Obama Pledges To Veto Business-Friendly Tax Extensions
Congress is reportedly on the verge of enacting permanent corporate tax breaks, but President Obama has promised to veto the accord. The package, which would save businesses $440B over the next decade, includes incentives for research and development (which the White House supports), small business investments and corporate and charitable giving, along with the American Opportunity Tax Credit. The outgoing 113th Congress has scrambled to reach a compromise before the holiday recess and the end of its run in early January.
While Republicans have forged the likely deal with aides to Democrat Harry Reid, the soon-to-depart majority leader, liberals argue that the compromise favors big business at the expense of middle- and lower-class Americans. The New York Times reports that the threatened veto—it would be Obama's third and most significant—could shift negotiations toward including a permanent expansion of the child tax credit for the working poor and the earned income credit.
