2026 Tax Proposals Tracker
With midterm elections on November 3, 2026, several tax bills with real dollar figures attached are getting media attention. None of them are law. This tracker lists the sponsor, the mechanics, the citable number, and the current status of each — updated as things move.
These are proposals, not law — status as of August 2026
Nothing below changes your current tax return. Bills can be amended, merged, stalled, or abandoned at any point before a floor vote, and an election-year Congress rarely passes major tax legislation before voters go to the polls.
Proposals with concrete numbers
| Proposal | Sponsor | Mechanics | Citable number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working Americans' Tax Cut Act (S.4083) | Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), with Sens. Kelly, Gillibrand, Booker, Kim, and Beyer | Creates a "cost of living exemption" that zeroes out federal income tax up to a threshold tied to MIT's living-wage research, phased out gradually above it, paid for with a new surtax on income above $1 million. | $46,000 single / $64,400 head of household / $92,000 married filing jointly fully exempt, phasing out to $80,500 / $112,700 / $161,000 | Introduced March 12, 2026; referred to Senate Finance Committee. No committee vote scheduled. |
| Keep Your Pay Act (S.4042) | Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) | More than doubles the standard deduction and expands the Child Tax Credit and childless EITC, offset by raising the top two marginal rates. | Standard deduction to $37,500 single / $75,000 MFJ (from $16,100 / $32,200); top rates to 41% and 43% (from 35% and 37%) | Legislative text released March 11, 2026. No committee vote scheduled. |
| ACA enhanced premium tax credit extension (H.R.1834) | Bipartisan House majority (17 Republicans joined all House Democrats) | A clean three-year extension of the enhanced ACA marketplace premium tax credits that expired December 31, 2025, without the eligibility reforms some Senate Republicans want attached. | Passed the House 230-196 on January 8, 2026; a three-year extension | Passed House; stalled in the Senate, where a bipartisan group is negotiating a shorter two-year alternative with new eligibility limits. |
Sources linked in full below. Dollar figures for Van Hollen's and Booker's bills per the Tax Foundation's analysis; H.R.1834 vote count per House roll call.
Working Americans' Tax Cut Act — how the exemption works
S.4083 zeroes out federal income tax for a single filer earning up to $46,000 — the income MIT's living-wage research says a single adult needs to cover basics — then phases the exemption out gradually up to $80,500. Heads of household get a $64,400 exemption (phasing out to $112,700); married couples filing jointly get $92,000 (phasing out to $161,000). The Tax Foundation estimates the bill would cost about $86 billion over ten years on a conventional basis (the $1,563.0 billion tax cut is nearly offset by $1,476.7 billion in surtax revenue), or about $180 billion accounting for dynamic economic effects.
The offsetting surtax applies only to high earners: 5% on adjusted gross income above $1 million single / $1.5 million joint, an additional 5% (10% total) above $2 million / $3 million, and an additional 2% (12% total) above $5 million / $7.5 million.
Keep Your Pay Act — how it's paid for
S.4042 is a larger bill in dollar terms: the Tax Foundation estimates it would reduce federal revenue by up to $6.7 trillion over ten years conventionally (about $6.9 trillion dynamically), with the doubled standard deduction alone accounting for nearly $5.9 trillion of that. Booker's bill raises the second-highest bracket from 35% to 41% and the top bracket from 37% to 43% to help offset the cost, but even with that offset it is a substantially larger net tax cut than the Van Hollen bill.
OBBBA technical corrections and extenders
Separately from new tax-cut bills, the Joint Committee on Taxation's General Explanation of OBBBA (the "Blue Book," released May 28, 2026) identified drafting issues that Congress may need to fix in a future technical-corrections bill — including how the $6,000 senior bonus deduction should be classified relative to the personal exemption, and an asymmetry in how the SALT deduction cap phases out for married-filing-separately taxpayers (ending at a $5,000 cap at exactly half the MAGI threshold that applies to other filers). Because OBBBA made most former "extender" provisions permanent, a traditional extenders package is less urgent than in past years; tax-policy watchers see the most realistic vehicle as a narrow, bipartisan, late-year package focused on technical fixes rather than a broad rewrite. Nothing of that kind had passed as of August 2026.
What to check next
See our 2026 tax changes reference for what is actually in force this year, and the You Earned It, You Keep It Act tracker for the separate proposal to repeal Social Security benefit taxation.
Frequently asked questions
Are any of these 2026 tax proposals law?
No. Every item on this page is either pending legislation that has not passed both chambers of Congress, or in-progress legislative activity (like a Blue Book flagging areas for a future corrections bill). None of them changes what you owe on your current tax return.
What is the Working Americans' Tax Cut Act?
S.4083, introduced by Sen. Chris Van Hollen with several Senate cosponsors, would create a "cost of living exemption" that eliminates federal income tax for single filers earning up to $46,000 (with proportionally higher thresholds for heads of household and joint filers), phased out gradually above that level, financed by a new surtax on income above $1 million. It was introduced March 12, 2026 and referred to the Senate Finance Committee; it has not received a committee vote.
What is the Keep Your Pay Act?
S.4042, from Sen. Cory Booker, would more than double the standard deduction (to $37,500 single / $75,000 married filing jointly) and expand the Child Tax Credit and the childless Earned Income Tax Credit, paid for by raising the top two marginal tax brackets from 35%/37% to 41%/43%. Legislative text was released March 11, 2026; it has not received a committee vote.
What happened with the ACA premium tax credit extension?
H.R.1834, a clean three-year extension of the enhanced ACA marketplace subsidies that lapsed at the end of 2025, passed the House 230-196 on January 8, 2026 with 17 Republicans joining every Democrat. It has stalled in the Senate, where a bipartisan group led by Sen. Bernie Moreno is negotiating a shorter, two-year alternative that would add new income limits and other eligibility reforms.
Is Congress fixing any OBBBA drafting problems?
The Joint Committee on Taxation's General Explanation of OBBBA (the "Blue Book," released May 28, 2026) flagged at least two provisions that may need a technical-corrections bill: how the $6,000 senior bonus deduction should be classified relative to the personal exemption, and an asymmetry in how the SALT deduction cap phases out for married-filing-separately taxpayers. As of August 2026, no comprehensive technical-corrections or year-end tax package has passed — the most likely vehicle, if one moves, is a narrow bipartisan package late in the year.
Sources
- Congress.gov — S.4083, Working Americans' Tax Cut Act (119th Congress)
- Congress.gov — S.4042, Keep Your Pay Act (119th Congress)
- Congress.gov — H.R.1834, three-year ACA enhanced premium tax credit extension (119th Congress)
- Tax Foundation — Details and Analysis of the Van Hollen and Booker Tax Cut Plans
- Sullivan & Cromwell — June 8, 2026 Tax Policy Memo (OBBBA technical corrections)
Related Calculators
Tax Changes 2026
What's new for federal taxes in 2026 — brackets, deductions, credits and contribution limits
You Earned It You Keep It Act
Bill tracker for S.2716 / H.R.2909 — the proposal to end federal income tax on Social Security benefits
ACA Premium Tax Credit
Marketplace health insurance subsidy + cost-sharing reduction
Federal Income Tax Calculator
10–37% brackets, $15,750 standard deduction, progressive calculation
Standard Deduction 2026
2026 amounts for all five filing statuses, the age 65+/blind add-on, the OBBBA senior bonus, and the dependent formula