“More than 80 percent of the benefits of a tax change tucked into the coronavirus relief package passed by Congress last month will go to those who earn more than $1 million annually,” the Washington Post reports.

“The provision, inserted into the law by Senate Republicans, temporarily suspends a limitation on how much owners of businesses formed as ‘pass-through’ entities can deduct in taxes from losses on other business income. The limitation was created as part of the 2017 Republican tax law to offset other tax cuts to firms in that legislation.”

“The federal government’s budget deficit for the first half of this budget year totaled $743.6 billion, up 7.6% from last year, and well on its way to topping $1 trillion even before the impacts of the coronavirus were felt,” the AP reports.

“As lawmakers prepare for another round of fiscal stimulus to address economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested the next package include a retroactive rollback of a tax change that hurt high earners in states like New York and California,” the New York Times reports.

“The move to lift a limit on the state and local tax deduction, or SALT, would provide a quick cash infusion in the form of increased tax rebates to an estimated 13 million American households — nearly all of which earn at least $100,000 a year. More than half the benefits of such an effort would go to millionaires.”

Fitch: “Fitch considers U.S. debt tolerance to be higher than that of other ‘AAA’ sovereigns. However, high fiscal deficits and debt — which were already rising even before the onset of the huge economic shock precipitated by the coronavirus — are starting to erode these credit strengths.”

“The risk of a near-term negative rating action has risen given the magnitude of the shock to the economy and public finances from the coronavirus and the commensurate and necessary fiscal policy response, particularly in the absence of a credible consolidation plan for the country’s pre-existing, longer-term public finance and government debt challenges.”

“The three states that President Donald Trump has formally declared coronavirus disaster areas have not received the disaster unemployment assistance that they expected to follow that designation,” Politico reports.

“New York, California and Washington state all requested access to several aid programs provided under a disaster declaration, including disaster unemployment assistance.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday that the IRS tax filing deadline was extended three months to July 15 amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“The coronavirus pandemic is about to test the bounds of how much debt the U.S. government can bear,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Even before the crisis hit, the U.S. was on track to increase its budget deficit to nearly $1 trillion in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. It was already up to $625 billion in the five months since the current fiscal year began Oct. 1.”

“Now analysts say the deficit will soar well past the record $1.5 trillion hit in 2009, when the U.S. reeled through two years of financial crisis and recession.”

“President Trump on Wednesday signaled plans to formally nominate Russ Vought to serve as the permanent director of the Office of Management and Budget,” The Hill reports.

“Vought has served at the helm of OMB for more than a year in an acting capacity, having taken over for Mick Mulvaney as he served as the president’s acting chief of staff.”

In a Senate floor speech, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) described undocumented immigrants as not “legitimate” people while making the case that they should not be given access to federal child tax credits, the Daily Beast reports.

Said Paul: “If you want to apply for money from the government through the child tax credit program, then you have to be a legitimate person. It has nothing to do with not liking immigrants. It has to do with saying, taxpayer money shouldn’t go to non-people.”

The Trump administration requested an additional $45.8 billion from Congress – beyond existing funding requests that could total more than $1 trillion – to cover “unanticipated” costs incurred by government agencies responding to the novel coronavirus crisis, CNBC reports.

“The U.S. government will postpone the April 15 tax-payment deadline for millions of individuals, giving Americans another 90 days to pay their 2019 income-tax bills in an unprecedented move,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Wall Street Journal: “The Trump administration is likely to extend the April 15 tax deadline as part of an effort to mitigate the effects of the novel coronavirus on U.S. households and businesses.”

“Neither the decision to extend the deadline nor the mechanics of how such an extension might work are yet final. Normally, individuals must pay their prior year’s taxes by April 15 or face penalties and interest charges. People can already get extensions through mid-October to file their returns as long as they have paid on time by mid-April. This decision would go further than that.”