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TaxBuzz Top 5 - Senate Fails to Advance Major Healthcare Bills, China's 13% Contraceptive Tax Leads to Uproar & More

by
Rebekah Barton
on
12/12/2025
TaxBuzz Top 5 - Senate Fails to Advance Major Healthcare Bills, China's 13% Contraceptive Tax Leads to Uproar & More

Each Friday, TaxBuzz brings you the top five tax and accounting headlines you need to know from the workweek. We know life can get busy and you don't always have time to scroll through your news feed to stay informed.

We weed through all of the week's stories to showcase the most important updates in the tax and accounting world.

1. Senate Fails To Advance Major Bills To Extend Obamacare Premium Tax Credits

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Credit: Antenna/Getty Images

The U.S. Senate on Thursday, December 11 rejected two competing health-care proposals aimed at addressing the imminent expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) premium tax credits, critical subsidies that help millions afford marketplace insurance. 

One Democratic-led bill would have extended the enhanced premium tax credits for three years, a clean renewal backed by former President Biden’s allies in Congress, but it failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to move forward, even with support from a handful of Republican senators. A Republican-backed alternative, which proposed directing federal funds into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) rather than maintaining the current tax credits, also failed by a similar vote margin. 

The stalled Senate effort leaves the fate of the tax credits — which benefit roughly 22 to 24 million Americans — uncertain as they are set to expire at the end of 2025. Without congressional action, analysts warn that premiums could spike sharply in 2026, making health coverage significantly less affordable for many families. 

Partisan division has defined the debate: Democrats argue that allowing the tax credits to lapse constitutes a “health care crisis,” while Republicans have resisted a clean extension without structural reforms and alternative subsidy mechanisms. 

With the December 31 deadline looming, attention now shifts to the House of Representatives and potential last-minute legislative maneuvers to avert rising premium costs in 2026. 

2. Treasury Moves To Ease Corporate Minimum Tax And Boost Trump Tax Breaks For Big Companies

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Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The U.S. Treasury Department is preparing administrative guidance that would deliver significant new tax savings to major corporations by helping them fully use lucrative research-and-development (R&D) tax breaks included in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” tax law. The guidance, expected as soon as next week, would address conflicts with the 15% corporate minimum tax enacted under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, effectively reopening access to retroactive R&D deductions that many companies have been unable to claim because of the minimum-tax barrier. 

Companies such as Salesforce Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. are among those that could benefit from the change, which several corporate lobbyists have been seeking for months. The policy would let firms apply currently restricted deductions fully against taxable income, creating what analysts describe as another windfall on top of the generous corporate tax cuts in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” 

Critics, including tax policy analysts and progressive advocates, argue the move would weaken the corporate minimum tax without congressional approval and potentially undermine the law’s design to ensure profitable firms pay a bare-minimum tax on “book” income. They also warn it could further tilt tax advantages toward large, profitable corporations already benefiting from recent expansive tax legislation. 

The guidance is still being finalized, and the Treasury has not yet officially released details or a timeline for implementation.

3. China To Impose 13% Value-Added Tax On Contraceptives Including Condoms

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Credit: John Slater/Getty Images

China will begin charging a 13 % value-added tax (VAT) on contraceptive products — including condoms, pills and other family-planning supplies — effective January 1, 2026. The move ends a VAT exemption that had been in place since the early 1990s and is part of Beijing’s effort to reverse a persistent decline in birth rates after decades of demographic contraction. 

The change, intended to increase birth rate, has sparked significant public uproar online, with many Chinese social-media users ridiculing the policy and questioning its logic amid an ongoing push to encourage more births. Several reactions have been reported by international outlets, including ABC News, with people stating that they will begin “stockpiling condoms before the tax hits” and others mocking that Beijing is now “taxing pleasure itself.”

Experts also warn the tax could make contraception less affordable for most women, young people of both genders, and low-income groups, potentially undermining public-health efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Critics argue that the policy is symbolic at best and fails to address deeper economic and social barriers to childbearing in China.

The tax shift reflects a broader policy pivot from decades of strict birth control toward pro-natalist measures, even as many in China express frustration or skepticism about its implications.

4. Expiring Tax Credits Could Hamper Hawaiʻi’s Pivot To A Clean Energy Future

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Credit: Daniela Duncan/Getty Images

Hawaiʻi’s ambitious clean-energy transition, essential for cutting fossil fuel dependence and lowering some of the highest power costs in the U.S., now faces a major financial hurdle: the federal tax credits that have underpinned utility-scale solar and wind projects around the island state are set to expire soon, and developers say they simply can’t build without them. 

The 30% tax credits that help make projects like Mahi Solar and Storage and other Oʻahu, Maui and Kauaʻi wind and solar builds financially viable are being phased out under the Trump One Big Beautiful Bill tax law, which requires construction to begin by July 4 and full operation within four years if developers want the incentives. 

Renewable developers and officials told Civil Beat that Hawaiʻi — which already pays among the nation’s highest electricity rates — will likely struggle to attract investment without the credits because the cost of utility-scale clean energy rises sharply when developers can’t rely on federal support. 

To accelerate progress, Governor Josh Green formed a multi-agency task force to coordinate permitting, utility planning and project scheduling so work can be completed before the tax break deadlines. 

The issue is being discussed widely on social platforms, and CleanBeat shared the story and reaction on X (formerly Twitter), underscoring local concern about losing incentives that have helped Hawaii’s renewable industry grow. Without swift action, either in project execution or policy shifts to backstop the loss of federal credits, analysts warn that Hawaiʻi’s clean-energy goals and grid reliability could slow significantly in the decade ahead.

5. Experts Warn Eliminating Florida Property Taxes Could Spike Home Prices, Deepen Affordability Crisis

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Credit: Joni Hanebutt/Getty Images

A new analysis shared by News 4 Jacksonville warns that the property-tax overhaul proposals advancing in the Florida Legislature could have unintended consequences for the housing market, including pushing home prices higher and worsening affordability for prospective buyers. According to local economists and housing experts, eliminating or sharply cutting non-school property taxes, as outlined in several proposed constitutional amendments, would shift the burden of local government funding and likely be reflected in higher sale prices for single-family homes. 

Under the most extreme version of the tax plan moving through the Florida House, nearly all non-school homestead property taxes could be eradicated, a change that local governments say would slash revenue for services like police, fire, parks, and infrastructure unless replaced by other funding streams. Experts told News 4 reporters that sellers are likely to price in the savings that buyers would receive from lower taxes, which could paradoxically raise market prices by an estimated up to 9% in some areas.

This story follows last week’s TaxBuzz coverage of the ongoing Florida property-tax debate, including the House’s push on multiple amendment strategies and the clash between relief goals and potential budget impacts.

Opponents of the tax cuts say that without a clear replacement revenue plan, housing affordability could worsen even as property tax bills shrink — this presents a political and economic dilemma for lawmakers ahead of the next election cycle.

Which headline this week most interests you?

Feature Image Credit: Bohemian Nomad Picturemakers/Getty Images

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Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

Rebekah's search engine optimization career began completely by accident as a college student. Over the course of her career so far, she has "grown up" with the SEO industry, from writing content while juggling classes to managing her own teams of writers and overseeing SEO strategy in subsequent roles. She is excited to bring her passion for high-quality content to CountingWorks, Inc.

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