I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2020
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide marriage penalty
relief, incentives to encourage health coverage, and increased child care
assistance, to extend certain expiring tax provisions, and for other pur-
poses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 7, 1999
Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut (for herself, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. CAMP, Mr.
ENGLISH, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. UPTON, Mr. LAZIO, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr.
GREENWOOD, Mr. LEACH, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr.
GILCHREST, Mr. BASS, Mr. HORN, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. KOLBE, Mr.
QUINN, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr.
OSE, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. DREIER, Mrs. KELLY,
and Mrs. ROUKEMA) 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
marriage penalty relief, incentives to encourage health
coverage, and increased child care assistance, to extend
certain expiring tax provisions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Tax Relief for Working Americans Act of 1999’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—
Sec. 1. Short title.
TITLE I—MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF
Sec. 101. Basic standard deduction for married individuals to be twice the de-
duction for unmarried individuals.
TITLE II—ADJUSTMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY EARNING LIMIT
Sec. 201. Adjustment in monthly exempt amount for purposes of the social se-
curity earnings test.
TITLE III—INCENTIVES FOR HEALTH AND LONG-TERM CARE
COVERAGE
Sec. 301. Credit for health insurance costs of previously uninsured individuals
and individuals with COBRA coverage.
Sec. 302. Deduction for health insurance costs of employees and self-employed
individuals.
Sec. 303. Credit for taxpayers with long-term care needs.
TITLE IV—EXPANSION OF DEPENDENT CARE TAX CREDIT
Sec. 401. Expansion of dependent care tax credit.
TITLE V—ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX RELIEF
Sec. 501. Nonrefundable personal credits allowed against alternative minimum
tax.
Sec. 502. Income averaging for farmers not to increase alternative minimum
tax liability.
TITLE VI—ELIMINATION OF 60-MONTH LIMIT ON STUDENT LOAN
INTEREST DEDUCTION
Sec. 601. Elimination of 60-month limit on student loan interest deduction.
TITLE VII—INCREASE IN LOW-INCOME HOUSING CREDIT STATE
CEILING
Sec. 701. Increase in State ceiling on low-income housing credit.
TITLE VIII—FARM AND RANCH RISK MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS
Sec. 801. Farm and ranch risk management accounts.
TITLE IX—INCENTIVES FOR URBAN REVITALIZATION AND OPEN
SPACE
Sec. 901. Expensing of environmental remediation costs expanded to contami-
nated sites outside of targeted areas.
Sec. 902. Modifications to encourage contributions of capital gain real property
made for conservation purposes and of qualified conservation
contributions.
TITLE X—EXTENSION OF CERTAIN EXPIRING PROVISIONS
Sec. 1001. Research credit.
Sec. 1002. Work opportunity credit.
Sec. 1003. Permanent subpart F exemption for active financing income.
Sec. 1004. Credit for electricity produced from renewable resources.
TITLE I—MARRIAGE PENALTY
RELIEF
SEC. 101. BASIC STANDARD DEDUCTION FOR MARRIED IN-
DIVIDUALS TO BE TWICE THE DEDUCTION
FOR UNMARRIED INDIVIDUALS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 63(c) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to standard
deduction) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ in subparagraph (A)
and inserting ‘‘twice the dollar amount in effect
under subparagraph (C) for the taxable year’’,
(2) by adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph
(B),
(3) by striking ‘‘in the case of’’ and all that fol-
lows in subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘in any
other case.’’, and
(4) by striking subparagraph (D).
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Subparagraph (B) of
section 1(f)(6) of such Code is amended by striking
‘‘(other than with’’ and all that follows through ‘‘shall be
applied’’ and inserting ‘‘(other than sections 63(c)(4) and
151(d)(4)(A)) shall be applied’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after
December 31, 1999.
TITLE II—ADJUSTMENT OF SO-
CIAL 
SECURITY 
EARNING
LIMIT
SEC. 201. ADJUSTMENT IN MONTHLY EXEMPT AMOUNT FOR
PURPOSES OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY EARN-
INGS TEST.
(a) INCREASE IN MONTHLY EXEMPT AMOUNT FOR
INDIVIDUALS
WHO
HAVE
ATTAINED
RETIREMENT
AGE.—Section 203(f)(8)(D) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 403(f)(8)(D)) is amended—
(1) in clause (iii), by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the
end; and
(2) by striking clauses (iv) through (vii) and in-
serting the following new clause:
‘‘(iv) for each month of any taxable
year ending after 1999 and before 2001,
$2,500.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) Section 203(f)(8)(B)(ii) of such Act (42
U.S.C. 403(f)(8)(B)(ii)) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘after 2001 and before
2003’’ and inserting ‘‘after 1999 and before
2001’’; and
(B) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘2001’’
and inserting ‘‘1998’’.
