Forty temporary tax provisions expired in 2021, although expired energy tax provisions were extended by P.L. 117-169, commonly referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.¹ Many of the remaining provisions that expired in 2021 have expired in the past and later been extended. Collectively, temporary tax provisions that are regularly extended as a group by Congress (rather than being allowed to expire as scheduled) are often referred to as "tax extenders." Other provisions that expired in 2021 include several temporary tax provisions enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recession.² A number of additional provisions are scheduled to expire at the end of 2022 and 2023.³ Many provisions are scheduled to expire in 2025. Many of the 2025 expirations are of temporary tax policy changes that were part of the 2017 tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) (P.L. 115-97).⁴

There are several options for Congress to consider regarding temporary provisions. Expired or expiring provisions could be extended. A retroactive extension might be considered for provisions that expired at the end of 2021. The extension could be short term, long term, or permanent. Another option is to allow expiring provisions to expire as scheduled.

Congress has often chosen to extend most, if not all, recently expired or expiring provisions as part of tax extender legislation. Most recently, tax extenders were included in the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, enacted as Division EE of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260). Before that, tax extenders were included in the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019, enacted as Division Q of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94), and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA18; P.L. 115-123).⁵

Congress may also choose to evaluate the extension of selected expiring provisions in lieu of considering an extenders package that addresses most or all of the expiring provisions. As noted above, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extended and modified expired energy-related tax provisions. In recent years, other non-energy provisions that had been long-standing tax extenders have been either made permanent or extended for longer periods of time. As a result, the current set of temporary and expired tax provisions is smaller in scope than has typically been the case in the past. Debates regarding proposals to modify or extend temporary tax provisions might also consider whether temporary tax provisions scheduled to expire in future years should be addressed in any legislation extending provisions that expired last year or will expire this year.

This report provides a broad overview of tax extenders. More information on specific tax provisions that expired at the end of 2021 or are scheduled to expire in the coming years can be found in

• CRS Report R46772, Temporary Individual Tax Provisions ("Tax Extenders"), coordinated by Molly F. Sherlock and Jane G. Gravelle; and
• CRS Report R46800, Temporary Business-Related Tax Provisions Expiring 2021-2027 and Business "Tax Extenders," coordinated by Jane G. Gravelle and Molly F. Sherlock.

The Concept of Tax Extenders

The tax code contains dozens of temporary tax provisions. In the past, legislation to extend some of these expiring provisions has often been referred to as the "tax extender" package. Although there is no formal definition of a tax extender, the term has regularly been used to refer to a package of expiring tax provisions temporarily extended by Congress. Often, these expiring provisions are temporarily extended for a short period (e.g., one or two years). Over time, as new temporary provisions were routinely extended and hence added to the package, the number of provisions that might be considered tax extenders grew.⁶ This trend was broken with the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), enacted as Division Q of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113), which made permanent a number of provisions that had been part of previous tax extender packages. As a result, following the PATH Act, there were fewer tax extender provisions. Since the PATH Act there have been additions of temporary tax provisions, including provisions enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other legislation, including P.L. 116-260, has permanently extended provisions that had previously been tax extenders.

Evaluating Expiring Tax Provisions

There are various reasons Congress may choose to enact temporary (as opposed to permanent) tax provisions. Enacting temporary provisions, in theory, would provide Congress with an opportunity to evaluate such provisions before providing further extension. Temporary tax provisions may also be used to provide relief during times of economic weakness or following a natural disaster or other highly disruptive event. Congress may also choose to enact temporary provisions for budgetary reasons. Examining the reason why a certain provision is temporary rather than permanent may be part of evaluating whether it should be extended. It may also be instructive to evaluate tax extenders using economic concepts often used in general tax policy analysis, looking at tax extender provisions' impact on economic efficiency, equity, and simplicity.

