The House Tax Package

House Republican tax writers drafted a package that would expand the standard deduction, pare back tax reporting for contractors and gig workers and revive expired incentives for businesses in the party's first major tax markup since taking back control of the chamber this year. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that after offsets, the net cost of the three bills combined would be about $21 billion over a decade. A "bonus" standard deduction for two years will be the core of Republicans' proposal to cut taxes for individuals and families. The panel will take up a bill (HR 3936) based on legislation from Reps. Malliotakis and Steel and is estimated to cost $97 billion. HR 3864 would add $4,000 on top of the existing standard deduction for married couples filing jointly and $2,000 for individual filers in 2024, adjusted for inflation the following year. That would be on top of the normal standard deduction, which is $27,700 for married joint filers and $13,850 for single filers in 2023 and rises with inflation.