I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5261 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an employer credit 

for increasing wages. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 22, 2019 

Mr. RUIZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

an employer credit for increasing wages. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rewarding American 

5 Investments to Support Employees Act of 2019’’ or the 

6 ‘‘RAISE Act of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. EMPLOYER WAGE CREDIT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub9 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

10 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 45T. EMPLOYER WAGE CREDIT. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 

3 employer wage credit determined under this section with 

4 respect to any employer for any taxable year is an amount 

5 equal to 10 percent of the excess (if any) of— 

6 ‘‘(1) the aggregate amount of wages paid or in7 curred to specified employees during the calendar 

8 year which ends with or within such taxable year, 

9 over 

10 ‘‘(2) the aggregate amount of wages paid or in11 curred to specified employees during the calendar 

12 year immediately preceding the calendar year de13 scribed in paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the credit 

16 determined under subsection (a) with respect to any 

17 employer for any taxable year shall not exceed 

18 $500,000. 

19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON INCREASE WHICH MAY BE

20 TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WITH RESPECT TO EACH EM21 PLOYEE.—The amount of wages taken into account 

22 under subsection (a)(1) with respect to any employee 

23 shall not exceed the sum of $25,000 plus the 

24 amount of wages taken into account under sub25 section (a)(2) with respect to such employee. 


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1 ‘‘(c) SPECIFIED EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of this 

2 section, the term ‘specified employee’ means any employee 

3 who— 

4 ‘‘(1) was employed continuously in one or more 

5 trades or businesses of the employer during both cal6 endar years described in subsection (a), and 

7 ‘‘(2) earned wages not in excess of $75,000 

8 during the calendar year described in subsection 

9 (a)(2). 

10 ‘‘(d) OTHER DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 

11 For purposes of this section— 

12 ‘‘(1) WAGES.—The term ‘wages’ has the mean13 ing given such term by section 3306(b) (determined 

14 without regard to any dollar limitation contained in 

15 such section). Such term shall not include any 

16 amount taken into account in determining any other 

17 credit allowed under this subpart. 

18 ‘‘(2) PREDECESSOR AND SUCCESSOR.—Any ref19 erence in this paragraph to an employer shall in20 clude a reference to any predecessor of, or successor 

21 to, such employer. 

22 ‘‘(3) AGGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated 

23 as a single employer under subsection (b), (c), (m), 

24 or (o) of section 414 shall be treated as one em25 ployer. 


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1 ‘‘(4) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a tax3 able year beginning after 2020, the $500,000 

4 and $75,000 amounts in subsections (b) and (c) 

5 shall each be increased by an amount equal— 

6 ‘‘(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

7 ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de8 termined under subparagraph (B) for the 

9 calendar year in which the taxable year be10 gins. 

11 ‘‘(B) COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT.—For 

12 purposes of this paragraph, the cost-of-living 

13 adjustment for any calendar year is the per14 centage (if any) by which— 

15 ‘‘(i) the CPI for the preceding cal16 endar year, exceeds 

17 ‘‘(ii) the CPI for calendar year 2019. 

18 ‘‘(C) CPI FOR ANY CALENDAR YEAR.—For 

19 purposes of this paragraph, the CPI for any 

20 calendar year shall be determined as provided 

21 in section 1(f)(4). 

22 ‘‘(D) ROUNDING.—If any amount as ad23 justed under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple 

24 of $1,000, such amount shall be rounded to the 

25 next lowest multiple of $1,000. 


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1 ‘‘(5) ELECTION TO HAVE CREDIT NOT APPLY.— 

2 A taxpayer may elect to have this section not apply 

3 for any taxable year. Rules similar to the rules of 

4 paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 51(j) shall apply 

5 for purposes of this paragraph.’’. 

6 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

7 CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by strik8 ing ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (31), by striking the 

9 period at the end of paragraph (32) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, 

10 and by inserting after paragraph (32) the following new 

11 paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(33) the employer wage credit determined 

13 under section 45T.’’. 

14 (c) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT WITH DEDUC15 TIONS.—Section 280C(a) of such Code is amended by in16 serting ‘‘45T(a),’’ after ‘‘45S(a),’’. 

17 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

18 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

19 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol20 lowing the item: 

‘‘Sec. 45T. Employer wage credit.’’. 

21 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

23 December 31, 2019. 

Æ 


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