The Senate could use Federal Aviation Administration legislation recently passed by the House as a vehicle for technical corrections to the 2017 tax act.
The FAA bill (H.R. 4) that advanced April 27 would reauthorize the agency to collect aviation excise taxes and fund its operations with federal money deposited into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, among other provisions. Programs would be authorized through 2023; the current authorization expires Sept. 30.
The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration, where lawmakers could easily tack on tax law technical corrections—such as a clarification to a provision on qualified improvement property or a revision to the effective date for using net operating losses—because the bill already contains tax provisions.
Reporters Laura Davison, Allyson Versprille, and Kaustuv Basu spoke with Talking Tax host Matthew Beddingfield on April 30 about this potential opportunity. They also discussed current and future openings on the House Ways and Means Committee and messaging on the tax law (Pub. L. No. 115-97) heading into the midterm elections.