House Dems want family tax breaks in reform talks

House Democrats pushing to extend tax breaks for families and education said Wednesday they would seek to offset the costs of those measures. 

{mosads}Reps. Sandy Levin (Mich.), Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) and Lloyd Doggett (Texas) all support legislation introduced this week to extend for good expansions of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the child tax credit that are set to expire at the end of 2017. Top Senate Democrats also rolled out proposals to extend those tax breaks on Wednesday.

At a news conference, Levin said the tax breaks should be paid for as part of a broader overhaul of the tax code. President Obama has concentrated on revamping the tax code for businesses, but the three House Democrats insisted that the tax breaks for families could be tacked on to that sort of deal.

“In terms of the discussion of tax measures in this House, these have been omitted. And we’re trying to fill that vacuum,” said Levin said, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee.

The Democrats’ comments came after they have criticized Republicans for months about seeking to restore and extend popular tax breaks without offsetting the costs elsewhere.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit helps families make up the costs of college expenses. Democrats want to expand the EITC, which is meant to help the working poor, to childless adults. Families can reduce their tax bills by up to $1,000 a child under the child tax credit.

Lawmakers discussed extending the education tax credit for good last year, as part of a broader deal to restore expired tax credits. But Obama and House Democrats came out against the emerging deal, in part because it didn’t include the EITC.

But while the White House and House Democrats were on the same page then, the Obama administration hasn’t said that it believes the costs of extending the EITC and other tax breaks for families should be offset.

Some Republicans, like House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), have sounded open to expanding the EITC as well. But top GOP lawmakers have also expressed concern that Obama’s actions to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation will give them access to the tax break, which could make it more even more difficult to strike a deal to extend the EITC.

“I think it’s more of an excuse than a reason for not acting on this,” Doggett said. “And it may be an added excuse for those who don’t want to respond on these issues.”