ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

The Senate Finance Committee approved an economic stimulus package with more provisions for small business tax relief than the version passed by the House last week. The full Senate vote is likely to come next Wednesday.

The Senate version would enable businesses with operating losses in 2006 or 2007 to write them off against gains going back five years, up from the current two-year limit. "Any business with a loss in this tax year would certainly benefit from that," says Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business. The Senate package would also allow an extra 25 percent of certain assets' value to be depreciated in each of the first two years after purchase, including some tangible property, computer software, and improvements to leased property. The Senate committee estimates that the package would provide more than $31 billion in tax savings for business owners in 2008, plus an additional $30 billion spread out over coming years.

Senate Democrats expressed doubt that they had enough votes to approve the package in the full Senate, however. There will be a series of five votes on the issue, beginning with a proposal to substitute the Senate package for the House one--which is expected to fail--through a vote to adopt the House plan, albeit with amendments.