An approximately $20 billion small business tax bill (H.R. 4849) that would extend the Build America Bonds program for three years is expected to come to the House floor March 24 under a closed rule that prohibits Republican amendments and allows for one motion to recommit.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act on March 17 by a vote of 25-15 on a partisan basis after lengthy debates about the best ways to create jobs and to stop overseas tax avoidance.

The legislation, introduced by newly appointed Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich.), includes a three-year extension of Build America Bonds for state and local infrastructure projects and 100 percent exclusion for capital gains taxes from the sale of certain small business stock that is held for more than five years and is acquired between March 15, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2012. This $2 billion provision builds on a measure from the 2009 economic stimulus law, which increased the exclusion from 50 percent to 75 percent.

The bond measure is the largest infrastructure provision of the legislation, although a committee-adopted managers' amendment scaled the extension back so it applies to bonds issued before April 1, 2013, instead of July 1, 2013—a move that decreased the cost of the extension from $7.65 billion to $7.46 billion.

The legislation is largely paid for with a $7.7 billion provision designed to stop companies from using subsidiaries to channel deductible payments through U.S. tax treaty countries before earnings are repatriated to a tax haven. Other offsetting funds would be raised by requiring investors using grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) to hold the trust for a minimum of 10 years, ending beneficial tax treatment for dividends and interest paid by so-called "80/20" companies to foreign persons, and modifying the rules related to Reverse Morris Trust maneuvers that allow companies to recognize tax-free gains from sales of spun-off subsidiaries.

During floor consideration, the House will consider a managers' amendment that would extend the emergency contingency fund for State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs for one year and pay for the $2.5 billion provision with two new offsets. First, to raise about $1.89 billion over 10 years, the amendment would disallow the use of the cellulosic biofuel producer credit for paper manufacturers that use crude tall oil by limiting eligibility for the tax credit to fuels that are not highly corrosive. It also would be offset by a new $1.05 billion provision that would allow the Internal Revenue Service to impose levies before a collection due process hearing on federal contractors who are delinquent in paying their federal taxes.