FY 2014 Federal Budget Process BeginningWhile the White House has pushed back the target date for its fiscal 2014 budget proposal release until April 2013, House and Senate budget committees are working to assemble their respective fiscal 2014 budget resolutions. The resolutions, which are not binding, set each chamber’s spending guidelines for the coming fiscal year. The American Taxpayer Relief Act requires the House and Senate to approve their budget resolutions by April 15, or Congressional salaries will be held in an escrow account until a budget is passed or the last day of the 113th Congress, whichever comes first.
Though the Senate has not passed a budget resolution since 2009, the chamber is now drafting its fiscal 2014 resolution, which Senate Majority Leader Reid hopes to bring to the floor for consideration next week. Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) indicated in January 2013 that she will likely seek to raise revenue in the chamber’s resolution, and that these provisions of the bill could include a 28% cap on the municipal tax exemption.
The GFOA, along with the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, and several other state and local advocacy organizations, sent a letter up to the House and Senate Budget Committees on March 8, 2013, urging them to preserve the municipal tax exemption in any budget proposals they bring forward
Click here for the letter.
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