Private, no accountPrivacy details: browsing privately, no account needed
You're browsing privately, no account needed. Your region stays in this session and your precise location is never stored.What we store
H.R. 15 · 112th CongressIn committee

Middle Class Tax Cut Act

Latest action. Motion to Discharge Committee filed by Mr. Walz (MN). Petition No: 112-6. (<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/112/lrc/pd/petitions/DisPet0006.xml ">discharge petitionA House maneuver that forces a bill out of a committee that refuses to act, if 218 members, a majority, sign on publicly.Read the full definition (opens a new tab)</a> text with signatures.) · December 4, 2012

Live record from Congress.gov, updated as the official record changes.
What this bill would do
Official summary · Congressional Research Service

Middle Class Tax Cut Act - Extends through 2013 for a taxpayer whose income is $200,000 or less ($250,000 for married couples filing a joint return): (1) the tax rate reductions and other tax benefits of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and (2) the reduction in the tax rate for dividend and capital gain income enacted by the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. Increases income tax rates and phases-out personal exemptions and itemized deductions for certain high-income taxpayers.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2013: (1) the increased American Opportunity tax credit, (2) the increase in the refundable portion of the child tax credit, (3) the increased earned income tax credit percentage for three or more qualifying children, (4) the disregard of tax refunds in determining eligibility for federal and federally-assisted programs, and (5) the election to expense depreciable business assets.

Extends for one year: (1) the increased exemption amount for the alternative minimum tax (AMT), and (2) the offset against the AMT of certain nonrefundable personal tax credits.

Provides that the budgetary effects of this Act shall not be taken into account under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on July 30, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

Status
Introduced
July 30, 2012
In committee
December 4, 2012
Passed a chamber
Cleared Congress
Enacted
Where this sits in the process
Common questions
Composed from the official record
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?

4 steps remain before this bill could become law.

The record's latest action, on December 4, 2012: Motion to Discharge Committee filed by Mr. Walz (MN). Petition No: 112-6. (<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/112/lrc/pd/petitions/DisPet0006.xml ">Discharge petition</a> text with signatures.)

  1. Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
  2. Passage by the House
  3. Passage by the Senate
  4. The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?

Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.

In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.

This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.

Has anyone actually voted on it?

No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.

A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.

Who is behind it?

SANDER LEVIN (D-MI) introduced it on July 30, 2012, and 38 members have since signed on as cosponsors.

They are 38 Democrats.

Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.

How long has it been in play?

It was introduced on July 30, 2012, 5155 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5028 days ago, on December 4, 2012.

Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.

Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.

Vote history

  1. House
    In committee, no floor vote yet
  2. Senate
    Awaits House passage
  3. President
    Awaits both chambers
No recorded votes yet
No roll call in this Congress cites this bill. Most bills die in committee without ever reaching a recorded floor vote.