Fair and Simple Tax Act of 2011
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Fair and Simple Tax Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) establish an alternative income tax rate system with three tax brackets (10, 15, and 30%); (2) repeal the estate and gift tax; (3) adjust the increased alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amounts for inflation after 2011 and make such exemptions permanent; (4) reduce the maximum corporate income tax rate to 25%; (5) reduce the maximum tax rate on capital gains to 10%; (6) allow an inflation adjustment to the basis of capital assets for purposes of determining gain or loss; (7) establish new tax-exempt accounts for retirement savings, lifetime savings, and lifetime skills accounts; (8) exempt individuals under age 65 who do not have employer health care coverage from the adjusted gross income threshold for the medical care tax deduction; and (9) make permanent the tax credit for increasing research activities.
Repeals the terminating dates applicable to provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 5, 2011. 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 January 5, 2011: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
- 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?
DAVID DREIER (R-CA) introduced it on January 5, 2011, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 2 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 January 5, 2011, 5727 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5727 days ago, on January 5, 2011.
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