Sponsors (8)
The bill increases net pay and preserves benefit credits for poll workers while simplifying individual tax reporting, at the cost of modest federal revenue loss, continued employer payroll compliance, and short-term regulatory uncertainty.
Poll workers (people serving temporary election duties) will not owe federal income tax on pay received for those services after Dec 31, 2025, increasing their take-home pay.
Poll workers keep that pay counted as wages for Social Security and Medicare, preserving benefit accrual and payroll records for future retirement/benefit calculations.
Poll workers and local election officials face less personal tax-reporting burden for modest compensation, reducing administrative friction for individuals and some local governments.
All taxpayers: excluding poll-worker pay from federal income tax reduces federal revenue slightly, which could marginally increase budgetary pressures or reduce funding available for other programs.
Local governments and employers who pay poll workers still must withhold and pay payroll (Social Security/Medicare) taxes, so employer-side administrative and compliance costs remain.
Taxpayers and local election officials: Treasury must issue regulations to implement the exclusion, creating short-term compliance uncertainty until rules are finalized.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Excludes compensation paid to temporary poll workers from federal gross income while still treating it as wages for employment-tax purposes.
Official title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude compensation received by poll workers from gross income for Federal income tax purposes.
Introduced April 16, 2026 by Joseph Morelle · Last progress April 16, 2026
Creates a new federal tax exclusion for pay that individuals receive for temporary service as poll workers in public office elections, so that such compensation is not counted as gross income for income tax purposes. The exclusion does not change employment-tax treatment: the pay still counts as wages subject to Social Security, Medicare, and other employment taxes. Treasury must issue regulations, and the change applies to compensation received after December 31, 2025.