H.R. 6169 (112^th): Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act of 2012

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

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

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/hr6169.

Summary

H.R. 6169 would provide an expedited pathway to pro-growth tax reform in 2013. H.R. 6169, the Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act of 2012, would require the House and Senate to consider tax reform legislation according to an expedited timeline. Under the bill, expedited procedures would be applied to tax reform bill containing principles included in the last two House-passed budgets: (1) consolidation of the current individual income tax brackets into not more than two brackets and a top rate of not more than 25 percent; (2) reduction in the corporate tax rate to not more than 25 percent; (3) repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax; (4) broadening of the tax base to maintain revenue between 18 and 19 percent of the economy; and (5) change from a ‘‘worldwide’’ to a ‘‘territorial’’ system of taxation.

Expedited Consideration of a Measure Providing for Comprehensive Tax Reform: H.R. 6169 would provide procedures for expedited congressional consideration of legislation which contains comprehensive tax reform. Under H.R. 6169, a tax reform measure would receive accelerated consideration if it were introduced by the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee by April 30, 2013, and if the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) verifies that the measure contained each of the following proposals:

1. The bill must consolidate the current six tax brackets into no more than two tax brackets of 10 and no more than 25 percent.
2. The bill must reduce the corporate tax rate to no more than 25 percent.
3. The bill must repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
4. The bill must broaden the tax base to maintain revenue between 18 and 19 percent of the economy (GDP).
5. The bill must change from a “worldwide” system of taxation to a “territorial” system of taxation.

Any tax reform legislation meeting these qualifications would be subject to expedited procedures for consideration as follows:

Expedited Consideration in the House of Representatives:

• Any committee to which the bill is referred must report the bill within 20 calendar days. If a committee fails to report the legislation within the 20 day period, the bill would be automatically discharged.

• If the House has not proceeded with consideration of the tax reform legislation within 15 days of its discharge from committee, the Majority Leader, or any Member after two additional legislative days, may offer a motion to proceed on the tax reform legislation. The motion to proceed would require a majority vote to consider the bill.

• If the motion to proceed with consideration is adopted, floor debate on the tax reform bill would be limited to 4 hours equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Ways and Means. The bill would be subject to amendment under the five-minute rule and be subject to one motion to recommit.

Expedited Consideration in the Senate:

• When the Senate receives a certified tax reform bill that contains the specified proposals, the bill would be referred to the Senate Finance Committee. The Finance Committee would be required to report the bill within 15 calendar days. If the committee fails to report the legislation within the 15 day period, the bill would be automatically discharged and placed on the calendar.

• After the Senate Committee on Finance reports the tax reform bill or the bill is discharged, the Majority Leader or any Member of the Senate (after two additional legislative days) would be able to offer a motion to proceed to the bill. The motion to proceed would not be debatable and cloture would not be required before a vote on the motion to proceed. 

• During consideration of the bill, no motion to recommit would be in order and debate on amendments would be limited to 2 hours on each amendment. All amendments to the bill would have to be relevant to the bill and cloture would not be required before votes on individual amendments. 

• One vote on cloture may still be required prior to a vote on final passage of the underlying bill. However, under the expedited procedures there would be only one 60-vote threshold rather that multiple thresholds. Any vote on cloture would occur after the Senate has debated the bill and amendments.

Conference Committees: H.R. 6169 would provide expedited procedures for the House and Senate to appoint conferees and go to conference on tax reform legislation that has been approved by both the House and Senate. The procedures would bar filibusters in the Senate from delaying the process of appointing conferees and agreeing to go to conference.

Cost

According to CBO, enacting H.R. 6169 by itself would have no significant impact on the federal budget. CBO states that any changes to tax laws considered under the procedures specified by H.R. 6169 would depend on future Congressional actions.

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.

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