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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said she would introduce a bill to reinstate federal unemployment benefits programs that expired last week, despite a lack of appetite to do so among many of congressional Democrats, Bloomberg News reported. “I’ve been very disappointed on both sides of the aisle that we’ve just simply allowed pandemic unemployment assistance to completely lapse when we are clearly not fully recovered from the cost effects of the pandemic,” the New York Democrat said during a virtual town hall on Tuesday evening. Millions of Americans saw their federal benefits end on Sept. 6. Three programs expired that day, one that allotted an extra $300 in weekly unemployment assistance, another that provided benefits to workers who otherwise would not qualify and a third that gave aid to those who remain unemployed but have run out of state benefits. Officials in 26 states previously opted out of the unemployment benefits program before the expiration. Advocates for withdrawal argued it would encourage unemployed Americans to return to the workforce. Democrats debated whether to extend the benefits, but ultimately opted not to do so. House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, said President Joe Biden’s position was to “hold off” until there was more evidence.

U.S. tax code changes sought by Democrats in the House of Representatives to help fund $3.5 trillion in domestic investments would cut annual tax bills for Americans earning less than $200,000 a year through 2025, a congressional estimate showed yesterday, Reuters reported. The bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that expanded tax credits for children and earned income would mean people in lower-income brackets would pay far less in taxes in 2023 under the Democratic plan, which is being debated this week in the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. At the other end of the income scale, tax collections from those earning over $200,000 would rise slightly in 2023, escalating to a 10.6% increase for people earning $1 million and more, the committee said. By 2027, after an expanded Child Tax Credit expires, those earning between $30,000 and $200,000 would start to see slightly higher tax bills, according to the estimate. The joint committee, which estimates tax revenue and credit provisions of legislation, estimated that tax increase proposals now under debate in the House Ways and Means Committee would directly raise some $2.07 trillion over 10 years. The plan would raise the top individual income tax rate to its pre-2017 level of 39.6%, from 37% currently, on taxable income above $400,000 with a 3% surcharge on income above $5 million.

The prospect of the largest overhaul to the global tax system in a century took a step forward this week as top Democrats introduced a plan to rewrite tax rules for multinational companies in a way that would allow the United States to join the rest of the world in an effort to crack down on tax havens, the New York Times reported. Finance ministers from around the world have been working for months to complete a plan to end what they describe as a race to the bottom on corporate taxation before an October deadline. More than 130 countries have agreed to adopt a global minimum tax of at least 15 percent and are discussing a change in how taxing rights are allocated so that large businesses, including technology giants like Amazon and Facebook, pay taxes in countries where their goods or services are sold, even if they have no physical presence there. House Democrats, as part of their plan to raise as much as $2.9 trillion to finance President Biden’s social safety net package, proposed raising the tax rate on companies’ overseas earnings to 16.6 percent from 10.5 percent and calculating the tax on a country-by-country basis. The plan would meet the primary commitments of the global agreement that is being negotiated through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

House Democrats spelled out their proposed tax increases on Monday, pushing higher rates on corporations, investors and high-income business owners as they try to piece together enough votes for legislation to expand the social safety net and combat climate change, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plan would increase the top corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, impose a 3-percentage-point surtax on people making over $5 million and raise capital-gains taxes — but without the changes to taxation at death sought by the Biden administration. The tax increase details were the last major missing piece in the Democratic agenda, and their release will accelerate lawmakers’ negotiations over which new spending to give priority to and which tax increases they find acceptable. Democrats have few votes to spare in the House and none in the Senate, and moderate Democrats, such as Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), have called for a narrower proposal with smaller tax hikes than the ones outlined Monday. Republicans are expected to mount unanimous opposition to the proposal, which would reverse many of the GOP tax cuts from 2017. In several areas, the committee proposed tax increases that weren’t as far-reaching as those the Biden administration has sought. It didn’t include the administration’s proposed curbs on oil-and-gas companies’ tax breaks or a provision opposed by banks that would have required annual reporting on account flows to the Internal Revenue Service. The House plan doesn’t change the income-tax rules that allow unrealized capital gains to go untaxed at death. Rural Democrats had opposed that administration capital-gains plan, and its chances of becoming law are looking slimmer.

The House Financial Services Committee will be holding a hearing at noon EDT today titled "Protecting Renters During the Pandemic: Reviewing Reforms to Expedite Emergency Rental Assistance." Committee members and witnesses will testify on H.R. 5196, the "Expediting Assistance to Renters and Landlords Act of 2021," and H.R. 3913, the "Renter Protection Act of 2021." For more information, including the full witness list and a link to the live webcast of the hearing, please click here.

The House Financial Services Committee will be holding a hearing at noon EDT on Friday titled "Protecting Renters During the Pandemic: Reviewing Reforms to Expedite Emergency Rental Assistance." Committee members and witnesses will testify on H.R. 5196, the "Expediting Assistance to Renters and Landlords Act of 2021," and H.R. 3913, the "Renter Protection Act of 2021." For more information, including the full witness list and a link to the live webcast of the hearing, please click here.