Important news from Bloomberg (26-10-2009)

Nelson Says Senate to Extend, Reduce Homebuyer Credit (Update1)

By Ryan J. Donmoyer and Dawn Kopecki

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Senate leaders are negotiating to extend and gradually reduce an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers through 2010, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said.

“We should be able to extend that later this week,” Nelson, a Democrat, told reporters traveling today with President Barack Obama on Air Force One to a speech in Jacksonville, Florida.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, both Democrats, may seek to add the homebuyers extension to legislation extending unemployment benefits that may be debated as early as this week, according to Regan Lachapelle, an aide to Reid.

Lawmakers are under pressure from real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and homebuilders to extend the $8,000 credit before it expires Nov. 30.

Baucus and Reid made a proposal last week to Senate Republicans that would extend the homebuyer credit through 2010, Lachapelle said. First-time homebuyers who close before April 1 would get the full $8,000, and the credit’s value would be reduced by $2,000 in each successive quarter until expiring at the end of the year.

The proposal was intended to counter one by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, and Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican and former realtor, to extend the full $8,000 credit through next June, and to expand it to all couples earning $300,000 or less. The Baucus- Reid proposal would continue limiting the benefit to first-time homebuyers, Lachapelle said.

Business Tax Break

Baucus and Reid also proposed an extension of a business tax break that allows companies with losses in 2008 and 2009 to amend tax returns for any of the previous four years to get a refund of taxes paid. Without the benefit, companies would have to wait years to apply those losses against future profits.

A version of the benefit was included in last February’s economic stimulus bill, though it was limited to companies with receipts under $15 million. A lobbying effort by business groups, including the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers, to extend the benefit to all companies failed at the time; the Obama administration has since proposed a broader benefit in its budget.

The terms for extending the homebuyer tax credit are still being negotiated, Lachapelle said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan J. Donmoyer in Washington at rdonmoyer@bloomberg.netDawn Kopecki in Washington at dkopecki@bloomberg.com