Coalition Urges Treasury Action on Upcoming "Fiscal Cliff" of Tax Payment Deadlines

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Dear Secretary Mnuchin:

As you know, the month of July marks the due date for an enormous number of taxes for families and employers. Millions of individuals will owe significant amounts on their returns, especially those with income from small businesses. Estimated tax payments for the first and second quarter of this year are also due. Finally, a raft of federal excise taxes must be paid in the month of July. 

Taken together, these tax payments are a fiscal cliff endangering our economic recovery. Potentially, over $1 trillion in tax payments will suddenly be transferred from the private economy to the Treasury. This would represent an enormous financial burden at a time when many individuals and businesses are struggling to make ends meet due to the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and the recent civil unrest.

Therefore, we ask that you use your authority under the law to defer these tax payment deadlines into 2021. Doing so would not reduce a penny of tax owed, but would give the economy some much-needed breathing room to recover cash flow, transition to hiring unemployed workers, and rebuild shattered small businesses. 

The case is clear that delaying payment deadlines – including estimated taxes and excise taxes – must be an immediate priority. Your leadership early in the pandemic helped shift the burdens of tax payments to July. We need that leadership again to help the economy move back to full prosperity, by shifting payments further into 2021.

Sincerely,