Congress approves new tax cuts

✍ Scribed by Shirley Dennis-Escoffier

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 43 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1044-8136
• DOI: 10.1002/jcaf.10206

✦ Synopsis

The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 was approved on May 23 by a House vote of 231 to 200 and squeaked by in the Senate on a 51 to 50 vote with Vice President Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote. Small businesses will benefit from the new law's quadrupling of the expensing deduction and increase in additional first-year bonus depreciation. Individuals will benefit from significant rate reductions for ordinary income, dividends, and capital gains, as well as an increased child-tax credit and temporary relief from the marriage tax penalty and alternative minimum tax (AMT). Congress managed to fit this package within the $350 billion Senate budget limit without any tax increases by including "sunset" provisions under which many of the tax cuts last only a few years before reverting to present law.