The biggest issue at the beginning of 2013 was the so-called “fiscal cliff”, caused by a standoff between the President and the liberal legislators, who demanded that the debt ceiling be raised, and the conservative legislators who demanded some real cuts in federal expenditures before they would consider any concessions to the liberals.
At stake was the sunset of a great many of the Bush era tax breaks, including estate taxes and capital gains taxes, which had a great deal of the country cringing.
There was a final-hour deal, and the Forest Landowners Association reports the effects of the deal on forest interests will be as follows:
- The Farm Bill gets a short extension (September) to buy Congress time to get their act together.
- The current tax rates for middle-income families remains the same.
- The alternative minimum tax has been patched and indexed to inflation
- Estate tax becomes 40% for individual estates valued over $5.12 million and it will be indexed for inflation.
FLA also predicts a lot of legislative and regulatory action in the energy and environmental arenas. The EPA will be gearing up everything they had been holding back on until the election was safely out of the way. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works reports the EPA is considering:
- Greenhouse Gas Regulations
- Waters under the Clean Water Act interpreted to cover virtually every body of water in the U.S.
- Stormwater Runoff Regulations
- Farm Dust Regulations
- Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures for farmers and ranchers
What happened to last year’s bills? As you can see below, all of the bills we tracked last year died at some point.
S. 1369 (112th): Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act
Died in Committee in 2012
H.R. 1259 (112th): Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2011
Died in Committee 2011
H.R. 1433 (112th): Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2012
Died after passing the House
S. 1720 (112th): Jobs Through Growth Act
Died in Committee
S. 1891 (112th): Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2011
Died in Committee
H.R. 390 (112th): Family Farm Preservation and Conservation Estate Tax Act
Fate unknown, probably died
H.R. 2250 (112th): EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011
Died after passing House
S. 1392 (112th): EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011
Died in Committee
H.R. 2541 (112th): Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act
Died in 2012
S. 2242 (112th): Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2012
Died in Committee
S. 2277 (112th): National Forest Emergency Response Act
Died in Committee
H.R. 4331 (112th): National Forest Emergency Response Act
Died in Committee 201
S. 2346 (112th): Forest Products Fairness Act of 2012
Died in Committee
S. 2474 (112th): Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2012
Died in Committee
H.R. 5326 (112th): Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013
Died after passing House
H.R. 5744 (112th): Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2012
Died in Committee 2012
H.R. 5882 (112th): Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2013
Died after passing House
H.R. 5960 (112th): Depleting Risk from Insect Infestation, Soil Erosion, and Catastrophic …
Died in Committee
H.R. 6089 (112th): Healthy Forest Management Act of 2012
Died after Committee report
H.R. 6439 (112th): Keep the Forest in the Family Estate Tax Act
Died in Committee
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