Senate Democrats Start Developing Priorities for 2025 Tax Cliff

Senate Finance Committee Democrats said Thursday they’re working on a menu of tax provisions they want to be in the conversation in the 2025 tax cliff debate.

The senators kicked off discussions in a meeting to share their priorities for a major tax package expected next year, when much of the GOP-led 2017 tax law is set to expire. Senators leaving the meeting said that the best way to be ready for the debate is to have specific plans that are prepped for making policy.

“The main goal here is this can’t just be a debate about the 2017 tax cuts,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said. “This is going to be Tax Armageddon. It’s time to suit up.”

Senate Democrats have taken a different tack than their GOP tax-writing counterparts in prepping for 2025. While Republicans on the tax committees have set up working groups focused on specific issues, Finance Committee Democrats have not set up similar groups.

Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he planned to hold both group and one-on-one meetings with his Finance panel colleagues to devise top priorities.

“I’m going to continue to work with my colleagues to build a revenue menu to get good ideas, my colleagues had a number of them,” he told reporters, adding that this approach will allow priorities like low-income housing tax credits to not get lost in the debate.

Wyden said he was struck by members’ commitment to raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and companies.

Despite the shifting gaze toward 2025, other senators said they conveyed their desire to not lose sight of trying to get the House-passed tax bill across the finish line this year. The $78 billion bipartisan tax package—with business tax breaks, a more generous child tax credit, and an expanded low-income housing tax credit—has been stalled in the Senate over GOP objections.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he wants to start with getting the bipartisan tax bill passed. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) also emphasized that she wants the low-income housing tax credit to take precedence this Congress.

“We’re going to continue to make it a priority until it gets done,” Cantwell told reporters.