Legislators are already moving to permanently extend some provisions that have consensus support as good tax policy, and this sets up a longer-term debate about tax reform in the next Congress.Congress will return from the Thanksgiving holiday 1 December for its lame-duck session that concludes 11 December when the House is planning to adjourn. There is a great deal to do in terms of budgeting and fiscal policy during that short time with the latter mainly related to the tax extender package. There are 55 tax provisions that expired at the end of 2013.Congress did not pass a tax extender package last year, but the tax writing committees – House Ways and Means and Senate Finance – started working on it back in May, which was known as the Exp...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.