House to take up research credit

House Republicans will vote this month to permanently extend the popular tax credit for business research and development.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the House would vote the week of May 18 on the proposal from Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas), a senior Republican on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

{mosads}The vote will mark the latest measure from House Republicans that would indefinitely extend tax incentives that currently expire on a stop-and-start basis. The House passed a similar measure last year with the support of dozens of Democrats.

Congressional scorekeepers have estimated that the research and development measure would cost more than $181 billion over a decade.

In April, the House voted to repeal the estate tax, a $270 billion proposition that affects around 5,500 families in a given year. A measure for deducting state and local sales taxes added an extra $40 billion or so over a decade.

House Republicans have been taking these votes as they touted their efforts to craft a budget that cut more than $5 trillion over a decade and balanced the federal books within a decade.