The Senate Finance Committee approved a grab bag of tax cuts that had initially expired and had been temporarily renewed by Congress and made retroactive to apply to 2014. This committee vote is the first step in extending the lifetime of the cuts that include incentives for private R&D, relief for families with children, and tax free distributions from certain retirement accounts. The biggest tax items to pass was a $250 million deduction for certain qualified teachers and the continued ability to deduct state sales taxes on a federal tax return. The vote was heavily bipartisan with 23 of 26 members voting in favor of the extension of the cuts for an additional two years. though the measures have yet to be approved by the entire Senate or House.
See Michael Cohn, Senate Finance Committee Passes Tax Extenders Bill, Accounting Today, July 21, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.
