Griffin: Bill Extends Provisions to Help American Taxpayers

Press Release

Congressman Tim Griffin (AR-02), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement today after the House passed the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (H.R. 5771):

"It's disappointing that the President's veto threat has blocked House and Senate negotiations on bipartisan priorities, including House-passed policies to permanently extend tax provisions -- which would have been an important step toward comprehensive tax reform. Today's bill is not the answer to our broken tax system, but it is critical to preventing onerous tax increases on American workers, families and businesses. I will keep working to reform our tax code, boost economic growth and help America grow good-paying jobs."

H.R. 5771, which passed the House by a vote of 378 -- 46, extends a number of tax relief provisions in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) that expired either at the end of 2013 or during 2014 for one year. Specifically, this legislation extends eight separate provisions for individuals, including the deductibility of state and local sales taxes and the extension of the above the line deduction for qualified tuition. Moreover, this legislation extends 30 business-related provisions, including the research and development tax credit, bonus depreciation and increased section 179 expensing. H.R. 5771 also extends 11 energy-related provisions and two provisions relating to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. Finally, the bill makes a number of technical corrections to previously enacted tax legislation.

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