Economic & Tax Policy Accomplishments for 2007

Taxes

• Secured enactment of the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007, which expands and extends the work opportunity tax credit and Section 179 business asset expensing, as part of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007. The Chamber prevented many egregious revenue offsets from being included in the bill - including retroactive application of Sale In/Lease Out (SILO) provisions, "adjustment" of tax treatment of inversion transactions, denial of deductions for punitive damages, denial of deductions for certain fines and penalties, limitations on deferred compensation, and further restrictions on executive compensation.

• Worked successfully for the introduction in the House and Senate of a bill to repeal the requirement that the government withhold 3% on all payments to contractors.  Currently the Chamber has obtained 188 cosponsors in the House.

• Organized a working group of businesses and associations to oppose rash attempts to increase taxes on partnerships by altering the treatment of carried interest. Although the Chamber has successfully slowed consideration of such legislation, Congress may take up this issue later.

Small Business

• Successfully obtained passage of two short-term extensions of SBA program authorizations. Working toward a multi-year reauthorization of SBA programs.

• Formed the Coalition for Fairness in Tax Compliance to oppose regulatory and legislative strategies that would impose excessive and obtrusive tax compliance burdens on small business owners.
• Successfully restrained congressional passage of three proposals to close the tax gap that were included in the president's budget submission to Congress. These proposals, if passed, would have excessive burdens on honest, compliant small business tax payers. The first proposal would require businesses to file information returns on payments made to corporations that provide services. The second would require information reporting on merchant credit card reimbursements. The third would require businesses to verify contractors' tax identification numbers.

• Successfully obtained passage into law the Small Business Regulatory Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2007, S. 246, as part of the Iraqi Supplemental Appropriations. This law amends the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to require an agency to prepare a compliance guide to assist small entities in complying with federal rules.

Procurement/Appropriations

• Submitted comments in support of a proposed rule that would exempt commercially available, off-the-shelf products from the domestic sourcing requirements for specialty metals at the Department of Defense.

• Removed the most onerous provisions in the Accountability in Contracting Act pertaining to companies doing business with the government.