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701 records in US in 2015
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 2015
Advancing Growth in the Economy through Distilled Spirits Act or the AGED Spirits Act Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude the aging period from the production period for distilled spirits for purposes of determining whether a taxpayer can expense, rather than capitalize, interest costs paid or incurred during the production period.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Preserving National Guard Combat Readiness Act of 2015 This bill amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 to eliminate certain authority of the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Army to prepare for and transfer up to 48 AH-64 Apache helicopters from the Army National Guard to the regular Army.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Public Housing Tenant Protection and Reinvestment Act of 2015 Public Housing One-for-One Replacement and Tenant Protection Act of 2015 Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 with respect to: (1) demolition, disposition, or both pursuant to conversion of any public housing unit; and (2) the taking of public housing units through the use of eminent domain. Exempts from specified requirements for demolition and disposition of public housing any public housing projects removed from a public housing agency (PHA) inventory under the program for conversion of demolished or distressed public housing dwelling units to tenant-based assistance. Excludes real property containing dwelling units in public housing from federal regulations of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or any substantially similar regulations, with respect to: certain real estate; and implementing HUD requirements for demolition or disposition of public housing projects, and conversion of public housing to tenant-based assistance. Public Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation Act of 2015 Reauthorizes for FY2016-FY2025 the public housing Capital and Operating Funds. Authorizes HUD to guarantee notes or other obligations issued by PHAs to finance: (1) the rehabilitation of PHA public housing; (2) the modernization of such housing through energy efficiency improvements; or (3) the construction, rehabilitation, purchase, or conversion of public housing units to replace any demolished, disposed of, or converted. Prescribes requirements for PHAs that utilize housing tax credits under the Internal Revenue Code for rental housing units. Removes a specified limitation on the use of amounts from the Capital Fund or Operation Fund by a PHA to construct new public housing units. Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Act of 2015 Requires HUD to make competitive grants to local governments, PHAs, or nonprofit entities owning a major housing project to implement transformational programs in eligible neighborhoods with a concentration of extreme poverty and severely distressed housing. Together We Care Act of 2015 Requires HUD to establish a competitive grant pilot program for eligible entities to train public housing residents as home health aides and as providers of home-based health services for residents of public housing or federally-assisted rental housing who are elderly, disabled, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Disaster Savings Accounts Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) establish tax-exempt disaster savings accounts to pay the expenses of homeowners for disaster mitigation and recovery expenses, (2) allow a deduction from gross income (above-the-line deduction) up to $5,000 (adjusted annually for inflation) in a taxable year for cash contributions to such accounts, (3) exclude from gross income distributions from such accounts to pay disaster mitigation and recovery expenses; and (4) set forth tax rules and penalties for excess contributions to disaster savings accounts and for failure to file required reports on such accounts.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Municipal Bond Market Support Act of 2015 Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to the small issuer exemption from interest expense allocation rules for financial institutions to: (1) permanently increase from $10 million to $30 million the annual limit on the amount of tax-exempt obligations that a small issuer may issue, and (2) allow an inflation adjustment to such increased limit amount after 2015.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Prioritizing Reinvestment in Infrastructure and Military while Eliminating Debt Act of 2015 or the PRIMED Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow corporate taxpayers to elect a tax deduction for cash dividends received from a controlled foreign corporation during the period beginning after the bill's enactment date and ending on December 31, 2016. The dividends received are subject to an effective tax rate of 5.25% when repatriated in the United States. The bill divides tax revenues attributable to such repatriated earnings equally for: (1) federal debt reduction, (2) transfers to the Highway Trust Fund, and (3) adjustments to limitations on defense discretionary spending.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Eliminate Special Treatment for Congress Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the $3,000 limitation on the tax deduction allowed to Members of Congress for ordinary and necessary business expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Opportunity Kindling New Options for Career and Knowledge Seekers Act or the Opportunity KNOCKS Act Amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Federal Unemployment Tax Act to deem approved by the Secretary of Labor any state laws that provide unemployment compensation to an individual for any week while in training, including: (1) any program on a state's eligible training provider list developed under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, or (2) any coursework necessary to attain a recognized postsecondary credential if that individual is likely to exhaust his or her regular unemployment compensation. Defines "recognized postsecondary credential" as a credential consisting of an industry-recognized certificate, a certificate of completion of an apprenticeship, or an associate or baccalaureate degree. Amends the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to authorize a state unemployment compensation agency to elect to approve job training or educational programs for purposes of an individual receiving extended or emergency unemployment compensation while in training.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Renovate and Enhance Veterans' Meeting Halls and Posts Act of 2015 or REVAMP Act of 2015 Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to require the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make competitive grants to eligible veterans service organizations for: (1) repairs or rehabilitation of their existing facilities, and (2) acquiring or upgrading computers and technology for such facilities. Defines "eligible veterans service organization" as: (1) a tax-exempt entity organized on a local or area basis; and (2) a tax-exempt local or area chapter, post, or other unit of a national, regional, statewide, or other larger entity of which local or area chapters, posts, or units are members (but not any such national, regional, statewide, or other larger entity itself). Prohibits an eligible veterans service organization from receiving such grant amounts, for any single fiscal year, in an amount exceeding the lesser of: (1) the aggregate cost of the proposed activities and uses for which the grant amounts will be used, or (2) $200,000. Makes a grant recipient ineligible to receive another such grant for any of the five succeeding fiscal years. Prohibits the use of such grants for construction or acquisition of a new facility.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Flexible Spending Account Act or the FSA Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal after 2015 the $2,500 limitation on salary reduction contributions to a health flexible spending arrangement under a cafeteria plan.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2015
Tax Pollution, Not Profits Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel products and from any facility which is required to report emissions or to which emissions are attributed. The tax is equal to $30 per metric ton of carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalent in 2016, increasing each subsequent year at 4% above inflation. The bill amends the Social Security Act to establish a Low-Income Cost Mitigation Program to provide an energy refund amount to certain low and middle-income households to compensate such households for increases in energy costs due to this bill. The Department of Labor may use revenues generated by this bill to implement a program to assist displaced workers in the coal industry. The bill also provides for a gradual reduction in the corporate income tax rate from 32% in taxable years beginning in 2016 to 28% in taxable years beginning after 2019. The bill requires the Department of the Treasury to establish a website to make information regarding the amount and sources of revenue attributable to this bill publicly available.
United States · United States Senate · 30 April 2015
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 This bill reauthorizes and amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The bill addresses issues such as accountability and testing requirements, distribution and requirements for grants, fiscal accountability requirements, and the evaluation of teachers. The bill provides states with increased flexibility and responsibility for developing accountability systems, deciding how federally required tests should be weighed, selecting additional measures of student and school performance, and implementing teacher evaluation systems. It includes grants for providing language instruction educational programs, improving low-performing schools, and developing programs for American Indian and Alaska Native students. The bill provides rural school districts with increased flexibility in using federal funding. It also revises the Impact Aid formula. The bill requires school districts to consult stakeholders in planning and implementing programs to improve student safety, health, well-being, and academic achievement. It combines two existing charter school programs into one program that includes grants for high-quality charter schools, facilities financing assistance, and replication and expansion. The bill provides states with flexibility in meeting maintenance of effort requirements for state and local education funding to supplement federal assistance. The bill prohibits the Department of Education from imposing certain requirements on states or school districts seeking waivers from federal laws. It provides that ESEA dollars may be used to improve early childhood education programs and specifies requirements to ensure that homeless youth have access to all services provided by the states and school districts.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Reclassification to Ensure Smarter and Equal Treatment Act of 2015 or the RESET Act Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to reduce penalties (to not greater than a one-year term of imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine) for simple possession of a controlled substance by a person who has one or more prior convictions for a controlled substance offense. Repeals a provision providing for up to three years' imprisonment for the possession of flunitrazepam. Revises penalties for possession of drugs classified as date rape drugs after a prior drug-related conviction. Reduces the maximum term of imprisonment (to one year) for the sale, use of the mails to transport, or importation or exportation of drug paraphernalia. Eliminates provisions of the CSA and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act that apply the same penalties applicable to offenses involving a specified amount of a substance containing cocaine to offenses involving a lesser amount of a substance containing cocaine base. Amends the CSA to provide that in determining the weight of a controlled substance or mixture of controlled substances that is in a compound with a food product for purposes of provisions concerning controlled substance offenses, the weight of the food product shall not be included. Makes this Act applicable to any offense committed before its enactment, if a sentence for the offense has not been imposed as of such enactment date. Provides for the reduction of the term of imprisonment of a defendant who was convicted and sentenced before such date for an offense for which the penalty is amended by this Act. Directs the Sentencing Commission to review and, if appropriate, amend the federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements applicable to any person convicted of an offense affected by this Act. Establishes within the Department of Justice the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, which (subject to specified limitations) shall be disbursed as follows by August 15 of each fiscal year beginning in 2016: 15% to the Department of Education to administer a grant program to public agencies aimed at improving outcomes for public school pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12 by reducing truancy and supporting students who are at risk of dropping out or are victims of crime; 10% to the Federal Crime Victim Assistance Fund to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime; 25% to Federal Reentry/Drug Court programs to administer a grant program to public agencies aimed at supporting mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, and diversion programs for people in the criminal justice system; and 50% to the General Treasury in order to pay down the national debt.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Defending Public Safety Employees' Retirement Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the exemption from the 10% penalty tax on early distributions from a government retirement plan for qualified public safety employees who have reached age 50, to expand the exemption to include specified federal law enforcement officers, customs and border protection officers, federal firefighters, and air traffic controllers who similarly have reached age 50.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2015 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) with respect to the practices of recovery audit contractors (RACs) under the Medicare program fin identifying underpayments and overpayments and recouping overpayments. Incentive payments to a RAC for recovery activities are prohibited for FY2015 and subsequent fiscal years. Payments for recovery activities shall be reduced, according to a sliding scale established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to any RAC with a complex audit denial rate at the end of a fiscal year, determined pursuant to a specified formula, that is .1% or greater. The one-year timely filing limit for certain rebilled SSAct title XVIII part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) claims is eliminated, extending the deadline for the rebill to 180 days after final denial of the claim. A determination of whether inpatient hospital services or inpatient critical access hospital services furnished to an individual are reasonable and necessary shall now be based solely on information available to the admitting physician at the time of the inpatient admission of the individual for such services, as documented in the medical record.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to distribution of additional resident positions as they affect calculation of payments for direct graduate medical education costs. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for each of FY2017-FY2021 (and each succeeding fiscal year if additional residency positions are available to distribute), to increase the otherwise applicable resident limit for each qualifying hospital. Directs the Secretary to determine the total number of additional residency positions available for distribution, in accordance with guidelines for allocating 33% to hospitals already operating over the resident limit, and generally setting the aggregate number of increases in the resident limit to 3,000 in each year. Specifies the process for distributing positions. Declares that, for discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2017, the indirect teaching adjustment factor, with respect to additional payments for subsection (d) hospitals with indirect costs of medical education, insofar as those additional payments are attributable to resident positions distributed to a hospital according to such process, shall be computed in a specified manner with respect to those resident positions. (Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.) Directs the National Health Care Workforce Commission established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to study the physician workforce. Directs the Comptroller General to study strategies for increasing the diversity of the health profession workforce.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a pilot toll credit marketplace program for states, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), or local governments to buy and sell toll credits and use the proceeds for highway, transit, and other related projects. States, MPOs, or local governments may not use federal funds to purchase toll credits on the marketplace or use them for more than 10% of its annual apportionment of federal-aid highway funds in a fiscal year. The Federal Highway Administration shall determine how a toll credit marketplace will work. The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 is amended to revise railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing program requirements. Toll credits earned shall be eligible as collateral in determining credit risk premium amounts for direct loans or loan guarantees for railroad improvement projects.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Generational Residences and Nurturing Dwellings Act or the GRAND Ac t Establishes in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) a program to provide assistance for each fiscal year to up to five eligible nonprofit organizations to expand the supply of specialized housing and social services for qualified elderly relatives, age 60 or older, who are raising a child of whom they are not a parent either by blood or marriage. States that nothing in this Act shall preclude a recipient of such assistance from applying for or receiving financial assistance under any other HUD program. Provides such assistance in the form of: financing for the construction, reconstruction, moderate or substantial rehabilitation, or acquisition of a structure or a portion of a structure to be used as specialized housing; tenant-based rental (voucher) assistance under the United States Housing Act of 1937 for entities meeting certain criteria for use only by qualified relatives who are raising a child and are eligible for such assistance for rental of a dwelling unit that qualifies as specialized housing; elderly housing project rental assistance under the Housing Act of 1959 for entities entities meeting certain criteria in connection with dwelling units that qualify as specialized housing and are made available for occupancy only by qualified relatives who are raising a child and are eligible for occupancy in such housing; and help with ongoing operational expenses of any specialized housing, including costs of supportive services required for such housing.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Support Working Parents Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the phaseout of the tax credit for dependent care services for taxpayers whose adjusted gross incomes exceed $15,000.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Partnerships to Advance Revolutionary Technology and Novel Entrepreneurial Research Act or the PARTNER Act Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the definition of "passive activity," for purposes of the passive loss tax rules, any qualified research activity carried on by a high technology research small business pass-thru entity. Defines "high technology research small business pass-thru entity" as any domestic pass-thru entity if: (1) more than 75% of the entity's expenditures are paid or incurred in connection with qualified research, or (2) more than 50% of the entity's expenditures constitute qualified research expenses. Designates a high technology research entity as a small business if such entity has 250 or fewer full-time employees and does not have aggregate gross assets in excess of $150 million.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the exclusion from gross income of income attributable to the discharge of indebtedness on a principal residence.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the tax deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the classification, for depreciation purposes, of leasehold, restaurant buildings, and retail improvements as 15-year property.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the taxpayer election to deduct state and local general sales taxes in lieu of state and local income taxes.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the tax deduction for mortgage insurance premiums.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the special rule allowing taxpayers other than C corporations a tax deduction for charitable contributions of food inventory.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the tax credit for differential wage payments to employees who are active duty members of the uniformed services.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the tax credit for new energy efficient homes.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the tax credit for residential energy efficiency improvements.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the exclusion from gross income, for income tax purposes, of distributions from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for charitable purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Capitalizing on American Methane Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) include in the tax credit for investment in a qualifying gasification project any qualified methane conversion technology, and (2) allow an alternative fuel excise tax credit for liquid fuel produced through qualified methane conversion technology at a facility the construction of which begins before October 1, 2025. Defines "qualified methane conversion technology" as a process for the molecular conversion of a fuel consisting principally of methane into hydrocarbons and the use of such hydrocarbons to replace or reduce the quantity of petroleum present in motor vehicle fuel and for the production of chemicals.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Real Estate Investment and Jobs Act of 2015 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from 5% to 10% the stock ownership threshold in a real estate investment trust for purposes of exempting proceeds from dispositions of such stock from withholding requirements under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (FIRPTA). Exempts from FIRPTA withholding requirements U.S. real property interests held by: (1) a qualified foreign pension fund created or organized outside the United States, or (2) any entity all of the interests of which are held by a qualified foreign pension fund.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Hazardous Materials Rail Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2015 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to establish in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund a separate Hazardous Liquids Rail Spill Liability Account, from which expenditures may be made only for: prevention, removal, and enforcement related to oil discharges resulting from rail transportation of that oil; and any response action authorized by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 attributable to releases of hazardous substances resulting from their rail transportation. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act are amended to: impose liability on each responsible party for a vessel or a facility from which oil is discharged that poses a substantial threat to public health or welfare resulting from rail transportation of such oil; and require the Environmental Protection Agency to designate as a hazardous substance any Class 3 material (including combustible liquids) in packing group I, II, or III and discharged due to rail transportation. The IRC shall impose a fee at specified rates on: (1) the placement of any hazardous flammable liquids into a DOT-111 tank car at any location in the United States, and (2) the entry into the United States of any DOT-111 tank car carrying any hazardous flammable liquids. Such fees shall be deposited in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. A qualified tank car conversion credit shall be allowed for 15% of expenditures paid or incurred in converting a qualified CPC-1232 tank car into a tank car meeting the requirements and standards of the enhanced tank car final rule. The Department of Transportation (DOT) training curriculum for public sector emergency response and preparedness teams regarding the transportation of hazardous materials shall include a course of study for responding to an accident or incident involving trains transporting at least 20 tank cars of flammable liquids or gases. DOT shall make high hazard train grants to states and Indian tribes to develop, improve, and carry out emergency plans for communities through which railroads transport a train or trains hauling at least 20 tank cars of flammable liquids or gases. The federal share of each high hazard train grant shall be 100% in FY2015-FY2017 and 80% in each subsequent fiscal year. DOT shall also make grants to state and local governments for local projects, activities, and personnel that mitigate the impacts of, and public health or environmental risks associated with, the transport of flammable liquids or gases by rail. Within one year after enactment of this Act the Federal Railroad Administration must implement specified recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board. DOT shall study: the routes of trains transporting at least 20 tank cars of flammable liquids or gases, the availability of equipment and fire-fighting materials appropriate for a large-scale release of flammable liquids or gases along those routes, and whether train length correlates with the severity and frequency of train derailments. The Department of Commerce, in coordination with DOT, shall determine the number and types of rail tank cars used to carry Class 3 hazardous materials. The Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy shall conduct a quarterly survey to collect information regarding the volume of flammable energy products transported by rail and their origins and destinations.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
End Discriminatory State Taxes for Automobile Renters Act of 2015 This bill prohibits a state or local government from levying or collecting a discriminatory tax on the rental of motor vehicles, the business of renting motor vehicles, or motor vehicle rental property. A tax is discriminatory if it is not a generally applicable tax and is only applicable to the rental of motor vehicles, a motor vehicle business, or motor vehicle rental property, but not to the majority of other rentals of tangible personal property within a state or locality. This prohibition does not apply to an already existing tax if such tax does not lapse, the tax rate does not increase, and the tax base for such tax does not change.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Public Good IRA Rollover Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the tax exclusion of distributions from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for charitable purposes to: (1) make such exclusion permanent; (2) eliminate the $100,000 cap on such exclusion; (3) permit tax-free distributions from IRAs to a split-interest entity (i.e., a charitable remainder annuity or unitrust, a pooled income fund, and a charitable gift annuity); and (4) allow distributions to a split-interest entity to be made when the account beneficiary attains age 59-1/2 (otherwise, age 70-1/2 for IRA distributions to a charitable organization).
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to distribution of additional resident positions as they affect calculation of payments for direct graduate medical education costs. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for each of FY2017-FY2021 (and each succeeding fiscal year if additional residency positions are available to distribute), to increase the otherwise applicable resident limit for each qualifying hospital. Requires the aggregate number of increases in the otherwise applicable resident limit to be 3,000 in each of FY2017-FY2021, of which 1,500 in each such fiscal year shall be used for full-time equivalent residents training in a shortage specialty residency program. Specifies the process for distributing positions. Declares that, for discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2017, the indirect teaching adjustment factor, with respect to additional payments for subsection (d) hospitals with indirect costs of medical education, insofar as those additional payments are attributable to resident positions distributed to a hospital according to such process, shall be computed in a specified manner with respect to those resident positions. (Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.) Directs the National Health Care Workforce Commission established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to study the physician workforce. Directs the Comptroller General to study strategies for increasing the diversity of the health profession workforce.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2015
Small Business Tax Certainty and Growth Act of 2015 Expresses the sense of the Senate that Congress should undertake comprehensive tax reform to make the tax system fairer and simpler and to promote economic growth. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) make permanent the increased tax deductions for business start-up expenditures, organizational expenditures, and organization and syndication fees; (2) allow the cash accounting method for businesses whose gross receipts do not exceed $10 million (currently, $5 million); (3) exempt businesses whose gross receipts do not exceed $10 million from the requirement to use inventories; (4) make permanent a $500,000 allowance for expensing business assets, including computer software; (5) extend for one year the additional depreciation allowance for business assets (bonus depreciation); and (6) make permanent the 15-year straight-line depreciation allowance for qualified leasehold improvement, restaurant, and retail improvement property.
United States · United States Senate · 29 April 2015
United States · United States Senate · 29 April 2015
United States · United States Senate · 29 April 2015
United States · United States Senate · 29 April 2015
United States · United States Senate · 29 April 2015
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Reclassification to Ensure Smarter and Equal Treatment Act of 2015 or the RESET Act Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to reduce penalties (to not greater than a one-year term of imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine) for simple possession of a controlled substance by a person who has one or more prior convictions for a controlled substance offense. Repeals a provision providing for up to three years' imprisonment for the possession of flunitrazepam. Revises penalties for possession of drugs classified as date rape drugs after a prior drug-related conviction. Reduces the maximum term of imprisonment (to one year) for the sale, use of the mails to transport, or importation or exportation of drug paraphernalia. Eliminates provisions of the CSA and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act that apply the same penalties applicable to offenses involving a specified amount of a substance containing cocaine to offenses involving a lesser amount of a substance containing cocaine base. Amends the CSA to provide that in determining the weight of a controlled substance or mixture of controlled substances that is in a compound with a food product for purposes of provisions concerning controlled substance offenses, the weight of the food product shall not be included. Makes this Act applicable to any offense committed before its enactment, if a sentence for the offense has not been imposed as of such enactment date. Provides for the reduction of the term of imprisonment of a defendant who was convicted and sentenced before such date for an offense for which the penalty is amended by this Act. Directs the Sentencing Commission to review and, if appropriate, amend the federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements applicable to any person convicted of an offense affected by this Act. Establishes within the Department of Justice the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, which (subject to specified limitations) shall be disbursed as follows by August 15 of each fiscal year beginning in 2016: 15% to the Department of Education to administer a grant program to public agencies aimed at improving outcomes for public school pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12 by reducing truancy and supporting students who are at risk of dropping out or are victims of crime; 10% to the Federal Crime Victim Assistance Fund to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime; 25% to Federal Reentry/Drug Court programs to administer a grant program to public agencies aimed at supporting mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, and diversion programs for people in the criminal justice system; and 50% to the General Treasury in order to pay down the national debt.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Congress affirms that, for the purposes of modernizing the C-130 aircraft fleet, the Air Force has authority to undertake safety and compliance upgrades in lieu of the C-130 aircraft avionics modernization program of record to meet applicable Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations by 2020. The Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 is amended to declare that, if the Secretary of the Air Force implements the alternative communication, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management program, that implementation shall be coordinated with the FAA in order to satisfy applicable safety and compliance airspace regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend to all domestic corporations, including S corporations, provisions allowing deferral of tax on gain from the sale of employer securities to an S corporation-sponsored employee stock ownership plan (ESOP); and (2) allow a tax deduction for 50% of the interest incurred on loans to S corporation-sponsored ESOPs for the purchase of employer securities. Directs the Department of the Treasury to establish the S Corporation Employee Ownership Assistance Office to foster increased employee ownership of S corporations. Amends the Small Business Act to define "ESOP business concern" and allow such a concern to continue to qualify for loans, preferences, and other programs under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
STEM K to Career Act This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to require the Department of Education to forgive student loan obligations of borrowers employed as full-time teachers of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) in elementary or secondary schools in which the number of low-income children exceeds a certain percentage. Portions of the student loan debt, including interest, will be forgiven on the basis of years of service, with 100% forgiven for five years of teacher service. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow: (1) an increased tax deduction for expenses by elementary and secondary school teachers for STEM education supplies; (2) a tax credit for the employment of STEM interns; and (3) a tax credit for employment of individuals who participated in an apprenticeship program in a STEM field, with the amount determined according to the degree of completion of a program. Beginning with FY2016, an institution of higher education must use at least 7% of federal work-study funds granted under HEA to compensate students employed in STEM fields.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Taxpayer Identity Theft Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2015 Amends the federal criminal code to include certain felony violations under the Internal Revenue Code as aggravated identity theft, including the following offenses when committed in connection with the filing of a tax return: (1) conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims; (2) false, fictitious or fraudulent claims; and (3) conspiracy to commit any offense against, or to defraud, the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Sets forth the rule for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1732) to preserve existing rights and responsibilities with respect to waters of the United States, and for other purposes; providing for consideration of the conference report to accompany the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 11) setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2017 through 2025; and providing for consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 43) disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Tobacco Tax and Enforcement Reform Act Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the taxation of tobacco products, to: increase or equalize excise taxes on small cigars, cigarettes, pipe tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, large cigars, and smokeless tobacco; impose an excise tax on smokeless tobacco sold in discrete single-use units; tax smokeless tobacco and other tobacco products at a level equivalent to the tax rate for cigarettes on an estimated per use basis; provide for annual inflation adjustments after 2015 to excise tax rates on cigarettes and tobacco products; restrict the sale, lease, export or import, or delivery of tobacco production machines to persons lawfully engaged in: (1) the sale, lease, export or import, or delivery of such machines; (2) the manufacture or packaging of tobacco products or processed tobacco; or (3) the application of unique identification markings onto tobacco products or processed tobacco packages; define "tobacco production machine" as a machine used to manufacture or package tobacco products or processed tobacco or to apply unique identification markings or other tax-payment indicia to packages of tobacco products or processed tobacco; require manufacturers and importers of tobacco products to affix a unique identification marking to each package of tobacco products or processed tobacco prior to sale or distribution in the United States or prior to export; direct the Department of the Treasury to design a system of unique identification markings that does not interfere with state, local, or tribal tax stamps and markings; require manufacturers, sellers, or importers of tobacco production machines to apply for and obtain permits to manufacture or import tobacco products; establish new criminal offenses relating to the licensing and distribution of tobacco products or processed tobacco; increase the civil penalty for tobacco-related infractions from $1,000 to $10,000; and allow sharing of tax return information with government officials for the administration of laws relating to tobacco products and processed tobacco. Requires Treasury to coordinate with other federal agencies and officials to prevent and reduce tobacco tax evasion and contraband trafficking in tobacco products and processed tobacco and to enforce settlement agreements between tobacco companies and governmental entities. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to impose a civil penalty for the importation of tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes by fraudulent means. Provides for the enforcement of this Act in Indian tribal areas.