[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2148 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2148

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the child and 
             dependent care credit, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 27, 1996

Mr. Harkin (for himself and Mrs. Murray) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the child and 
             dependent care credit, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Working Family 
Child Care Tax Relief Act of 1996''.
    (b) Amendment of  1986 Code.--Except as otherwise expressly 
provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in 
terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, 
the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other 
provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF CHILD AND DEPENDENT CARE CREDIT.

    (a) Increase in Credit.--Paragraph (2) of section 21(a) (relating 
to credit for expenses for household and dependent care services 
necessary for gainful employment) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(2) Applicable percentage defined.--For purposes of 
        paragraph (1), the term `applicable percentage' means 30 
        percent reduced (but not below 20 percent) by 1 percentage 
        point for each $3,000 (or fraction thereof) by which the 
        taxpayer's adjusted gross income exceeds $50,000.''
    (b) Increase in Maximum Amount Creditable.--
            (1) In general.--Section 21(c) (relating to dollar limit on 
        amount creditable) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``$2,400'' in paragraph (1) and 
                inserting ``$4,000'', and
                    (B) by striking ``$4,800'' in paragraph (2) and 
                inserting ``$8,000''.
            (2) Phaseout for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in 
        excess of $50,000.--
                    (A) In general.--Section 21(c) is amended by adding 
                at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Limitation based on adjusted gross income.--If the 
        taxpayer's adjusted gross income for the taxable year exceeds 
        $50,000, the applicable dollar amount under paragraph (1) shall 
        be reduced as follows:
                    ``(A) The $4,000 amount under paragraph (1)(A) 
                shall be reduced (but not below $2,400) by $53.33 for 
                each $1,000 (or fraction thereof) of such excess.
                    ``(B) The $8,000 amount under paragraph (1)(B) 
                shall be reduced (but not below $4,800) by $106.66 for 
                each $1,000 (or fraction thereof) of such excess.''
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 21(c), as amended by 
        subsection (b), is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``The amount'' and inserting:
            ``(1) In general.--The amount'',
                    (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and
                    (C) by striking ``paragraph (1) or (2)'' and 
                inserting ``subparagraph (A) or (B)''.
    (c) Credit Made Refundable.--
            (1) In general.--Section 21 (relating to credit for 
        expenses for household and dependent care services), as amended 
        by this section, is transferred to subpart C of part IV of 
        subchapter A of chapter 1, inserted after section 35, and 
        redesignated as section 36.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--
                    (A) Section 129 is amended--
                            (i) by striking ``21(e)'' in subsection 
                        (a)(2)(C) and inserting ``36(e)'',
                            (ii) by striking ``21(d)(2)'' in subsection 
                        (b)(2) and inserting ``36(d)(2)'', and
                            (iii) by striking ``21(b)(2)'' in 
                        subsection (e)(1) and inserting ``36(b)(2)''.
                    (B) Section 213(e) is amended by striking ``section 
                21'' and inserting ``section 36''.
            (3) Clerical amendments.--
                    (A) The table of sections for subpart A of part IV 
                of subchapter A of chapter 1 is amended by striking the 
                item relating to section 21.
                    (B) The table of sections for subpart C of part IV 
                of subchapter A of chapter 1 is amended by adding at 
                the end the following new item:

                              ``Sec. 36. Expenses for household and 
                                        dependent care services 
                                        necessary for gainful 
                                        employment.''
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1997.

SEC. 3. OFFSETS OF REVENUE LOSS.

