H.R. 5044 (112th): Andrew P. Carpenter Tax Act

Introduced:
Apr 27, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Scott DesJarlais [R-TN4]
Status:
Died (Passed House)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on September 19, 2012 but was never passed by the Senate.

Progress
Introduced Apr 27, 2012
Referred to Committee Apr 27, 2012
Passed House Sep 19, 2012
Votes

House Vote on Passage
Sep 19, 2012 6:49 p.m.
Passed 400/0

Cosponsors
23 cosponsors (21R, 2D) (show)
Committees

House Ways and Means

Senate Finance

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income any discharge of indebtedness income on education loans of deceased veterans.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Sep 20, 2012.
4 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

9/19/2012--Passed House amended.
Andrew P. Carpenter Tax Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to:
(1) exclude from the gross income of any cosigner of a student loan of a veteran who died as a result of a service-connected disability any amount attributable to the discharge of the indebtedness on such loan, and
(2) subject accounts in the Thrift Savings Fund to a federal tax levy.
Provides that any potential revenue gain from the enactment of this Act shall be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury and shall be used solely for deficit reduction.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr5044.

Background

Andrew Carpenter was a Marine killed in Afghanistan in February of 2011.  Four years prior, his parents were cosignatories on student loans from a private lender.  The lender forgave the loan, but the family would be required to pay taxes upon the amount forgiven, which is considered gross taxable income under current law. 

Summary

H.R. 5044 would provide tax relief from any amounts of private educational loans forgiven for service members who lost their lives in the line of duty since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in October of 2001.

The bill would also eliminate an apparent conflict that exists in current law between the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986 (FERSA) and the Internal Revenue Code.  The change would subject certain assets in Thrift Savings Plan accounts to federal tax levies when necessary for the purpose of collecting unpaid federal taxes.  This provision is included as a budgetary offset.

Cost

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the Thrift Savings Fund tax levy would increase revenues by $24 million over the 2012-2022 period, which exceeds the estimated $7 million revenue loss from the servicemember loan forgiveness provision.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)