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Schedule D

Joint Committee on Printing
Detailed Analysis of Change by Organization
FY 1995 Budget Request

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I am writing in regard to the fiscal year 1995 appropriation for the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Attachments A through D provide a summary of the activity of the Joint Committee on Taxation staff for calendar year 1993. The Joint Committee staff drafted 12 Committee Reports and 3 miscellaneous legislative reports during 1993 (see Attachment B). These reports included several major legislative initiatives requiring significant staff resources. These initiatives were H.R. 2264, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-66), H.R. 920, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1993 (P.L. 103-6), H.R. 3419, the Tax Simplification and Technical Corrections Act of 1993, and its predecessors, H.R. 13 and

H.R. 17.

The Joint Committee staff also prepared seven hearing pamphlets and committee reports on proposed income tax conventions and protocols for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Further, the Joint Committee staff published 33 other documents during the year, including pamphlets prepared at the request of the House Committee on Ways and Means or the Senate Committee on Finance for hearings held by those committees and pamphlets prepared for the benefit of Members of Congress and their staffs in connection with tax issues of current interest (see Attachments C and D). Considerable staff time was spent researching the issues involved in health care reform and we anticipate a significant increase in our work in this area in the next year.

One of the statutorily mandated functions of the staff of the Joint Committee is the review of IRS' proposed refunds or credits of income tax, estate and gift tax, or any tax on

Congress of the United States

JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION

Washington, DC 20515-6453

Honorable Vic Fazio
Page 2

December 15, 1993

investment trusts in excess of $1,000,000. The staff makes a report on each refund case in excess of $1,000,000, and makes comments or recommendations with respect to the proposed refund case to the IRS. During 1993, the Joint Committee refund staff reviewed 655 proposed refunds.

Finally, for the ninth consecutive year the Joint Committee staff faced an increase in the number of requests for estimates of the revenue effects of various legislative proposals during 1993 (see Attachment A). During 1993, the staff received over 2,380 written requests for revenue estimates. In addition, the staff provided estimates for revenues options and packages that were included in over 270 tables. The number of requests for revenue estimates in 1993 was five times larger than the number requested during the year in which tax reform was enacted (Tax Reform Act of 1986). This large percentage increase has placed an enormous strain on the resources of the Joint Committee revenue estimating staff.

It is likely that the demand for Joint Committee staff services will be unprecedented in 1994 and 1995. The Administration has proposed major policy initiatives such as the overhaul of the U.S. health care delivery system. Proposals to reform the welfare system can also be anticipated. I anticipate that Congressional consideration of these policy initiatives will place critical demands on the staff of the Joint Committee.

The Joint Committee staff received no increase in appropriations for fiscal year 1993 and a 1 percent reduction for fiscal year 1994. This reduction has (1) hampered the Joint Committee's efforts to fill authorized positions at a time when its need for qualified professional staff has never been greater, and (2) prevented the upgrading of computer equipment and services that enable the Joint Committee staff to respond promptly to requests for assistance from Members of Congress.

Accordingly, the appropriation request for fiscal year

Honorable Vic Fazio
Page 3

December 15, 1993

Congress of the United States

JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION

Washington, DC 20515-6453

dedicated to data preparation contracts; (2) the costs attributable to implementing fully the installation of an electronic document storage and tracking system; and

(3) proposed increases in personnel expense to (a) cover the cost of filling available staff slots, (b) provide merit increases for existing staff, and (c) increase the starting salaries for new professional staff members.

A. Summary of Budget Request

In a letter to the Clerk of the House, dated November 9, 1993, the Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee, at my direction, requested a total fiscal year 1995 appropriation of $6,278,000. This represents an $577,000 (10.1%) increase over the fiscal year 1994 appropriation. Because of the appropriation freeze for fiscal years 1993 and 1994, this increase effectively covers three fiscal years, rather than one. Details of this appropriation request are outlined below with justifications for the levels requested.

B. Details of Fiscal Year 1995 Appropriation Request

1. Nonpersonnel expenses

I am requesting a $207,000 increase in total nonpersonnel expenses. Although requested increases for many of the nonpersonnel items represent inflation adjustments only, certain of the items for which there are significant increases merit specific discussion.

a. Other services.--I am requesting an increase of $51,000 for other services. In addition to normal inflation increases, a significant proportion of the requested increase is intended to finance the cost of contracts with consultants.

This element of the request relates directly to the increased demands for assistance placed on the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation by the Members of Congress. The needs of the Members for immediate responses to requests for

Honorable Vic Fazio
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December 15, 1993

Congress of the United States

JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION

Washington, DC 20515-6453

requests for revenue estimates that the Joint Committee staff receives has placed tremendous burdens on the Joint Committee's revenue estimating staff. To perform efficiently, the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation has found it necessary to contract with certain private sector organizations to do work that the Joint Committee staff does not have the time or resources to do otherwise.

The Joint Committee has budgeted $92,000 for consultant services. These funds are needed to hire consultants capable of assisting in the implementation of our document storage and tracking system (discussed in greater detail below), which will enable us to follow more closely the status of Member requests and respond more quickly to such requests.

b. Equipment.---I am requesting a $153,000 increase in the appropriation for equipment expenses. We estimate maintenance and repair costs for the existing equipment of $115,000 and new equipment costs of $153,000, for a total of $268,000. The additional funds will be divided between two components.

During fiscal year 1994, the Joint Committee will install the first stage of an electronic document storage and tracking system mentioned above. The system will run on equipment and software purchased with funds from fiscal years 1992 and

earlier years.

But the funding freeze in fiscal year 1993 and the reduction of funding for fiscal year 1994 will make it impossible to move beyond the first stage. Full implementation of the system will not be possible without additional funds for equipment and software purchases in fiscal year 1995.

In addition to the new equipment expenditures, expenditures for upgrades of existing equipment will be necessary. The Joint Committee on Taxation devotes significant resources to the preparation of revenue estimates, distribution analyses, and other economic analyses of proposed revenue legislation. The nature of this work and the speed with which the staff is normally asked to complete its analyses requires that the Joint Committee on Taxation staff utilize the

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