On Friday, September 26th, the House passed H.R. 7060, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act of 2008 on a vote of 257 to 166.

This is a fully offset energy and tax extenders bill that the House is offering in substitute for the Senate’s version of H.R. 6049 that was passed last Tuesday, September 22nd.  The House refused to consider the Senate’s version.  As indicated last week, the House was unhappy with the Senate’s version because its cost was not fully offset with revenue raisers.  Because H.R. 7060 is a new bill, it now goes to the Senate for its consideration.  The Senate has previously indicated that its earlier passed bill was a “take it or leave it” so it is unclear at best what the Senate will do with H.R. 7060.  Also, the President has indicated that he would veto H.R. 7060 if passed by Congress.

There are only a few days left in this legislative session and it is expected that Congress will adjourn as soon as work on the thrift bailout and a government funding bill are passed.

In spite of the low chances that an energy and tax extenders bill acceptable to the House, Senate and President will be passed before the election recess, it is significant that H.R. 7060 as passed by the House also includes cost basis reporting.  Thus, both the House and Senate, within a span of only three days, have passed separate tax bills that include cost basis reporting.  This fact strongly suggests that ultimate passage of a tax bill in the near term that includes cost basis reporting is inevitable even if it does not happen before the election.

The details are essentially the same as detailed regarding the Senate version–the effective date for cost basis reporting for most stock would apply to stock acquired on or after January 1, 2011; for open-end mutual fund and dividend reinvestment plan stock acquired on or after January 1, 2012 and for debt instruments, options and other covered securities acquired on or after January 1, 2013.  The provision is scored to raise $6.67 billion over a ten year period.

Stevie

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