White House Says President Will Veto Standalone Tax Bills

According to Congressional Quarterly (subscription required), President Barack Obama has promised to veto a series of tax cut and credit extensions favored by Republicans in Congress, including a bill, H.R. 636, the America’s Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2015, passed on a bipartisan 279-137 vote in the U.S. House last week that would extend section 179 small business expensing. (See how your member of Congress voted on H.R. 636 here.) The White House says Republicans must look for offsets – tax increases or spending cuts – to “pay for” the cost of extending the tax cuts and credits they have vowed to extend. 

So far, lawmakers are rejecting that call. Up next in the House: a bill that would permanently extend the research and development tax credit for businesses (a $181.6 billion tax cut) and to extend the state and local tax deduction (a $42.4 billion tax cut for businesses and individuals). 

While leaders in the U.S. Senate have not yet determined how they will package the various tax extensions, or when they will vote on them, the Republican majority in that chamber is likely to support the extensions without the “pay-fors” the White House wants.