Hatch on Finance Committee Passage of Tax Extender Legislation

Utah Senator Praises Committee for Reducing Number of Tax Provisions by About 25 Percent

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, today praised Committee action on the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012 that for the first time would pare back tax provisions known as tax “extenders” as a step towards the ultimate goal of comprehensive tax reform.

“This legislation isn’t perfect, but it is an essential step towards the ultimate goal of comprehensive tax reform. I wish we could’ve gone farther in scaling back this legislation, but it is no small victory that we actually reduced the number of tax extenders by about 25 percent – a marked change from past practice,” said Hatch. “Year after year and in the dark of night, Congress extends these tax policies far from the watchful eyes of the American people. With this action by the Finance Committee today, we’ve said that the better path is to subject long-standing tax policies to much-needed public scrutiny. Allowing this committee to work is imperative as we try to confront the economic challenges facing our nation today.”

This legislation extends a number of expiring or expired tax provisions through 2013 and patches the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), while scaling back many of these tax provisions. Instead of potentially extending 73 tax provisions, the Finance Committee today only addressed 54, representing about a 25 percent reduction.

Importantly, the measure included a long-standing Hatch priority - the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit, which aims to boost American innovation and spur economic and job growth throughout the nation.

During today’s markup Hatch supported several amendments to further reform the underlying legislation, including amendments to reduce the wind energy tax credit and strike the tax incentives for energy efficient appliances and plug in electric motorcycles.

The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012 was favorably reported out of the Senate Finance Committee by a vote of 19 to 5.

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