(2) The second sentence of section 223(d)(4)(A)
of such Act (42 U.S.C. 423(d)(4)(A)) is amended by
inserting ‘‘and section 201 of the Tax Relief for
Working Americans Act of 1999’’ after ‘‘1996’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply with respect to taxable years begin-
ning after 1999.
TITLE 
III—INCENTIVES 
FOR
HEALTH 
AND 
LONG-TERM
CARE COVERAGE
SEC. 301. CREDIT FOR HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS OF PRE-
VIOUSLY UNINSURED INDIVIDUALS AND IN-
DIVIDUALS WITH COBRA COVERAGE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is
amended by inserting after section 25A the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 25B. HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS OF PREVIOUSLY UN-
INSURED INDIVIDUALS AND INDIVIDUALS
WITH COBRA COVERAGE.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual,
there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed
by this chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to
60 percent of the amount paid during the taxable year
for coverage for the taxpayer, his spouse, and dependents
under qualified health insurance.
‘‘(b) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount allowed as a
credit under subsection (a) to the taxpayer for the
taxable year shall not exceed the sum of the monthly
limitations for eligible months during such taxable
year.
‘‘(2) MONTHLY LIMITATION.—The monthly lim-
itation for any eligible month is the amount equal to
1⁄12 of—
‘‘(A) $1,200 if, as of the first day of such
month, the taxpayer has self-only coverage
under qualified health insurance, and
‘‘(B) $2,400 if, as of the first day of such
month, the taxpayer has family coverage under
qualified health insurance.
‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE MONTH.—For purposes of this
subsection—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible
month’ means any month which begins at least
1 year after the most recent month that the
individual—
‘‘(i) was eligible to participate in any
group health plan of an employer which
provided qualified health insurance (deter-
mined 
without 
regard 
to 
subsection
(d)(2)), or
‘‘(ii) participated in any group health
plan of any other entity which provided
such insurance.
‘‘(B) JOINT RETURNS.—In the case of a
joint return, a month shall be treated as an eli-
gible month only if it is an eligible month of
each spouse, determined by applying this para-
graph separately to each spouse.
‘‘(4) CERTAIN
OTHER
COVERAGE.—Amounts
paid for coverage of an individual for any month
shall not be taken into account under subsection (a)
if, as of the first day of such month, such individual
is covered under any medical care program described
in—
‘‘(A) title XVIII, XIX, or XXI of the So-
cial Security Act,
‘‘(B) chapter 55 of title 10, United States
Code,
‘‘(C) chapter 17 of title 38, United States
Code,
‘‘(D) chapter 89 of title 5, United States
Code, or
‘‘(E) the Indian Health Care Improvement
Act.
‘‘(5) SPECIAL
RULE
FOR
MARRIED
INDIVID-
UALS.—In the case of an individual—
‘‘(A) who is married (within the meaning
of section 7703) as of the close of the taxable
year but does not file a joint return for such
year, and
‘‘(B) who does not live apart from such in-
dividual’s spouse at all times during the taxable
year,
the limitation under paragraph (2)(A) (and not the
limitation under paragraph (2)(B)) shall apply to
such individual.
‘‘(c) LIMITATION BASED ON ADJUSTED GROSS IN-
COME.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The aggregate amount
which would (but for this subsection) be allowed as
a credit under this section shall be reduced (but not
below zero) by the amount determined under para-
graph (2).
‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF REDUCTION.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The amount deter-
mined under this paragraph shall be the
amount which bears the same ratio to such ag-
gregate amount as—
‘‘(i) the excess of—
‘‘(I) the taxpayer’s modified ad-
justed gross income for such taxable
year, over
‘‘(II) 
the 
applicable 
dollar
amount, bears to
‘‘(ii) $10,000.
‘‘(B) MODIFIED
ADJUSTED
GROSS
IN-
COME.—For purposes of this paragraph, the
term ‘modified adjusted gross income’ means
adjusted gross income increased by any amount
excluded from gross income under section 911,
931, or 933.
‘‘(C) ROUNDING.—Any amount determined
under subparagraph (A) which is not a multiple
of $10 shall be rounded to the next lowest $10.