Senate Passes R&D Credit Extension, Satellite Measure
The Senate passed a bill Wednesday that includes a one-year extension of the research and development tax credit and legislation extending satellite retransmission licenses. The bill must still be reconciled with House legislation or passed by that chamber before it can be sent to President Obama.
The measures were included in legislation that extended several business tax breaks and unemployment benefits. The satellite legislation included in the bill would reauthorize the expiring statutory licenses that allow satellite providers to retransmit broadcast stations to consumers. It also would "modernize and simplify the licenses, while making adjustments that will encourage satellite providers to make more local content available," according to a statement from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Portions of the legislation would expire in 2014.
"Ensuring that Americans have access to broadcast television content is important, and it is particularly relevant for consumers in rural areas who might not otherwise be able to receive these signals over-the-air," Leahy said.
Meanwhile, the measure also would retroactively extend for one year the R&D tax credit, which expired at the end of 2009 after the Senate failed to take up House legislation that included extensions of the credit and other tax breaks. While the Senate's passage of the extension is good news for the tech industry and other business sectors, the legislation still falls short of the tech industry's call for making the R&D tax credit permanent. They also have been urging Congress to update the credit to make it more competitive with the research incentives offered by other countries.
"We've let this credit expire for the 14th time since its creation nearly 30 years ago," TechNet President and CEO Rey Ramsey said in a statement earlier this week urging the Senate to pass the tax extenders bill. "This annual uncertainty of this credit hampers the ability of U.S. businesses to plan the future roadmap of the products they create to keep us on the cutting edge of global competitiveness."
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