The House and Senate have agreed on a $4.8 billion tax-cuts-for-business price tag for the minimum wage increase. While it seems wacky that Congress can't pass a much-needed minimum wage increase without even more giveaways to business (on top of all the giveaways business has received since the last tiny increase for low-wage workers), at least this agreement derailed some of the more absurd items that had been included in the doubly-sized original Senate package.
Conferees are supposed to meet April 23, and the package is to be included in the supplemental spending bill H.R. 1591 conference report. Here's what the agreement entails, as described in BNA's Daily Tax RealTime (April 20, 2007 7:52 pm).
The largest provisions are a 3 1/2-year extension of the work opportunity tax credit, including outmigration provisions backed by the Senate, and provisions helpful to S corporations, including an expansion of qualifying beneficiaries of an electing small business trust. The WOTC extension accounts for more than half the cost of the bill, at over $2.5 billion.
The package would also increase the tax code Section 179 expensing limits to $125,000 through 2008 and extend the limits to businesses in the Gulf Opportunity Zone. Other GOZone provisions would extend the enhanced credit for low-income housing and treat certain qualified GO Zone repairs or reconstruction as "qualified rehabilitation" for purposes of bond rules.
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