New tax law packed with breaks for businesses

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By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press The Associated Press
Thursday, January 3, 2013

Tucked into the "fiscal cliff" tax package approved by Congress are billions of dollars in tax breaks that should make the new year a lot happier for businesses of many stripes, including film producers, race track owners and the makers of electric motorcycles.

In all, more than 50 temporary tax breaks were renewed through 2013, saving businesses and individuals about $76 billion. Congress routinely renews the tax package, attracting intense lobbying — and campaign donations — from businesses and trade groups that say the tax breaks help them prosper and create jobs.

Businesses have grown used to many of the longstanding tax breaks, but they also have had to get used to the uncertainty of whether they will be renewed each year. This time around the tax breaks were allowed to expire at the end of 2011 as lawmakers struggled to reach consensus on a wide range of tax issues.

The package passed by Congress this week and signed by President Barack Obama renews the tax breaks retroactively, so taxpayers can claim them on both their 2012 and 2013 tax returns.

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"All these provisions have a lobbying arm behind them, for the most part," said Mark Luscombe, principal tax analyst for CCH, a consulting firm based in Riverwoods, Ill. "If they only extend them for a year or two then the lobbyists have to keep coming back and bestowing their favors on congressmen to get the thing extended again. If they made it permanent, then the lobbyists would go away."

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An exemption that allows banks, insurance companies and other financial firms to shield foreign profits from being taxed by the U.S. The tax break is important to major multinational banks and financial firms. Cost: $11.2 billion.

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