Tax Policy Update - April 8, 2014

NUMBER OF THE WEEK: 2. The number of traditional tax extenders that did not make it into the Senate Finance Committee bill after last week's markup produced an $85 billion two-year extension of the other 53 extenders, plus a few new provisions. The left-out provisions include a credit for energy-efficient appliances and an expensing provision for certain refinery property.

LEGISLATIVE LANDSCAPE

Senate: Extender-ganza. The Senate Finance Committee marked up a bipartisan package Thursday, April 3, 2014, that, if enacted, would extend a potpourri of expired and soon-to-expire tax breaks through the end of 2015. Expansions of the research tax credit for startup businesses and an expansion of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for employers who hire the long-term unemployed were among the surprise additions to the package. Another surprise came from Republican Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), who pushed for a vote to consider his amendment to repeal the