Tax Extenders
The House is set to bring up a bill making the research and experimentation tax credit permanent. At the same time, the Senate is planning a vote on a bigger package temporarily extending nearly all of the expired breaks at some point in the next two weeks.
However, the Ways and Means’ party-line approval of the research credit and five others last week demonstrated the tricky path ahead for tax extenders; Democrats registered political votes against bills they’d co-sponsored, citing the cost of making the breaks permanent. The Congressional Budget Office on Friday said that the six bills would cost about $310.6 billion over the next decade. Meanwhile a broad range of advocates, from businesses to environmental groups, are trying to jump-start action on potential permanent tax break extensions in the House in hopes of increasing their chance of survival in either a long-term deal or a short-term patch. In many cases, coalitions are reaching across party lines for provisions favored by business.