Reasons for Temporary Tax Provisions

Enacting temporary tax provisions may provide an opportunity to evaluate effectiveness before expiration or extension. Making a tax provision temporary might allow for adjustment or modification before further extension, or expiration if the provision does not achieve its policy objectives.⁷ However, this rationale is undermined if expiring provisions are regularly extended without systematic review or evaluation, as is often the case in practice.⁸ In recent years, tax extender packages have generally included all (or nearly all) expiring provisions.⁹

While extensions of expiring tax provisions are often the norm, there have been exceptions. For example, tax incentives for alcohol fuels (e.g., ethanol), which could be traced to policies first enacted in 1978, were not extended beyond 2011. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) had previously found that with the renewable fuel standard (RFS) mandate, tax credits for ethanol were duplicative and did not increase consumption.¹⁰ Congress may choose not to extend certain provisions if an evaluation determines that the benefits provided by the provision do not exceed the cost (in terms of forgone tax revenue). In recent years, there have been some temporary provisions left out of tax extenders legislation, effectively allowing provisions to expire as scheduled.¹¹

Tax policy may also be used to address temporary circumstances in the form of economic stimulus or disaster relief. Several temporary economic stimulus measures were enacted to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the temporary tax provisions enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have expired.¹² Provisions such as those creating greater flexibility regarding the use of net operating losses (NOLs), increased business interest deduction limits, and the suspension of alcohol excise taxes for distilled spirits used to make hand sanitizer were not extended beyond 2020. The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Relief Act of 2020 already extended the temporary modifications to charitable giving incentives and temporary lookback rules for computing refundable tax credits that were first enacted as COVID-19 pandemic economic relief. Many of the temporary COVID-related tax measures expired in 2021 (as discussed below) and others are scheduled to expire in 2022 or in the following years. If recently expired or soon-to-expire tax provisions that were part of COVID relief legislation are further extended, these measures might become tax extenders. Some tax scholars have argued that provisions that were enacted to address a temporary situation should be allowed to expire once the situation is resolved.¹³

Other examples of temporary provisions that have been enacted to address special economic circumstances include the exclusion of forgiven mortgage debt from taxable income during the housing crisis of the late 2000s,¹⁴ the payroll tax cut following the Great Recession,¹⁵ and the grants in lieu of tax credits to compensate for weak tax-equity markets during the economic downturn (the Section 1603 grants).¹⁶ The temporary provisions allowing for an exclusion of discharged mortgage debt and treating mortgage insurance premiums as interest for tax purposes have continued to be extended, while the Great Recession payroll tax cut and Section 1603 Grant program were allowed to expire.

The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 also provided temporary tax relief to taxpayers affected by disasters generally occurring in 2020, similar to relief that had previously been provided for 2018 and 2019 disasters. This relief included, among other provisions, an enhanced casualty loss deduction, increased corporate charitable giving incentives, provisions enhancing access to retirement funds, and a tax credit for employee retention.¹⁷ Other provisions that had previously been part of disaster tax relief packages, including income lookback rules for refundable tax credits and increased limits for individual charitable giving deductions, had already been provided in COVID-19 response legislation.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included numerous temporary energy tax provisions, which proponents of the legislation supported as investments in climate and energy.¹⁸ Many of the provisions in the IRA are longer-term (10-year) but still temporary policies. Key provisions supporting clean electricity are designed to phase out when emissions reductions targets are achieved.¹⁹

Congress may also choose to enact temporary tax policies for budgetary reasons. If policymakers decide that legislation that reduces revenues must be paid for, it is easier to find resources to offset short-term extensions rather than long-term or permanent extensions.²⁰ If tax policy is passed under budget reconciliation, lawmakers might make tax provisions temporary, or phase in revenue raising provisions, to meet fixed revenue targets, as opposed to sunsetting or delaying a provision for a policy reason.²¹ For example, many of the individual tax provisions in the 2017 tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97) were enacted on a temporary basis, scheduled to terminate at the end of 2025, to adhere to the reconciliation process's budgetary restrictions.

