A Webinar Focusing on the Fiscal Cliff from Women Impacting Public Policy

Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) has released a new webinar detailing the fiscal cliff, the consequences of that fiscal cliff, and ways we can avoid it. Ann Sullivan, WIPP Government Relations, hosted the webinar when it aired originally on Tuesday, November 27th.  The webinar is now available to listen and see online. Click on the links below to hear the podcast of the webinar and see the slides used in the presentation.

To listen to the audio for the presentation, click here.

To view the slides for the presentation, click here.

The webinar provides participants with an overview of the fiscal cliff, including tax provisions that are going to expire as well as automatic spending cuts and how they will work. It will also provide an update on what Congress and the Executive Branch are doing to avoid the fiscal cliff.

So what will happen if we go over the fiscal cliff? According to the webinar, tax cuts will expire on individual gains, capital gains, dividends, and estate tax rates. These cuts affect approximately 80% of Americans. The payroll tax holiday expires with no renewal planned. Small business tax provisions expire.

Another consequence of the fiscal cliff is known as sequestration. These are automatic spending cuts that will go into effect on January 2, 2013. This will consist of a 9.4% cut to most federal spending with exceptions for Medicaid, benefits for veterans, and pay for military personnel. Sequestration will save $1.2 trillion over ten years, or about $110 billion per year - $55 billion from defense spending and $55 billion from non-defense spending.

How will federal contractors be affected by the fiscal cliff? Current contracts will be unchanged. However, approximately $30 billion in defense cuts could be felt in 2013. It is expected that agencies will bundle more contracts due to the restricted budget. And there is likely going to be a reduction in overall contract awards from here on out.

There have been many proposals to avoid the fiscal cliff. The goal that must be reached in order to avoid this is any combination of spending cuts and increased revenue that reaches $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years. If this goal cannot be met, the fiscal cliff will be reached and the automatic tax increases and spending cuts will go into place.

To learn more about the fiscal cliff and solutions that have been proposed for it, listen to the presentation.