PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 5, 2011
Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2011 - Declares as the purposes of this Act to: (1) make the federal individual income tax system simpler, fairer, and more transparent; (2) reduce the income tax rate on corporations, repeal the individual and corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT), and eliminate special tax preferences; and (3) reduce the federal budget deficit.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) reduce the number of tax brackets for individual taxpayers from six to three (i.e., 15, 25, and 35%); (2) increase the standard tax deduction; (3) eliminate miscellaneous itemized tax deductions for individuals after 2011; (4) exclude from gross income 35% of certain dividend income and gain on capital assets; (5) repeal the AMT for individuals; (6) allow a new tax credit for interest on state and local bonds; (7) consolidate and revise rules for tax-exempt retirement plans and education tax credits and deductions and create tax-exempt American Dream Accounts; and (8) repeal certain income tax credits, deductions, and exclusions, including the tax deduction for punitive damages.
Makes permanent specified provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 that: (1) increased the earned income, dependent care, and child tax credits; and (2) repealed limits on personal exemptions and itemized tax deductions.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), beginning on January 1, 2012, to provide taxpayers a simplified Easyfile pre-prepared income tax return and a one-page summary of federal spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, and interest on the federal debt.
Revises corporate and business-related taxation by: (1) imposing a flat 24% rate on the taxable income of corporations; (2) increasing the expensing allowance for depreciable assets; (3) eliminating certain corporate tax preferences, including the percentage depletion allowance; (4) modifying foreign tax credit rules applicable to certain large integrated oil companies; (5) prohibiting advance refunding of tax-exempt bonds; (6) requiring 30% withholding of certain beneficiaries of foreign accounts; and (7) allowing overseas corporations a tax deduction for dividends received in 2011 from controlled foreign corporations if such dividends are reinvested in the United States.
Directs the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to identify and report to Congress on federal direct and indirect spending on businesses.
Increases civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance with information reporting and tax payment requirements. Imposes certain e-filing requirements for large organizations and certain individuals.
People & committees
Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] · D–OR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.727 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.727 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.727 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.727 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.