This is good news hot off the press...
The bill also extends an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers until April 30 and expands it to cover more affluent buyers. It also creates a new $6,500 credit for repeat buyers who have been in their current home for at least five years.
The tax credit for first-time buyers, which was due to expire on November 30, has helped the housing sector recover from its deep downturn, though some analysts say it has largely gone to people who would have bought houses anyway.
Another provision of the bill would allow businesses to get a break on their tax bills by applying losses from 2008 or 2009 to recover taxes paid in prior years when the economy was booming. This expands a tax break that currently only applies to small businesses.
Business groups say the change would give cash-strapped companies immediate access to capital, but consumer groups have criticized it as corporate welfare.
The additional unemployment benefits would be paid for by extending a tax on employers. The housing and business tax breaks, which would cost the government $21.2 billion over 10 years, would be financed by delaying a rule change that governs how companies allocate interest expenses.
(Editing by Tim Ahmann and Vicki Allen)