Temporary tax policies can make the long-term fiscal outlook appear stronger. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assumes, under the current-law baseline, that temporary tax cuts expire as scheduled. Thus, the current-law baseline does not assume that temporary tax provisions are regularly extended. Hence, if temporary expiring tax provisions are routinely extended in practice, the CBO current-law baseline would tend to overstate projected revenues. By making tax provisions temporary rather than permanent, these provisions appear to have a smaller effect on the long-term fiscal outlook than they actually do when extended.²²

Extenders as Tax Benefits

Temporary tax benefits are a form of federal subsidy that treats eligible activities favorably compared to others, and channels economic resources into qualified uses. Extenders influence how economic actors behave and how the economy's resources are employed. Like all tax benefits, extenders can be evaluated by looking at their impact on economic efficiency, equity, and simplicity.²³ Temporary tax provisions may be efficient and effective in accomplishing their intended purpose, but not equitable. Alternatively, an extender may be equitable but not efficient. An evaluation of tax extenders as tax benefits could provide policymakers with an opportunity to decide which economic objectives matter most. In practice, however, there is limited systematic evaluation of tax extenders.²⁴

Economic Efficiency

Extenders often provide subsidies intended to encourage more of an activity than would otherwise be undertaken. According to economic theory, in most cases an economy best satisfies the wants and needs of its participants if markets allocate resources free of distortions from taxes and other factors. Markets may fail, however, to optimally allocate society's economic resources. If a tax incentive can improve on the market outcome, then economic efficiency may be enhanced by the tax policy intervention.²⁵ Thus, an extender's ability to improve economic welfare depends in part on whether or not it is remedying a market failure. According to theory, a tax extender reduces economic efficiency if it is not addressing a specific market failure or provides more subsidy than is needed to improve the market outcome.

An extender is also considered relatively effective if it stimulates the desired activity better than a direct spending program or other form of subsidy. Direct spending programs, for example, can often be more successful at targeting resources than indirect subsidies made through the tax system.²⁶ Evaluating tax expenditures, including tax extenders, could involve asking whether the Internal Revenue Service is the best agency to administer the federal financial support.²⁷

The timing of a provision's enactment can affect its economic efficiency and effectiveness. For many tax incentives, but particularly those designed to encourage certain types of investments, provisions are most effective when enacted before investment decisions are made. Tax policies are most likely to factor into decisionmaking when they are known ahead of time. Tax policies that are enacted after investment decisions have been made can create windfalls, where tax benefits accrue to taxpayers even though their behavior was not altered by the incentive. In other words, retroactive extensions reduce the effectiveness of temporary tax benefits.²⁸

Equity

A tax is considered to be fair when it contributes to a socially desirable distribution of the tax burden. Tax benefits—such as the extenders—can result in individuals or businesses with similar incomes and expenses paying differing amounts of tax, depending on whether they engage in tax-subsidized activities. This differential treatment is a deviation from the standard of horizontal equity, which requires that people in equal positions be treated equally.

Another component of fairness in taxation is vertical equity, which requires that tax burdens be distributed fairly among people with different abilities to pay. Extenders may be considered inequitable to the extent that they benefit those who have a greater ability to pay taxes. Those individuals with relatively less income and thus a reduced ability to pay taxes may not have the same opportunity to benefit from extenders as those with higher income.²⁹ The disproportionate benefit of tax expenditures to individuals with higher incomes reduces the tax system's progressivity, which is often viewed as a reduction in equity.

Simplicity

Extenders contribute to the complexity of the tax code and raise the cost of administering the tax system. Those costs, which can be difficult to isolate and measure, are rarely included in the cost-benefit analysis of temporary tax provisions. In addition to making the tax code more difficult for the government to administer, complexity also increases costs imposed on taxpayers. With complex incentives, taxpayers devote more time to tax preparation and are more likely to hire paid preparers or pay for tax preparation software. Further, tax extenders that are often extended retroactively create uncertainty, which can also create additional administrative costs for both taxpayers and tax collectors (e.g., the Internal Revenue Service).

Tax Provisions that Expired in 2021

Thirty-four temporary tax provisions expired at the end of 2021, although many of those provisions were energy-related and were modified and extended in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-169).³⁰ Of the provisions that were not extended in the IRA, and thus remain expired, some have been extended as part of past tax extenders legislation (see Table 1). Other provisions were temporary tax policies enacted in COVID-19 pandemic and economic relief legislation (see Table 2).

