Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001

Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001
Long title	An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 104 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2002.
Acronyms (colloquial)	EGTRRA
Enacted by	the 107th United States Congress
Citations
Public law	Public Law 107-16
Legislative history
	Introduced in the House as H.R. 1836 by Bill Thomas (R–CA) on May 15, 2001; Committee consideration by House Committee on Ways and Means; Passed the House on May 16, 2001 (230–197); Passed the Senate on May 26, 2001 (58–33); Signed into law by President George W. Bush on June 7, 2001;
Major amendments
	Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was a major piece of tax legislation passed by the 107th United States Congress and signed by President George W. Bush. It is also known by its abbreviation EGTRRA (often pronounced "egg-tra" or "egg-terra"), and is often referred to as one of the two "Bush tax cuts".

Bush had made tax cuts the centerpiece of his campaign in the 2000 presidential election, and he introduced a major tax cut proposal shortly after taking office. Though a handful of Democrats supported the bill, most support came from congressional Republicans. The bill was passed by Congress in May 2001, and signed into law by Bush on June 7, 2001. Due to the narrow Republican majority in the United States Senate, EGTRRA was passed using the reconciliation process, which bypasses the Senate filibuster.

EGTRRA lowered federal income tax rates, reducing the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent and reducing rates for several other tax brackets. The act also reduced capital gain taxes, raised pre-tax contribution limits for defined contribution plans and Individual Retirement Accounts, and reduced the estate tax. In 2003, Bush signed another bill, the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, which contained further tax cuts and accelerated certain tax changes that were part of EGTRRA. Due to the rules concerning reconciliation, EGTRRA contained a sunset provision that would end the tax cuts in 2011, but most of the cuts were made permanent with the passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.