    (a) Modifications to Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.--
            (1) Repeal of $70,000 exclusion.--Paragraph (1) of section 
        911(a) (relating to exclusion from gross income) is amended by 
        inserting ``in the case of taxable years beginning before 
        January 1, 1998,'' before ``the foreign earned income''.
            (2) Qualified schooling expenses.--
                    (A) In general.--Section 911(a) is amended by 
                striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (1), by 
                striking the period at the end of paragraph (2) and 
                inserting ``, and'', and by adding at the end the 
                following new paragraph:
            ``(3) the qualified schooling expenses of such 
        individual.''
                    (B) Qualified schooling expenses.--Section 911 is 
                amended by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 
                subsections (f) and (g) and by inserting after 
                subsection (d) the following new subsection:
    ``(e) Qualified Schooling Expenses.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        `qualified schooling expenses' means the reasonable schooling 
        expenses paid or incurred by or on behalf of the individual 
        during the taxable year for the education of each dependent of 
        the individual at the elementary or secondary level. For 
        purposes of the preceding sentence, the elementary or secondary 
        level means education which is the equivalent of education from 
        the kindergarten through the 12th grade in a United States-type 
        school.
            ``(2) Expenses included.--For purposes of paragraph (1), 
        the term `schooling expenses' means the cost of tuition, fees, 
        books, and local transportation and of other expenses required 
        by the school. Except as provided in paragraph (3), such term 
        does not include expenses of room and board or expenses of 
        transportation other than local transportation.
            ``(3) Room, board, and travel allowed in certain cases.--If 
        an adequate United States-type school is not available within a 
        reasonable commuting distance of the individual's tax home, the 
        expenses of room and board of the dependent and the expenses of 
        the transportation of the dependent each school year between 
        such tax home and the location of the school shall be treated 
        as schooling expenses.
            ``(4) Determination of reasonable expenses.--If--
                    ``(A) there is an adequate United States-type 
                school available within a reasonable commuting distance 
                of the individual's tax home, and
                    ``(B) the dependent attends a school other than the 
                school referred to in subparagraph (A),
        then the amount taken into account under paragraph (2) shall 
        not exceed the aggregate amount which would be charged for the 
        period by the school referred to in subparagraph (A).
            ``(5) Period taken into account.--An amount shall be taken 
        into account as a qualified schooling expense only if it is 
        attributable to education for a period during which the 
        individual's tax home is in a foreign country.
            ``(6) Special rules where schooling expenses not provided 
        by employer.--
                    ``(A) In general.--To the extent the qualified 
                schooling expenses of any individual for any taxable 
                year is not attributable to employer provided amounts, 
                such expenses shall be treated as a deduction allowable 
                in computing adjusted gross income to the extent of the 
                limitation of subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Limitation.--For purposes of subparagraph 
                (A), the limitation of this subparagraph is the excess 
                of--
                            ``(i) the foreign earned income of the 
                        individual for the taxable year, over
                            ``(ii) the amount of such income excluded 
                        from gross income under subsection (a) for the 
                        taxable year.
                    ``(C) 1-year carryover of expenses not allowed by 
                reason of subparagraph (b).--
                            ``(i) In general.--The amount not allowable 
                        as a deduction for any taxable year under 
                        subparagraph (A) by reason of the limitation of 
                        subparagraph (B) shall be treated as a 
                        deduction allowable in computing adjusted gross 
                        income for the succeeding taxable year (and 
                        only for the succeeding taxable year) to the 
                        extent of the limitation of clause (ii) for 
                        such succeeding taxable year.
                            ``(ii) Limitation.--For purposes of clause 
                        (i), the limitation of this clause for any 
                        taxable year is the excess of--
                                    ``(I) the limitation of 
                                subparagraph (B) for such taxable year, 
                                over
                                    ``(II) amounts treated as a 
                                deduction under subparagraph (A) for 
                                such taxable year.
                    ``(D) Employer provided amounts.--For purposes of 
                this paragraph, the term `employer provided amounts' 
                means any amount paid or incurred on behalf of the 
                individual by the individual's employer which is 
                foreign earned income included in the individual's 
                gross income for the taxable year (without regard to 
                this section).''
                    (C) Conforming amendment.--Section 911(d)(7) is 
                amended by inserting ``or (e)(6)(A)'' after 
                ``subsection (c)(3)(A)''.
            (3) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection 
        shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1997.
    (b) Savings From Welfare Reform.--If there is an overall decrease 
in Federal revenues for any fiscal year by reason of this Act (without 
regard to this subsection), such decrease shall be offset by the 
decrease in Federal expenditures for such fiscal year by reason of the 
amendments made by, and provisions of, the Personal Responsibility and 
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193).
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