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LIS News and Notes
April 13, 2010
Some bill research does not include the Governor's file because at the time we researched the bill, the sitting Governor had not released his chaptered bill file. If the Governor's file is not included with this particular research, please contact our office (1-530-666-1917 or quote@legintent.com) and we will be happy to provide this file at no charge if it is available. Please Note: Governor files did not exist prior to 1943.
TAX DAY HISTORY: In response to a divided Supreme Court decision in the case of Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. [157 U.S. 429 (1895)], which held that Congress’ attempt to tax incomes uniformly throughout the U.S. was unconstitutional, the individual states ratified the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, which reads: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. The Pollock case was the last in a series of conflicting court decisions dating back to the Civil War addressing the issue of whether taxes were indirect or direct. The Sixteenth Amendment made it clear that taxes on incomes, whether from salary or from real estate, are explicitly to be treated as indirect. The original tax filing date was March 1, 1913, which was changed to March 15th in 1918, and then finally to April 15th in 1955.
FEDERAL TERMS: Over the last year, news reports on the conduct of the members of Congress working to enact or defeat legislation invoked terms such as “cloture” and “reconciliation” – In fact, H.R. 4872 of 2010, signed on March 30, 2010, was a Reconciliation Bill. Here are the meanings of these two terms:
Cloture: Cloture is the formal procedure that the Senate can employ to end a filibuster. If three-fifths of all Senators (60 if there are no vacancies) vote for the cloture motion, the Senate must take final action on the pending question by the end of 30 hours of additional consideration. During this 30-hour period, each Senator may speak for one hour and all amendments must be germane. The Senate often does not consume the entire 30 hours available for post-cloture consideration. When cloture has been invoked, no other business can take place until the Senate takes final action on the matter on which it has invoked cloture -- except, of course, by unanimous consent.
Reconciliation: Created in a budget resolution in 1974 as part of the congressional budget process and first used in1980, the reconciliation process is utilized when Congress issues directives to legislate policy changes in mandatory spending (entitlements) or revenue programs (tax laws) to achieve the goals in spending and revenue contemplated by the budget resolution. Reconciliation is historically used at the end of a fiscal year to enact legislation to fine tune revenue and spending levels through legislation that could not be filibustered in the Senate and the policy changes brought about by this part of the budget process have served as constraints on the levels of mandatory spending and federal tax revenues. In this way, reconciliation also has served since 1981 as a vehicle for deficit reduction. Some of the bills enacted by reconciliation are familiar, such as the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA/PL 97-248), the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA/PL 99-272), the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PL 104-193), the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA/PL 107-16), the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (PL 108-27), and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (PL 109-171). Add now to this list, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (PL 111-152).
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