton vetoed the bill, arguing that the cuts were too large (an estimated $792 billion over 10 years), would drain funds from Social Security surpluses, and would force reductions in domestic spending. E… more
Date: October 19, 2000
Creator: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. Government and Fiance Division.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Energy Tax Policy

Description: The Clinton Administration’s FY2001 budget proposes several tax subsidies for energy conservation and alternative fuels: 1) solar energy tax credits very similar to those that expired in 1985; 2) a new tax credit for the cost of a new home that would meet certain energy efficiency standards; 3) a tax credit for advanced energy-efficient equipment for space heating and cooling and hot water heaters; 4) more accelerated depreciation deductions for distributed power technologies, including small e… more
Date: November 9, 2000
Creator: Lazzari, Salvatore
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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