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Tax Extenders Bill Stalls in SenateJuly 1, 2008—The Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act (H.R. 6049), which contains the tax extenders legislation, is stalled in the Senate. As recently as June 19, the Senate called for a vote to bring the bill up for debate, but according to the Senatus blog, Republicans do not want to discuss the House measure because they want guarantees that they will be able to debate either their own tax extenders legislation or a substitute amendment to the current version. While Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus intends to bring the bill up again as is after the July 4th break, CongressDaily reports that the Democrats may remove the business tax provisions if the legislation is not passed by September. As previously reported in AEP Online, the tax extenders includes two provisions key to the education community: 1) The teacher tax deduction for out-of-pocket expenses; and 2) The enhanced deduction for donation of books from publisher inventories. The disagreement over the bill is not related to the tax extensions but to how they are paid for--the Republican version would not include revenue raisers/tax increases to pay for the bill. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. While there is no evidence that the legislation will not proceed forward, publishers should still remind their Senators that they support the bill. AEP sent a letter signed by board members to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees. If you wish to express your support for this bill, download the sample letter, personalize it, and email it to your legislator. | ||||
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