R&D, Satellite TV and Jobs
As expected, the Senate Finance Committee's draft jobs bill released Thursday includes language that would provide a one-year extension of the research and development tax credit, retroactive to Dec. 31, 2009, when it expired. The measure also would provide an extension of satellite television licensing provisions that expire on Feb. 28.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a joint statement that "action on the expired provisions is long overdue. Timely action on incentives for economic activity and job creation also is needed."
The R&D tax credit and other business tax breaks expired at the end of 2009 when the Senate failed to take up legislation extending those provisions, which the House passed. The issue is a key priority for technology and other companies that do research in the United States. Tech groups have been urging lawmakers to make the R&D credit permanent and update it to keep pace with research incentives offered by other countries.
TechAmerica spokesman Charlie Greenwald said the legislation "is too little, too late. This is a jobs bill and the R&D credit is meant to be a jobs credit, with more than 70 percent of credit dollars going to wages. If Congress really wants to create more well-paying jobs, they must strengthen the credit and pass more than a bare minimum extension." He added that while his group is "happy" to see an extension of the credit in the bill, Congress missed another "opportunity to pass a stronger, permanent R&D credit."
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