Previous Tax Extender Provisions

Eighteen of the temporary tax provisions that expired at the end of 2021 were previously extended in tax extenders legislation. Most of these provisions had expired at the end of 2020, and were extended through 2021 in P.L. 116-260. There are fewer tax extenders that expired at the end of 2021 than has been the case in previous years, largely because P.L. 116-260 provided a longer-term extension for or made permanent a number of tax extender provisions. Additionally, many of the tax provisions that had expired at the end of 2021 were energy related, and were extended in the Inflation Reduction Act.³¹

Individual Provisions

Two individual provisions that were part of past tax extenders legislation expired at the end of 2021.³² The provision allowing homeowners to deduct mortgage insurance premiums was first enacted in 2006 (effective for 2007) as a temporary provision. Since being enacted, this provision has routinely been extended in tax extenders legislation. The health coverage tax credit (HCTC) was originally authorized by the Trade Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-210) without a termination date.³³ A termination date was later added in the Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-40) and the credit has been more recently extended as part of tax extenders legislation.

Extending the two expired individual provisions for one year, from 2020 through 2021, was estimated to reduce federal tax revenue by $0.2 billion over the 10-year budget window (FY2021-FY2030).³⁴ Retroactively making these two provisions permanent would reduce federal revenues by an estimated $9.9 billion (FY2023-FY2032).³⁵

Business Provisions

Six business tax provisions that have been part of past tax extenders legislation expired at the end of 2021.³⁶ Five of these provisions had expired at the end of 2020 and were extended for one year in P.L. 116-260. A sixth provision, the temporary increase in limit on cover-over of rum excise tax revenue (from $10.50 to $13.25 per proof gallon) to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had previously been extended through 2021 in P.L. 115-123.

Extending the five expired provisions for one year, from 2020 through 2021, was estimated to reduce federal tax revenue by $0.1 billion over the 10-year budget window (FY2021-FY2030).³⁷ Retroactively making these five provisions permanent would reduce federal revenues by an estimated $3.0 billion (FY2023-FY2032) while extending and making permanent the temporary increase in limit on cover-over of rum excise tax revenue would reduce federal tax revenues by an estimated $2.2 billion (FY2023-FY2032).³⁸

Energy Provisions

Most of the energy-related provisions that had expired at the end of 2021 were extended (or extended and modified) in the Inflation Reduction Act (see the Appendix A for further discussion). The two energy-related provisions that were not extended are the Indian coal production credit and the credit for two-wheeled electric vehicles.³⁹

Extending the two expired individual provisions for one year, from 2020 through 2021, was estimated to reduce federal tax revenue by less than $50 million (FY2021-FY2030).⁴⁰ Retroactively making these two provisions permanent would reduce federal revenues by an estimated $0.5 billion (FY2023-FY2032).⁴¹

COVID-19 Pandemic and Economic Relief Provisions

Many of the tax provisions enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic conditions expired at the end of 2021. Temporary tax relief provisions that respond to unusual economic circumstances are not typically considered tax extenders. However, in the past, some provisions enacted in response to specific economic conditions have subsequently been extended multiple times, becoming tax extenders over time. Additional information on the temporary tax policies that were included in 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 relief and related legislation are discussed below in "Temporary Tax Policies Enacted in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Provisions

Certain provisions enacted in the TCJA were scheduled to take effect in future years. Some of those provisions became effective after 2021. The TCJA generally limited deductible interest to 30% of adjusted taxable income for businesses with gross receipts greater than $25 million. TCJA provided that for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2022, adjusted taxable income could be computed without regard to any deduction allowable for depreciation, amortization, or depletion. This more generous computation expired at the end of 2021. Thus, beginning after 2021, certain taxpayers, particularly those in capital-intensive industries, may be more likely to have their business interest expense limited.

The TCJA provision requiring the amortization of research and experimental (R&E) expenditures applies after December 31, 2021.⁵¹ When this provision was enacted, it was a delayed tax increase.⁵² Thus, it is not a temporary provision and does not appear on the JCT's list of expiring federal tax provisions.⁵³ That said, similar to other tax extenders, absent legislative action, current law would result in 2022 tax policy that differs from 2021 tax policy. If the goal of a tax extenders package is to preserve 2021 tax policies and law, including a provision that would continue to allow R&E expensing might be considered. Continuing to allow R&E expensing, instead of requiring that such expenditures be amortized, would reduce federal tax revenues by an estimated $153.2 billion (FY2023-FY2032).⁵⁴

Tax Provisions Expiring in 2022 Through 2025

Additional tax provisions are scheduled to expire at the end of 2022 and 2025 (see Table 2). In recent years, longer-term extensions of temporary provisions have tended to extend those provisions through 2025. This means that the expiration of those provisions will coincide with the expiration of the temporary changes to the individual income tax that were enacted in TCJA.

