Very good news for advocates of extending the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)!   Another influential Republican has announced that she will co-sponsor H.R. 2082, the WOTC Improvement Act.   H.R. 2082 proposes to extend WOTC for three years while making various improvements to the program.

According to the Bill Summary and Status published by the Library of Congress, H.R. 2082 currently has 24 cosponsors . . . including Congressman Dan Lungren, my Representative for California district 3.

The following correspondence is published with permission.  Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, spells out the details in his announcement today.  Please, don’t overlook the good advice for consultants and employers who would also like to see the program extended.

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June 15, 2012

Several months of work paid off for John White and his team at WOTC Solutions when they were notified by Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins office today that she would co-sponsor H.R. 2082, the WOTC Improvements Act to extend WOTC retroactively for three years.

Congresswoman Jenkins is highly regarded and was recently selected by the House leadership to give, in a national radio address, the Republican reply to President Obama’s Saturday report to the nation.

Other Coalition members with Kansas operations who’ve been lobbying Congresswoman Jenkins and deserve congratulations and thanks for their efforts are MARS/Stout, National Restaurant Association, National Council of Chain Restaurants, National Grocers Association, Food Marketing Institute, Dillard’s, Duckwall-Alco Stores, and Payless Shoe Source. (We hope we didn’t miss anyone.)

Congresswoman Jenkins, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, joins Congressman Aaron Schock, the bill’s sponsor, as the two Republican advocates for the bill on that committee. With united Democratic support assured, only a few more Republican sponsors will put a solid majority of Ways and Means behind WOTC—something that’s bound to influence Chairman Dave Camp when he writes tax legislation due in July.

Consequently, Coalition members should re-double their efforts lobbying Republican members of Ways and Means and other Republican congressmen in line with our 50-state lobbying plan.

Remember, Republicans who control the House are now actively considering which tax extenders are worthy of continuing and which will be dropped, so the issue is freshly before them and with elections nigh, this is a moment they are willing to listen.

Here are targets among Ways and Means Republicans that should be pressed: Congressman Rick Berg (ND) in a close race running for Senate, Congressmen Peter Roskam (IL), Jim Gerlach (PA), Pat Tiberi (OH), Eric Paulsen (MN), Kenny Marchant (TX), Tom Reed (NY), Vern Buchanan (FL).

We need to pick up these votes on Ways and Means, and the best way to do that is by going beyond our Washington contacts to organizing meetings with the congressman by people from his or her district as WOTC Solutions, MARS/Stout, Walton Management, Honkamp-Kreuger, and others are doing. The mere request of a meeting with these congressmen now, in the middle of an election, will have a powerful impact if it’s from voters in his district and will yield contacts in his office that you can work with, regularly asking, “Has the congressman made his decision on WOTC yet? Is he going to support us folks in the state?”

Again, thanks and congratulations to all who helped win the support of Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins. If I missed somebody, please accept our apology and let me know.

PAUL E. SUPLIZIO
President, WOTC Coalition

“Temporary tax provisions that are worthy should be made permanent.” So says, Congressman Pat Tiberi (R-OH), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue in his opening remarks to last week’s subcommittee hearing on tax extenders.

[T]he current tax code is riddled with scores of provisions that have been enacted on a temporary basis. I say riddled not because I believe all these provisions are bad but because – while there are rare occasions when it makes sense to enact temporary tax provisions, such as during an economic downturn – most of the temporary provisions were made temporary not for policy reasons, but because of arcane budget or Senate rules. Making tax policy this way wreaks havoc on the ability of families and businesses to plan for the future with some certainty.

With a few exceptions, temporary tax provisions that are worthy should be made permanent. Those that are not worthy should be terminated. That kind of certainty might not happen until we pass comprehensive tax reform, but in the meantime today’s hearing provides a formal opportunity for the subcommittee to hear from our House colleagues about the merits of extending—or not extending—many of these tax policies.

I don’t expect readers of The WOTC Planet to be interested in my personal life.  That’s not what this site is about.  HOWEVER, I have to share this.

My new little boy Abram Vaughn Hromiko was born this afternoon just after 1:00 PM Pacific.  I’ll be taking a few days off.  See you on the other side.