Senate Finance Sets Thursday to Debate Tax Breaks

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, announced Tuesday that the committee will mark up a bill Thursday on a set of provisions known as “tax extenders” that have expired or will expire at the end of 2014.

The bill is called the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act.

Provisions to be considered include section 179 expensing; bonus depreciation; the research and development tax credit (for drug and biotech companies, as well as high-tech firms); the production tax credit (PTC); the $1-per-gallon biodiesel tax credit; the short-line railroad tax credit; a rum tax that could benefit Puerto Rican bonds; and the Mortgage Debt Relief Act.

“This bipartisan extenders package is the product of a Finance Committee that came together to provide needed certainty to the economy, protect jobs and maintain important priorities for working families,” Wyden said in a statement. “With that said, I am determined this will be the last extenders bill on my watch. It’s high time we focus on creating a new, 21^st century tax code, because the status quo is unacceptable.”

Hatch added in the same statement that “for far too long, Washington has acted to extend longstanding tax policy, rarely shining a spotlight on the individual provisions or their impact on the families and businesses that benefit from them.”