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April 21, 2023 Report on recent US international tax developments — 21 April 2023 House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave a speech in New York on 17 April, declaring that "a no-strings-attached debt limit increase cannot pass [Congress]." The Speaker said any debt deal would have to be accompanied by congressional Republican proposals such as returning the federal government to 2022 spending levels, clawing back unspent COVID-19 funds, passing the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1) and enhancing work requirements for federal programs. On 19 April, House Republicans delivered their initial debt-limit proposal. They introduced the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, a 320-page bill that would reduce discretionary federal spending to FY 2022 levels and either raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion or extend the ceiling through 31 March 2024, whichever occurs first. The Republican bill would restore prior law for a number of energy-related Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provisions and repeal other clean energy measures. It would also rescind amounts provided to the IRS in the IRA. Republicans claimed the bill would trim the deficit by $4.5 trillion over 10 years by capping discretionary spending at 2022 levels. President Biden and Democratic congressional leaders are calling for a clean debt-limit bill and would be unlikely to support rolling back provisions of the IRA. The House Financial Services Committee on 18 April held a hearing on oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the SEC Chairman testifying across a number of areas. Among the topics covered were the SEC's asserted authority over most cryptocurrency products and the SEC's enforcement actions against crypto firms. The SEC Chairman defended the SEC's position, arguing that "Nothing about the crypto markets is incompatible with the securities laws. [T]he vast majority of crypto tokens are securities." ____________________________ For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following: Ernst & Young LLP (United States), International Tax and Transaction Services, Washington, DC
Published by NTD’s Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Carolyn Wright, legal editor | |||