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proud2BlibKansan

(96,793 posts)
Tue Jan 1, 2013, 11:34 PM Jan 2013

Fiscal Cliff Bill Proposed By Senate Packed With Mix Of Handouts, Takebacks

WASHINGTON, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate packed an eclectic mix of handouts and takebacks into its last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff," including a measure to repeal part of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul and a string of special interest tax breaks.

At the center of the 157-page bill adopted early Tuesday are provisions to raise taxes on the wealthiest households and to make permanent Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class. The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

But senators also extended higher rum excise taxes to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and provided tax breaks to a wide range of other groups and interests, including motorsports entertainment complexes and mine rescue teams.

Among the other sweeteners:

* special expensing rules for certain film and TV productions

* tax-exempt financing for New York Liberty Zone, an area around the site of the World Trade Center.

* extension of American Samoa economic development credit

more . . . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/01/fiscal-cliff-bill_n_2393253.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=47613,b=facebook

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