Congress Continues to Spar Over Taxes

The two sides of the Capitol continued to argue this week about taxes, including extending the alternative minimum tax relief for one more year, and extending a variety of business and individual tax breaks for one or two years.  While the Senate was able to overwhelmingly pass comprehensive legislation to provide relief for these and disaster relief in one bill, the House has continued to disagree about how much of the legislation must be “paid for” by other tax increases.  The House separated the issues into several bills, and passed AMT and disaster relief which are similar to the Senate proposal.  However, the House today passed out a package of business extenders which will be opposed in the Senate. This ping-ponging of legislation leaves the fate of all tax provisions unclear, particularly due to the few days remaining of this Congress.