The Jobs and Growth Tax Act (H.R. 2): A Brief Overview of the House Tax-Cut Bill

Publication Date: May 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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On May 6, the House Committee on Ways and Means approved H.R. 2, the Jobs and Growth Tax Act of 2003; the measure was approved by the full House on May 9. The bill proposes a tax cut estimated at $550 billion over fiscal years (FY) 2003 2013. The bill is similar in many respects to the tax cut proposed by President Bush with his FY2004 budget, although the total size of the Committee's tax cut is smaller -- a difference arising principally from H.R. 2's partial rather than full elimination of individual taxes on corporate dividends and capital gains and the expiration of several of the bill's tax cuts at the end of 2005. In contrast, H.R. 2's total tax cut is larger than the $350 billion tax cut in reconciliation instructions given to the Senate Finance Committee by the FY2004 budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 95).