Provisions that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2022 include the temporary allowance of a 100% deduction for business meals, a provision that was enacted in support of the restaurant industry which was particularly hard-hit early in the COVID-19 pandemic.⁵⁵ A second provision expiring in 2022 is the 50% credit rate for the railroad track maintenance credit. There is a 40% permanent credit, but the 50% rate is scheduled to be reduced to 40% beginning in 2023.⁵⁶ A third provision, enacted in ARPA, provides for a temporary delay of designation of multiemployer plans as in endangered, critical, or critical and declining status, which can have implications for funding improvement and rehabilitation plans and excise taxes for plans failing to meet minimum funding standards.⁵⁷

Beginning in 2023, 100% first-year bonus depreciation starts to phase down.⁵⁸ Through 2022, taxpayers are allowed to fully expense (deduct immediately) the cost of tangible assets with a depreciation life of 20 years or less under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS). The bonus depreciation amount is scheduled to decrease to 80% of the cost of qualified assets placed in service in 2023, 60% in 2024, 40% in 2025, 20% in 2026, and 0% in 2027 and thereafter. Eliminating the phase down and extending 100% first-year bonus depreciation would reduce federal tax revenues by an estimated $250.3 billion (FY2023-FY2032).⁵⁹

Many temporary tax provisions have been extended through 2025. Consequently, their expiration coincides with the expiration of the TCJA's changes to individual income tax provisions. Table 3 provides information on which of the non-TCJA provisions expiring at the end of 2025 have been part of past tax extenders legislation. In addition to provisions that have been a part of past tax extenders legislation, temporary enhancements to the premium assistance tax credit, first enacted in ARPA, were extended through 2025 in the IRA.⁶⁰

The Cost of Extending Expired and Soon-to-Expire Tax Provisions

As lawmakers consider whether to extend expired tax provisions beyond 2021 and expiring tax provisions past their termination date, cost is one factor. The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 (Division EE, P.L. 116-260) was estimated to reduce federal tax revenue by $160.7 billion over the FY2021-FY2030 period.⁶¹ Of that total, $9.6 billion (6%) was for disaster relief, $103.8 billion (65%) for extension of expiring provisions, and $47.3 billion (29%) for other tax provisions.

Of the $103.8 billion associated with the extension of expiring provisions, nearly half of the cost, $50.9 billion (49%), was associated with permanent extensions of temporary provisions. An additional $39.0 billion (38%) was associated with extending provisions through 2025. The other short-term extensions of mostly energy-related provisions was estimated to reduce revenues by $13.9 billion (13% of the total revenue reduction for extension of expiring provisions). Most of the provisions in this last category were energy related provisions extended in the IRA.

Extending the expired individual, business, and energy tax provisions would be expected to have a small effect on overall federal income tax revenues. Permanently extending these provisions would reduce federal tax revenue by an estimated $16 billion from FY2023 through FY2032. That is less than 0.0003% of $56.5 trillion in federal tax revenues expected over the period.⁶²

Modifying the tax code to continue to allow expensing of research and experimentation expenditures or 100% first-year bonus depreciation would have a much larger effect on federal tax revenue. Over the FY2023-FY2032 period, extending these provisions beyond 2021 in the case of research and experimentation expensing, or 2022 in the case of 100% bonus depreciation, would reduce federal tax revenues by an estimated $153.2 billion and $250.3 billion, respectively. This is equivalent to about 0.7% of projected federal tax revenues expected over the period.⁶³

Recent Tax Extender Legislation

Before P.L. 116-260, tax extenders were most recently extended in the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019 (Division Q, P.L. 116-94).This legislation, enacted in December 2019, extended most provisions through 2020. The tax incentives for biodiesel and renewable diesel and the credit for railroad track maintenance were extended through 2022. The total cost to extend expiring provisions in the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019 was $39.2 billion over the 10-year budget window.⁶⁴ The cost of extending the provisions that were extended through 2020 was $22.9 billion, with an additional $1.1 billion and $15.2 billion associated with extending the railroad track maintenance and biodiesel and renewable diesel credits, respectively, through 2022.

