Title: RAISE Act of 2019
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Rewarding American Investments to Support Employees Act of 2019 or the RAISE Act of 2019
This bill allows employers a tax credit for 10% of the increase in the aggregate amount of wages paid to specified employees in the current taxable year. The credit shall not exceed $500,000 for any employer for any taxable year.
The bill defines "specified employee" as any employee who (1) was employed continuously in one or more trades or businesses of the employer, and (2) earned wages not in excess of $75,000.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5261 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rewarding American Investments to 
Support Employees Act of 2019'' or the ``RAISE Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. EMPLOYER WAGE CREDIT.

    (a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 45T. EMPLOYER WAGE CREDIT.

    ``(a) In General.--For purposes of section 38, the employer wage 
credit determined under this section with respect to any employer for 
any taxable year is an amount equal to 10 percent of the excess (if 
any) of--
            ``(1) the aggregate amount of wages paid or incurred to 
        specified employees during the calendar year which ends with or 
        within such taxable year, over
            ``(2) the aggregate amount of wages paid or incurred to 
        specified employees during the calendar year immediately 
        preceding the calendar year described in paragraph (1).
    ``(b) Limitations.--
            ``(1) In general.--The amount of the credit determined 
        under subsection (a) with respect to any employer for any 
        taxable year shall not exceed $500,000.
            ``(2) Limitation on increase which may be taken into 
        account with respect to each employee.--The amount of wages 
        taken into account under subsection (a)(1) with respect to any 
        employee shall not exceed the sum of $25,000 plus the amount of 
        wages taken into account under subsection (a)(2) with respect 
        to such employee.
    ``(c) Specified Employees.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`specified employee' means any employee who--
            ``(1) was employed continuously in one or more trades or 
        businesses of the employer during both calendar years described 
        in subsection (a), and
            ``(2) earned wages not in excess of $75,000 during the 
        calendar year described in subsection (a)(2).
    ``(d) Other Definitions and Special Rules.--For purposes of this 
section--
            ``(1) Wages.--The term `wages' has the meaning given such 
        term by section 3306(b) (determined without regard to any 
        dollar limitation contained in such section). Such term shall 
        not include any amount taken into account in determining any 
        other credit allowed under this subpart.
            ``(2) Predecessor and successor.--Any reference in this 
        paragraph to an employer shall include a reference to any 
        predecessor of, or successor to, such employer.
            ``(3) Aggregation rule.--All persons treated as a single 
        employer under subsection (b), (c), (m), or (o) of section 414 
        shall be treated as one employer.
            ``(4) Inflation adjustment.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of a taxable year 
                beginning after 2020, the $500,000 and $75,000 amounts 
                in subsections (b) and (c) shall each be increased by 
                an amount equal--
                            ``(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by
                            ``(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment 
                        determined under subparagraph (B) for the 
                        calendar year in which the taxable year begins.
                    ``(B) Cost-of-living adjustment.--For purposes of 
                this paragraph, the cost-of-living adjustment for any 
                calendar year is the percentage (if any) by which--
                            ``(i) the CPI for the preceding calendar 
                        year, exceeds
                            ``(ii) the CPI for calendar year 2019.
                    ``(C) CPI for any calendar year.--For purposes of 
                this paragraph, the CPI for any calendar year shall be 
                determined as provided in section 1(f)(4).
                    ``(D) Rounding.--If any amount as adjusted under 
                subparagraph (A) is not a multiple of $1,000, such 
                amount shall be rounded to the next lowest multiple of 
                $1,000.
            ``(5) Election to have credit not apply.--A taxpayer may 
        elect to have this section not apply for any taxable year. 
        Rules similar to the rules of paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 
        51(j) shall apply for purposes of this paragraph.''.
    (b) Credit To Be Part of General Business Credit.--Section 38(b) of 
such Code is amended by striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (31), 
by striking the period at the end of paragraph (32) and inserting ``, 
plus'', and by inserting after paragraph (32) the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(33) the employer wage credit determined under section 
        45T.''.
    (c) Denial of Double Benefit With Deductions.--Section 280C(a) of 
such Code is amended by inserting ``45T(a),'' after ``45S(a),''.
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart D of 
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by adding 
at the end the following the item:

``Sec. 45T. Employer wage credit.''.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2019.
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