JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION

The Joint Committee on Taxation (“JCT”) was established under the Revenue Act of 1926 and is one of the oldest joint committees of the Congress. It is composed of five Members of the House Committee on Ways & Means and five Members of the Senate Committee on Finance. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the JCT are elected by the JCT members; these positions generally alternate each year between the Chairmen of the Ways & Means and Finance Committees. 

Members of the 

Joint Committee on Taxation 

109th Congress

House Senate 

William M. Thomas, California 

Charles E. Grassley, Iowa 

E. Clay Shaw, Jr., Florida 

Orrin G. Hatch, Utah 

Nancy L. Johnson, Connecticut 

Trent Lott, Mississippi 

Charles B. Rangel, New York 

Max Baucus, Montana 

Fortney Pete Stark, California 

John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia

The JCT has a nonpartisan professional staff that includes lawyers, certified public accountants, economists, and computer specialists. The JCT staff lawyers and accountants have substantial tax experience, including private practice experience with law and accounting firms and experience with the Internal Revenue Service. The staff economists have advanced degrees and substantial experience with computer modeling and 

quantitative methods of analysis relating to revenue estimation. The JCT staff is available to any Member of Congress who would like assistance in formulating revenue proposals and examining the possible economic, legal, administrative, and revenue implications of such proposals. 

The JCT staff is closely involved in every aspect of the tax legislative process. Among other things, the JCT staff (1) prepares hearing pamphlets and assists in the preparation of committee reports and conference reports (statements of managers), (2) assists the House and Senate Legislative Counsel in the drafting of statutory language, (3) assists Members of Congress with the development of tax proposals and the analysis of their economic and legal effects, (4) assists Members of Congress in addressing constituent issues and problems, (5) analyzes and prepares revenue estimates of all tax legislation considered by the Congress, and (6) undertakes investigations and studies of various aspects of the Federal tax system. The JCT staff usually publishes annually a list of expiring tax provisions. The JCT staff also publishes an analysis, including revenue estimates, of the budget proposal submitted for each fiscal year by the Administration. The JCT staff prepares descriptions and analyses of proposed tax treaties between the U.S. and other countries. After the close of each Congress, the JCT staff generally publishes a “Blue Book” which compiles the legislative history for each piece of legislation enacted during that Congress.In recent years, the JCT staff has prepared hearing pamphlets on a variety of topics, including exempt organizations and charitable contributions, pension plans and the PBGC, tax shelters, and education tax incentives. The JCT staff has published multiple hearing pamphlets relating to 

fundamental tax reindividual accounts. 

The JCT is statutorilthe operation and effadministration of smethods to simplify results of such recommendations, (4) refunds in excess ocomplexity analysis conduct a joint review 1999-2004, and prepaThe JCT staff also prerequired by law or reexample, in the early asked to review PreMore recently, the JCof its investigatiocompensation issuCorporation, a study Federal tax system for simplification), acompliance and reform Each year the JCT stlist of tax expendiCongressional BudgeAct of 1974 (the “Budare “revenue losses the Federal tax lawexclusion, exemptionincome or which ppreferential rate of liability.” The most report was published Under the Budget Acscorekeeper of Co

REVENU

TAX LEGISLATION 

OTHE

JCT STAFF 
demographic variables for the current budget 

period. If a revenue estimate cannot be completed with tax return information, data are obtained from other sources, including government agencies and non-government organizations. The JCT staff strives to incorporate in its work the most recent advances in computer technology as well as advances in econometric and statistical methods of analysis. All of the JCT econometric and microsimulation models are reviewed and recalibrated on an annual basis. In addition, a major ongoing project of the JCT staff involves providing supplemental macroeconomic analyses for major tax proposals. The staff is currently enhancing its capability to provide such analyses for a broader range of proposals. The JCT staff will provide additional information regarding the data and methodology used to produce a revenue estimate upon request. Members who would like this information should contact the JCT Chief of Staff. Requests made by Members of Congress to the JCT staff for revenue estimates, distributional analyses, or for other assistance are treated as confidential. Generally, responses to such requests are released only to the Member making the request and the JCT response remains confidential unless the Member decides to make the information public. This confidential treatment of Member proposals extends to the process of developing tax legislation, which may involve substantial consultation between a Member (and his or her staff) and the JCT staff. Similarly, any information provided to the JCT staff to help in the formulation of a revenue estimate is treated as confidential and is not released outside the JCT staff. Any Member of Congress may request a revenue estimate of tax legislation which has been 

introduced or that otherwise has entered the public domain. When a revenue estimate has been included in a publicly available document (e.g., a 

revenue table summarizing a markup proposal or the results of a markup), the estimate is made available to anyone upon request. 

CONFIDENTIALITY OF REQUESTS 

JCT PU

The JCT website (

contains a listing oissued since 1981. obtained from the (1620 Longworth 225-2647, or by seto jctpublications@

Publications issuewill be available oor two days of pub

JCT 

The JCT maintainHouse and Senate The main JCT offi1015 Longworth HWashington, D.C. Phone: 202-225-3Fax: 202-225-083204 Dirksen SenatWashington, D.C. Phone: 202-224-5