Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey has sponsored a bill to increase the amount of Work Opportunity Tax Credit generated by wages paid to qualifying ex-felons. Her bill, known as the Hire for a Second Chance Act of 2016, would increase the maximum qualifying wage from the current $6,000 to $14,000. As a result, the maximum tax credit amount that could be generated by hiring an ex-felon would increase from $2,400 to $5,600.
With little fanfare, Representative Coleman’s bill also proposes to delete Internal Revenue Code Section 51(C) paragraph 4, which currently reads:
“The term ‘wages’ shall not include any amount paid or incurred to an individual who begins work for the employer after December 31, 2019.”
In other words, this bill would make make WOTC permenant by deleting the expiration date from the code.
You can read her bill here.
Cosponsors to the bill include three other Democrats: Representatives Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, Charles B. Rangel, of New York, and Donald M. Payne, Jr. of New Jersey.
Edited 03/31/2016
