Richard's Real Estate Thoughts: Tax Credit Extension held up with Tax Extenders Bill Fight - UPDATE 6/23

Udate 6/24/10 - It does not look good for passage of the tax credit as Republicans and Democrats fight over the bigger cost items in the Tax Extender Bill - vote expected today or Friday. Senator Reid indicates that the 60 votes required to call for the vote are notpresent. 

Update 6/23/10 - the House passed the flood insurance extension. Small miracle. It still must pass the Senate. They finally considered the flood extension separate from the Tax Extenders bill. Maybe they will do the same for unemployment and for the home buyer tax credit.

Here is a very good summary of the status of the proposed changes to the now famous Tax Extenders Bill - pulled from the Senate Finance Committee website. This summary lists the changes and the costs.

The most significant change is with the carried interest provision.

"Investment fund managers from paying taxes entirely at capital gains rates on investment management services income received as carried interest in an investment fund."

The Democrats' position was to retain this tax benefit. The change on the table would partially close the loophole and reduce the overall cost of the total bill by $13 billion.

A similar amount is saved with changes to the Medicare payments to doctors.

The Homebuyer Tax Credit extension is one of the listed provisions - back on page 3. At issue is how to pay for the entire package - estimated cost $140 billion, now with the reductions listed in the linked summary, reduced to $120 billion.

A reduction of $20 billion. Is this enough improvement to pass the bill? (Which then would return to the House for a reconciliation vote.)

Of that, the Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension is ....... $140 million.

The summary is tedious reading. And it is annoying to think that these arguments are holding up consideration of extending flood insurance, extending unemployment insurance, and extending the homebuyer tax credit.

The end result of these ongoing negotiations?

It is possible that a new vote will take place tomorrow.

UPDATE 6/17 - Senate vote today on HR4213 - Cloture not passed. Thune Amendment to waive budgetary discipline not passed. It looks unlikely that this bill in its present form will not go through. Maybe some of the pressing issues can be split off and passed separately - unemployment, flood, and home buyer tax credit extension come to my mind.

And the world waits expectantly.

Will these changes be enough to end the filibuster?

See my previous post  here.

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