Small Business Tax Cut Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on April 10, 2012. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Small Business Tax Cut Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a qualified small business a tax deduction equal to 20% of the lesser of qualified domestic business income or taxable income. Defines: (1) "qualified small business" as any employer engaged in a trade or business if such employer had fewer than 500 full-time employees in either 2010 or 2011; and (2) "qualified domestic business income" as an amount equal to the excess (if any) of the taxpayer's domestic business gross receipts (i.e., gross receipts effectively connected with a trade or business within the United States) for a taxable year over the sum of the cost of goods sold allocable to such receipts and other expenses, losses, or deductions properly allocable to such receipts.
Limits the amount of such deduction to 50% of the greater of: (1) the taxpayer's W-2 wages (payroll) paid to non-owners of the taxpayer's business; or (2) the sum of the W-2 wages paid to individuals who are non-owner family members of direct owners (i.e., stockholders of the business), plus any W-2 wages paid to direct owners who have an ownership interest in the business of 10% or less.
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations to carry out this Act, including regulations to prevent a taxpayer that reorganizes from being treated as a qualified small business if such taxpayer would not have been treated as a qualified small business prior to such reorganization.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on April 19, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
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 April 23, 2012: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- 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?
ERIC CANTOR (R-VA) introduced it on March 21, 2012, and 42 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 42 Republicans.
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 March 21, 2012, 5286 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5253 days ago, on April 23, 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
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers