Long title | An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to subsections (b)(2) and (d) of section 105 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 1998. |
---|---|
Enacted by | the 105th United States Congress |
Effective | January 1, 1997 |
Citations | |
Public law | Pub. L. 105–34 (text) (PDF) |
Legislative history | |
|
This article is part of a series on |
Taxation in the United States |
---|
United Statesportal |
The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105–34 (text) (PDF) , H.R. 2014 , 111 Stat. 787 , enacted August 5, 1997) was enacted by the 105th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The legislation reduced several federal taxes in the United States and notably created the Roth IRA. [1]
The legislation is notable for having established the Roth IRA, creating a permanent exemption for these retirement accounts from capital gains taxes. The Roth IRA was initially proposed by Senators William Roth of Delaware and Bob Packwood of Oregon 1989, [2] and Roth pushed for the creation of the IRAs in the 1997 legislation. [3]
The act also provided tax exemptions for retirement accounts as well as education savings in the Hope credit and Lifetime Learning Credit. Some expiring business tax provisions were extended.
Starting in 1998, a $400 tax credit for each child under age 17 was introduced, which was later increased to $500 in 1999. This credit was phased out for high-income families.
The top marginal long term capital gains rate fell from 28% to 20%, subject to certain phase-in rules. The 15% bracket was lowered to 10%.
The act permanently exempted from taxation the capital gains on the sale of a personal residence of up to $500,000 for married couples filing jointly and $250,000 for singles. This exemption applies to residences the taxpayer(s) lived in for at least two years over the last five. Taxpayers can only claim the exemption once every two years. [4]
The $600,000 estate tax exemption was to increase gradually to $1 million by the year 2006. As inherited assets are automatically revalued to their current or "stepped-up" basis, any capital gains are permanently exempted from taxation.
Family farms and small businesses could qualify for an exemption of $1.3 million, effective 1998. Starting in 1999, the $10,000 annual gift tax exclusion was to be corrected for inflation.
This was the first law devoted solely to tax cuts that Congress enacted using the fast-track budget reconciliation process.
Votes on the final version of the bill following reconciliation were as follows.
House of Representatives
Vote by Party | Yea | Nay | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Republicans | 225 | 99.6% | 1 | 0.4% |
Democrats | 164 | 80.0% | 41 | 20.0% |
Independents | 0 | 0.0% | 1 | 100% |
Total | 389 | 90.0% | 43 | 10.0% |
Not voting | 2 | 1 |
Senate
Vote by Party | Yea | Nay | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Republicans | 55 | 100% | 0 | 0.0% |
Democrats | 37 | 82.2% | 8 | 17.8% |
Total | 92 | 92.0% | 8 | 8.0% |
The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 5, 1997, along with the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
A dividend tax is a tax imposed by a jurisdiction on dividends paid by a corporation to its shareholders (stockholders). The primary tax liability is that of the shareholder, though a tax obligation may also be imposed on the corporation in the form of a withholding tax. In some cases the withholding tax may be the extent of the tax liability in relation to the dividend. A dividend tax is in addition to any tax imposed directly on the corporation on its profits. Some jurisdictions do not tax dividends.
A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account (IRA) under United States law that is generally not taxed upon distribution, provided certain conditions are met. The principal difference between Roth IRAs and most other tax-advantaged retirement plans is that rather than granting a tax reduction for contributions to the retirement plan, qualified withdrawals from the Roth IRA plan are tax-free, and growth in the account is tax-free.
The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, was passed by the United States Congress on May 23, 2003, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on May 28, 2003. Nearly all of the cuts were set to expire after 2010.
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was a major piece of tax legislation passed by the 107th United States Congress and signed by President George W. Bush. It is also known by its abbreviation EGTRRA, and is often referred to as one of the two "Bush tax cuts".
A Finance Act is the headline fiscal (budgetary) legislation enacted by the UK Parliament, containing multiple provisions as to taxes, duties, exemptions and reliefs at least once per year, and in particular setting out the principal tax rates for each fiscal year.
The Tax Reform Act of 1969 was a United States federal tax law signed by President Richard Nixon in 1969. Its largest impact was creating the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was intended to tax high-income earners who had previously avoided incurring tax liability due to various exemptions and deductions.
The United States Revenue Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95–600, 92 Stat. 2763, enacted November 6, 1978, amended the Internal Revenue Code by reducing individual income taxes, increasing the personal exemption from $750 to $1,000, reducing corporate tax rates, increasing the standard deduction from $3,200 to $3,400, increasing the capital gains exclusion from 50 percent to 60 percent, and repealing the non-business exemption for state and local gasoline taxes.
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 was a federal law that was enacted by the 103rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 10, 1993. It has also been unofficially referred to as the Deficit Reduction Act of 1993. Part XIII of the law is also called the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993.
The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, also known as TEFRA, is a United States federal law that rescinded some of the effects of the Kemp-Roth Act passed the year before. Between summer 1981 and summer 1982, tax revenue fell by about 6% in real terms, caused by the dual effects of the economy dipping back into recession and Kemp-Roth's reduction in tax rates, and the deficit was likewise rising rapidly because of the fall in revenue and the rise in government expenditures. The rapid rise in the budget deficit created concern among many in Congress. TEFRA was created to reduce the budget gap by generating revenue through closure of tax loopholes; introduction of tougher enforcement of tax rules; rescinding some of Kemp-Roth's reductions in marginal personal income tax rates that had not yet gone into effect; and raising some rates, especially corporate rates. TEFRA was introduced November 13, 1981 and was sponsored by US Representative Pete Stark of California. After much deliberation, the final version was signed by President Ronald Reagan on September 3, 1982.
The economic policies of Bill Clinton administration, referred to by some as Clintonomics, encapsulates the economic policies of president of the United States Bill Clinton that were implemented during his presidency, which lasted from January 1993 to January 2001.
PAYGO is the practice in the United States of financing expenditures with funds that are currently available rather than borrowed.
The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA) was enacted by the United States Congress as title XIII of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, to enforce the deficit reduction accomplished by that law by revising the federal budget control procedures originally enacted by the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act. The BEA created two new budget control processes: a set of caps on annually-appropriated discretionary spending, and a "pay-as-you-go" or "PAYGO" process for entitlements and taxes.
The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 is an American law, which was enacted on May 17, 2006.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 was an omnibus legislative package enacted by the United States Congress, using the budget reconciliation process, and designed to balance the federal budget by 2002. This act was enacted during Bill Clinton's second term as president.
The history of taxation in the United States begins with the colonial protest against British taxation policy in the 1760s, leading to the American Revolution. The independent nation collected taxes on imports ("tariffs"), whiskey, and on glass windows. States and localities collected poll taxes on voters and property taxes on land and commercial buildings. In addition, there were the state and federal excise taxes. State and federal inheritance taxes began after 1900, while the states began collecting sales taxes in the 1930s. The United States imposed income taxes briefly during the Civil War and the 1890s. In 1913, the 16th Amendment was ratified, however, the United States Constitution Article 1, Section 9 defines a direct tax. The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution did not create a new tax.
The Taxpayer Choice Act was a bill in the United States Congress which, if enacted, would have amended the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the alternative minimum tax on individual taxpayers. The bill was reproposed in 2009. The bill was not voted upon in either session. The legislation would create an alternative, simplified tax that individuals may choose over the current personal income tax. The new system would have two tax rates, a large standard deduction with no special deductions, and is argued to greatly reduce the damage and complexity caused by the current income tax. The bill would also make permanent the capital gains and dividends rate reductions enacted by the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. In the House, the bill was introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), ranking member on the House Budget Committee, and had 83 cosponsors in 2007 and 22 fellow Republicans in 2009. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Jim Demint. The plan has been supported by FreedomWorks, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, and former 2008 presidential candidate Fred Thompson.
Qualified dividends, as defined by the United States Internal Revenue Code, are ordinary dividends that meet specific criteria to be taxed at the lower long-term capital gains tax rate rather than at higher tax rate for an individual's ordinary income. The rates on qualified dividends range from 0 to 23.8%. The category of qualified dividend was created in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 – previously, there was no distinction and all dividends were either untaxed or taxed together at the same rate.
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, also known as the 2010 Tax Relief Act, was passed by the United States Congress on December 16, 2010, and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 17, 2010.
Budget sequestration is a provision of United States law that causes an across-the-board reduction in certain kinds of spending included in the federal budget. Sequestration involves setting a hard cap on the amount of government spending within broadly defined categories; if Congress enacts annual appropriations legislation that exceeds these caps, an across-the-board spending cut is automatically imposed on these categories, affecting all departments and programs by an equal percentage. The amount exceeding the budget limit is held back by the Treasury and not transferred to the agencies specified in the appropriation bills. The word sequestration was derived from a legal term referring to the seizing of property by an agent of the court, to prevent destruction or harm, while any dispute over said property is resolved in court.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) was enacted and passed by the United States Congress on January 1, 2013, and was signed into law by US President Barack Obama the next day. ATRA gave permanence to the lower rates of much of the "Bush tax cuts".