I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2527 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an employer credit for increasing wages. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 6, 2023 Mr. RUIZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an employer credit for increasing wages. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rewarding American 4 Investments to Support Employees Act of 2023’’ or as the 5 ‘‘RAISE Act of 2023’’. 6 SEC. 2. EMPLOYER WAGE CREDIT. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub- 8 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 9 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Apr 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2527.IH H2527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2527 IH ‘‘SEC. 45AA. EMPLOYER WAGE CREDIT. 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 2 employer wage credit determined under this section with 3 respect to any employer for any taxable year is an amount 4 equal to 10 percent of the excess (if any) of— 5 ‘‘(1) the aggregate amount of wages paid or in- 6 curred to specified employees during the calendar 7 year which ends with or within such taxable year, 8 over 9 ‘‘(2) the aggregate amount of wages paid or in- 10 curred to specified employees during the calendar 11 year immediately preceding the calendar year de- 12 scribed in paragraph (1). 13 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the credit 15 determined under subsection (a) with respect to any 16 employer for any taxable year shall not exceed 17 $500,000. 18 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON INCREASE WHICH MAY BE 19 TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WITH RESPECT TO EACH EM- 20 PLOYEE.—The amount of wages taken into account 21 under subsection (a)(1) with respect to any employee 22 shall not exceed the sum of $25,000 plus the 23 amount of wages taken into account under sub- 24 section (a)(2) with respect to such employee. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Apr 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2527.IH H2527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2527 IH ‘‘(c) SPECIFIED EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of this 1 section, the term ‘specified employee’ means any employee 2 who— 3 ‘‘(1) was employed continuously in one or more 4 trades or businesses of the employer during both cal- 5 endar years described in subsection (a), and 6 ‘‘(2) earned wages not in excess of $75,000 7 during the calendar year described in subsection 8 (a)(2). 9 ‘‘(d) OTHER DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 10 For purposes of this section— 11 ‘‘(1) WAGES.—The term ‘wages’ has the mean- 12 ing given such term by section 3306(b) (determined 13 without regard to any dollar limitation contained in 14 such section). Such term shall not include any 15 amount taken into account in determining any other 16 credit allowed under this subpart. 17 ‘‘(2) PREDECESSOR AND SUCCESSOR.—Any ref- 18 erence in this paragraph to an employer shall in- 19 clude a reference to any predecessor of, or successor 20 to, such employer. 21 ‘‘(3) AGGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated 22 as a single employer under subsection (b), (c), (m), 23 or (o) of section 414 shall be treated as one em- 24 ployer. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Apr 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2527.IH H2527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2527 IH ‘‘(4) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a tax- 2 able year beginning after 2024, the $500,000 3 and $75,000 amounts in subsections (b) and (c) 4 shall each be increased by an amount equal— 5 ‘‘(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by 6 ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de- 7 termined under subparagraph (B) for the 8 calendar year in which the taxable year be- 9 gins. 10 ‘‘(B) COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT.—For 11 purposes of this paragraph, the cost-of-living 12 adjustment for any calendar year is the per- 13 centage (if any) by which— 14 ‘‘(i) the CPI for the preceding cal- 15 endar year, exceeds 16 ‘‘(ii) the CPI for calendar year 2023. 17 ‘‘(C) CPI FOR ANY CALENDAR YEAR.—For 18 purposes of this paragraph, the CPI for any 19 calendar year shall be determined as provided 20 in section 1(f)(4). 21 ‘‘(D) ROUNDING.—If any amount as ad- 22 justed under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple 23 of $1,000, such amount shall be rounded to the 24 next lowest multiple of $1,000. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Apr 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2527.IH H2527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2527 IH ‘‘(5) ELECTION TO HAVE CREDIT NOT APPLY.— 1 A taxpayer may elect to have this section not apply 2 for any taxable year. Rules similar to the rules of 3 paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 51(j) shall apply 4 for purposes of this paragraph.’’. 5 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS 6 CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by strik- 7 ing ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (37), by striking the 8 period at the end of paragraph (38) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, 9 and by inserting after paragraph (38) the following new 10 paragraph: 11 ‘‘(39) the employer wage credit determined 12 under section 45AA.’’. 13 (c) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT WITH DEDUC- 14 TIONS.—Section 280C(a) of such Code is amended by in- 15 serting ‘‘45AA(a),’’ after ‘‘45S(a),’’. 16 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 17 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 18 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol- 19 lowing the item: 20 ‘‘Sec. 45AA. Employer wage credit.’’. (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 22 December 31, 2023. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Apr 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2527.IH H2527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS