To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent certain provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act affecting individuals, families, and small businesses, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Buchanan (for himself, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Mr. LaHood, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The TCJA Permanency Act makes permanent the individual, family, and small business tax provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that were set to expire in 2025. This includes lower income tax rates for individuals, a nearly doubled standard deduction, enhanced child tax credit, increased estate and gift tax exemptions, and a 20% deduction for pass-through business income.
Who Benefits and How
Most individual taxpayers benefit from permanently lower tax rates (10%-37% brackets) and a nearly doubled standard deduction ($24,000 for married couples, $18,000 for heads of household). Families with children receive a permanent $2,000 child tax credit per child with higher income thresholds ($400,000 for joint filers). Pass-through business owners (S-corps, partnerships, sole proprietors) keep their 20% qualified business income deduction. Wealthy estates benefit most significantly from the doubled estate tax exemption (now approximately $13 million per person), shielding estates worth up to $26 million for married couples from federal estate taxes. Upper-middle income taxpayers escape the Alternative Minimum Tax due to raised exemption thresholds.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The federal government loses substantial tax revenue, increasing the national debt. High-income residents of high-tax states like New York, New Jersey, California, and Connecticut face permanently capped state and local tax (SALT) deductions at $10,000, potentially costing them thousands annually. Buyers of expensive homes lose mortgage interest deductions on amounts over $750,000 for new mortgages. Civilian workers lose the moving expense deduction and tax-free treatment of employer moving reimbursements (only military members retain this benefit). Bicycle commuters permanently lose their tax-free commuter benefit.
Key Provisions
- Makes permanent the 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37% individual income tax brackets
- Doubles the estate and gift tax exemption from $5 million to $10 million (indexed for inflation)
- Permanently expands the child tax credit to $2,000 per child with refundable portion up to $1,400
- Makes permanent the 20% deduction for qualified business income from pass-through entities
- Permanently caps SALT deductions at $10,000 ($5,000 married filing separately)
- Eliminates miscellaneous itemized deductions (unreimbursed employee expenses, tax prep fees)
- Expands 529 education savings accounts to cover homeschool expenses, tutoring, and K-12 tuition at private/religious schools
- Limits moving expense benefits to active-duty military only
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Makes permanent the individual, family, and small business tax provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that were set to expire in 2025, including lower income tax rates, doubled standard deduction, expanded child tax credit, and increased estate tax exemption.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Extend and make permanent the individual tax provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act before their scheduled sunset in 2025"
Likely Beneficiaries
- High-income taxpayers (from lower marginal rates and doubled estate tax exemption)
- Pass-through business owners (from permanent 20% QBI deduction)
- Families with children (from permanent ,000 child tax credit)
- Middle-income taxpayers (from permanent increased standard deduction)
- Wealthy estates (from M+ estate tax exemption)
- Homeschooling families (from expanded 529 account uses)
- Tax preparation industry
- Financial planners and estate attorneys
Likely Burden Bearers
- Federal government/taxpayers (reduced tax revenue)
- High-tax state residents (permanent ,000 SALT cap)
- Homeowners with large mortgages (permanent K mortgage interest cap)
- Gamblers (permanent limitation on wagering loss deductions)
- Bicycle commuters (loss of commuter benefit exclusion)
- Non-military individuals (loss of moving expense deduction)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Title I of Public Law 115-97, the 2017 tax reform law
A member of the Armed Forces on active duty who moves pursuant to a military order and incident to a permanent change of station
A qualifying dependent who is a qualifying child under section 7706(c), has not attained age 17 at close of calendar year, and whose SSN is on the taxpayers return
Any dependent of the taxpayer (under section 7706) whose name and TIN are included on the taxpayers return of tax
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology