Jim Bunning: “Today, Senator Conrad and I are introducing legislation that would greatly benefit our domestic economy. Our legislation…”

“Today, Senator Conrad and I are introducing legislation that would greatly benefit our domestic economy. Our legislation would increase the cash flow of many struggling American companies, thus helping them hire and retain workers and fund capital investments. The legislation involves the 'net operating loss' ('NOL') rules under the Internal Revenue Code. The NOL carryback and carryover rules are designed to allow taxpayers to smooth out swings in business income that result from business cycle fluctuations and unexpected financial losses. Last year's economic stimulus bill, the 'Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002,' allowed NOLs arising in 2001 and 2002 to be carried back five years, rather than two years, as otherwise would be provided under the tax law. The 2002 Act also removed a limitation that the corporate alternative minimum tax ('AMT') unfairly places on these carrybacks. The 2002 Act thus gave taxpayers in many sectors of the economy an enhanced ability to increase their cash flow through refunds of income taxes paid in prior years. Unfortunately, the same uncertain economic conditions that led to the enactment of last year's stimulus bill have continued. Many taxpayers are continuing to incur unexpected financial losses in 2003. The legislation that we are introducing today would simply extend the 2002 Act's NOL carryback rules to cover NOLs arising in 2003 and to NOLs that may arise in 2004 and 2005.”