The advocacy work of NAIFA-KY was highly influential in the late revision of tax reform legislation in the state that would have placed a 6% tax on financial planning and investment management services. This tax would have impacted many investors in Kentucky and the financial professionals they rely on for advice and services. NAIFA Trustee Brian Wilson offers his perspective on why this advocacy win and all of NAIFA's state advocacy efforts are so important.

On March 28, President Biden sent Congress a Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget that calls for $1.58 trillion in discretionary spending (a 7.4 percent increase over last year) and over $1 trillion in new taxes. The budget, the Administration says, would reduce the federal deficit by $1 trillion over ten years.

Most of the new taxes would come from the proposal to hike the corporate tax rate from the current 21 percent to 28 percent (starting in 2023) and from a new 20 percent tax on a combination of income and capital wealth held by households with $100 million or more in income from earnings and increases in the value of their capital assets. The budget also proposes raising the top individual tax rate to 39.6 percent.

The Kentucky Legislature has passed a comprehensive tax reform package, and thanks to advocacy work by NAIFA's Kentucky chapter financial planners and investment advisors narrowly avoided a 6% sales tax on their services.

The House of Representatives passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill by a vote of 228-206 with 13 Republicans voting in favor and six Democrats opposing. The vote came after an agreement amongst Democrats that the social spending bill, the Build Back Better Act, would come to the House floor the week of November 15 with no further changes (other than technical corrections). Then the BBB legislation would go to the Senate, where is will likely undergo several changes before coming back to the House for a second vote. 

NAIFA calls on Congress to reject tax hikes on Main Street businesses as the House of Representative sends the latest text of the Build Back Better Act to the Rules Committee. In a letter with other associations and business groups, NAIFA urges congressional leaders to reject the Build Back Better framework's tax increases on individual- and family-owned businesses.

The Build Back Better reconciliation bill is at a boiling point. Some Washington insiders are saying the House could vote on it this week. Others are skeptical that a final bill could come together that quickly. Either way, it will take considerably longer for the Senate to vote. The rules of reconciliation allow for time-eating “vote-a-rama” amendments as well as up to 50 hours of debate, and it is highly likely opponents of the measure in the Senate will take all that time. But things are hot and getting hotter. Here’s the state of play currently.

Thursday morning President Biden released a Build Back Better framework and fact sheet outlining his social spending plan. The situation is still very fluid and it’s unknown if the centrists who have opposed previous spending and tax plans will support this version.

NAIFA, along with 100 business and trade associations, sent a letter to President Joe Biden expressing “strong opposition to the new tax information reporting regime proposed by the Department of Treasury and under consideration by Congress as part of the proposed reconciliation spending package.”

In advance of the Ways and Means Committee mark-up, NAIFA signed a letter with more than 100 other organizations representing Main Street employers asking Congress to reject proposed tax increases that would harm these businesses and the consumers they serve.

As the leading advocacy association for insurance and financial services professionals, NAIFA continues to work with policymakers at the federal and state levels on efforts to bolster American businesses. Most recently, NAIFA is one of only three insurance-related associations (along with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America and the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents) to sign onto a letter sent to key members of the Senate and House of Representatives urging Congress to maintain the 20% deduction for qualified business income under Section 199A of the federal tax code.