Congressional Panel Agrees To Extend Tax Cuts

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

24 September 2004

Legislation extending three key middle class tax cuts has finally been approved by a House and Senate conference and could be signed by President Bush within the next few days.

Under the agreed package, the current 10% tax bracket will be extended for six years, the child tax credit for five years, and relief from the marriage penalty for four years.

Without the new legislation, these three tax relief measures would revert to their former levels at the end of this year, meaning that an effective tax hike for a large section of the population would take place in 2005.

Congressional negotiators also approved a one year extension to current relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax.

“President Bush has made it a priority to make sure that families keep more of their own money, and we intend to deliver on that priority,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, (R-Calif.), reportedly commented after a joint House-Senate conference committee completed work on the bill late Wednesday.

The total cost of the tax package, which also included various other local and environmental tax breaks, has been calculated at $145.9 billion over ten years.

Senior Republicans forecast that the bill would pass the Senate by the end of this week or early next week.

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