Congressman Steube’s disaster tax relief legislation passes committee unanimously
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – Rep. Greg Steube’s legislation, H.R. 5863, the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act unanimously through the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The bill received bi-partisan support in the committee and Steube says he expects passage in the house in the next week as the bill is put on the floor as a suspension bill.
The bill extends rules for the treatment of certain disaster-related personal casualty losses and provides tax relief for losses due to federally declared disasters.
“It’s a very good day for Southwest Florida and the nation today. We had our bill that would allow for tax write offs for damages in natural disasters areas. I had originally filed this bill in response to Hurricane Ian and those who were impacted by Hurricane Ian,” Steube said in a press conference Thursday.
The bill expanded to include other disasters in America, including wildfires and the East Palenstine train derailment.
The bill will provide tax write offs of damage repair for all presidential-declared disaster.
The congressman said he has not spoken with the White House on this bill but expects it to easily become a law. He predicts it could be on the House Floor by next week and expressed optimism about its fate.
“The Majority Leaser and Speaker’s office determine suspensions. When the Republicans took back over we brought back what is called regular orders, so the bill has to get out of the committee where it was referenced to…the only committee is was referenced to was the Ways and Means Committee that it passed out of unanimously today. So it shouldn’t be any problem given the unanimous support that it received,” Steube explained.
The Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act eliminates the current law requirements that personal casualty losses must exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income to qualify for deduction. The legislation would also eliminate the current law requirement that taxpayers must itemize deductions to access this tax relief.
The measure passed the Ways and Means Committee 38-0.
