Taxes, Congress | featured news

The Senate majority leader says budget reductions must be accompanied by tax reform. He predicts that negotiations on the nation's debt limit will drag until the 11th hour. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says tax loopholes must be addressed ...

With high gas prices and federal deficits in the political spotlight, senior Democrats believe that Senate Republicans will support an idea they otherwise might not like.

An unpopular tax filing requirement for businesses that was included in the new health care law would be repealed under a bill headed for a vote in the House Thursday....

President Barack Obama is sending Congress a $3.73 trillion spending blueprint that pledges $1.1 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade through spending cuts and tax increases.

Liberals in the House have forced a vote on a different version of the estate tax provision. They also protest the terms of debate on the tax-cut bill, demanding a separate vote so they can voice opposition.

Senior lawmakers said on Sunday they were optimistic about striking a deal to extend Bush-era tax cuts for all taxpayers and continue emergency jobless aid for millions of long-term unemployed Americans.

$60 Billion: The approximate amount that extending the Bush tax cuts on income above $250,000 a year — which Congress seems on the verge of doing — will cost a year, in inflation-adjusted terms. On average, the affluent households that benefit from these cuts will save $25,000 annually. What else might that $60 billion a year buy?

Republicans in the Senate on Saturday blocked Democratic legislation that would renew low tax rates for individuals' income up to $200,000 and families' income up to $250,000, letting them rise for the wealthiest.

The Senate on Tuesday blocked tax legislation that would have punished U.S. firms that export jobs. But the political symbolism of trying to save American jobs, not passing a bill, was the Democrats' closing argument on the economy in the waning weeks of the congressional elections.

When taxpayers sit down to file their 2009 returns, they will find plenty new — some the result of adjusting for inflation, and other changes passed by Congress to fight the downturn.