Lawmakers haggle over tax policy
The House continued haggling with the Senate over tax policy, offering up two bills to deal with the alternative minimum tax and expiring tax credits for businesses.
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, rejected the Senate assertion that the only way to pass tax relief legislation in the final hours of this session was for the House to accept the Senate version.
The House could adjourn for the year as early as today.
The Senate last week passed a multifaceted bill that makes adjustments to ensure that more than 20 million people don’t get hit by the alternative minimum tax in 2008, with an average increase of at least $2,000. The bill also provides tax breaks for disaster victims, extends expiring business and individual tax breaks, and expands tax incentives for renewable energy resources.
The House responded by passing three separate bills that differ slightly in content, particularly by finding new revenue sources to pay for the $42 billion in extensions for expired business and other tax breaks.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