Before P.L. 116-94, tax extenders were enacted as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA18; P.L. 115-123).⁶⁵ This legislation, enacted in February 2018, extended tax provisions that had expired at the end of 2016 through the end of 2017. Before BBA18, tax extenders were addressed in the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), enacted as Division Q of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113). The PATH Act either extended or made permanent all of the 52 temporary tax provisions that had expired at the end of 2014.⁶⁶

The PATH Act, unlike other recent tax extender legislation, provided long-term extensions (through 2019) for a number of provisions, while making many other temporary tax provisions permanent.⁶⁷ In total, the tax extenders in P.L. 114-113 were estimated to reduce federal revenues by $628.8 billion between FY2016 and FY2025.⁶⁸ Of that cost, nearly one-third ($202.1 billion) was attributable to extensions of provisions that were scheduled to expire in 2017 (the reduced earnings threshold for the refundable portion of the child tax credit; the American Opportunity Tax Credit; and modifications to the Earned Income Tax Credit) and the two-year moratorium on the medical device excise tax. Thus, after removing these provisions, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated the tax extender provisions would cost $426.8 billion between FY2016 and FY2025.

Of the total cost of the tax extenders in P.L. 114-113, $559.5 billion, or 89% of the total cost, was associated with permanent extensions. According to JCT estimates, the permanently extended provisions (provisions that had expired in 2014 and were made permanent in P.L. 114-113) cost $361.4 billion. Of the total cost of tax extenders in P.L. 114-113, $17.7 billion (or less than 3%) was for the two-year extension of provisions that had expired in 2014 through 2016.

The Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-295), passed late in the 113^th Congress, made tax provisions that had expired at the end of 2013 available to taxpayers in the 2014 tax year. The act extended most (but not all) expiring tax provisions, and most of the provisions extended in P.L. 114-113 had been included in past tax extenders legislation. JCT estimated the tax extenders package enacted as P.L. 113-295 would cost $41.6 billion over the 10-year budget window.⁶⁹ Earlier in the 113^th Congress, the Senate Finance Committee had reported a two-year extenders package. The House had also passed legislation that would have made permanent certain expiring provisions. Ultimately, the 113^th Congress passed and the President signed into law the one-year retroactive extenders legislation.⁷⁰

The American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA; P.L. 112-240) extended dozens of temporary provisions that had either expired at the end of 2011 or were set to expire at the end of 2012. The provisions that had expired at the end of 2011 were extended retroactively. JCT estimated the tax extenders package enacted as part of ATRA would cost $73.6 billion over the 10-year budget window.⁷¹ Several provisions that were considered "traditional extenders"—that is, they had been extended multiple times in the past—were not extended under ATRA.⁷²

Appendix A. Temporary Energy Tax Provisions Extended in the IRA

Several tax provisions that had expired at the end of 2021 were energy-related and were extended (or modified and extended) in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA; P.L. 117-169). Table A-1 provides information on extensions of temporary energy tax provisions in the IRA. For the energy tax provisions that had expired at the end of 2021, Table A-2 includes information on previous extensions of those provisions in tax extender legislation.

Appendix B. List of Previous Tax Extender Legislation

There is no formal definition of tax extenders legislation. Over time, tax extenders legislation has come to be considered legislation that temporarily extends a group of expired or expiring provisions. Using this characterization, below is a list of what could be considered tax extenders legislation. Using this list, tax extenders have been addressed 20 times. The package of provisions that is included in the tax extenders has changed over time, as Congress has added new temporary provisions to the code, and as certain provisions are either permanently extended, given temporary extension in other tax legislation, or allowed to expire.

• Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260)
• Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94)
• Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123)
• Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113)
• Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-295)
• American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-240)
• Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-312)
• Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-343)
• Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-432)
• Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-311)
• Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-147)
• Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-170)
• Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 (P.L. 105-277)
• Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-34)
• Small Business and Job Protection Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-188)
• Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-66)
• Tax Extension Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-227)
• Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-508)
• Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-239)
• Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-647)