Updated Virus Bill's Tax Aspects Estimated To Cost $594B

An updated version of tax legislation that is part of Democrats' $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan would cost nearly $594 billion over the next decade, according to a Tuesday revenue estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The roughly $290 million increase in the updated bill cost compared with a version unveiled Monday is due to a provision allowing the U.S. Department of the Treasury to make payments to U.S. territories equal to all of their earned income tax credit costs each calendar year, according to the JCT estimate.

A previous version of the legislation introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, D-Mass., only directed the Treasury secretary to make annual payments equal to 75% of those territories' and American Samoa's EITC costs beginning this year.

Neal's amended legislation also made clerical changes to a number of sections, according to JCT's description of the updated bill.

--Additional reporting by Joshua Rosenberg. Editing by Neil Cohen.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.