K Street mounts blitz for tax breaks

By: Anna Palmer
Politico.com
December 4, 2011 11:10 PM EST

K Street wants to deliver Big Business a Christmas miracle.

Unless a set of tax perks, credits and other goodies worth billions to industry gets slipped into a bill this month, they’ll expire — and lobbyists for a variety of interests are working hard to keep them alive.

Passing the “tax extenders” package used to be routine, but this year, the price tag — about $30 billion over 10 years — makes them unpalatable when slashing spending is the agenda. Plus, the perks have become embroiled in a back and forth as the two parties negotiate contentious issues such as extending unemployment insurance.

Still, the hurdles aren’t stopping K Street from making a last-ditch lobbying effort to pressure Congress to attach some of the research and development tax credits to must-pass legislation before lawmakers leave for the holidays — an intense pressure campaign, and even if they don’t succeed this month, the issue isn’t going away next year.

(More here.)