[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 129 (Wednesday, November 15, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S10944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             TAX EXTENDERS

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise to address two matters 
that will be taken up by the Senate in this lameduck session. The first 
will be after we come back from the Thanksgiving holiday. We will be 
taking up a tax bill that will include a group of what we call tax 
extenders. These are tax breaks that are in existing law which are 
running out of time. They are going to cease to exist by the 1st of the 
year, unless we extend these tax breaks. One of those tax breaks is 
very important to our State of Florida. In fact, six States in this 
Union do not have a personal income tax at the State level. Whereas, 
those 44 States that do have the personal income tax are able to deduct 
that State income tax in the calculation of their Federal income tax, 
in those six States that do not have the State income tax, they have no 
such deduction. But their main revenue stream is a State sales tax.
  The deduction of that State sales tax has been a major help to 
constituents in those six States, including my State of Florida. It has 
saved, for example, the people of the State of Florida $750 million per 
year in Federal income taxes by being able to deduct their Florida 
State sales tax.
  It is my understanding that this is all worked out; that, in fact, we 
are going to be able to extend all of these tax extenders and that it 
will be done in the week of the lameduck session when we come back 
after the Thanksgiving holiday. That, of course, is enormously 
important.
  I had a hand, along with Senator Hutchison of Texas, in passing that 
bill to begin with, but that bill was effective for 2 years. That 2 
years is about to expire at the end of this calendar year. So we 
certainly need that extended.

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