The Senate voted 92 to 5 on Tuesday to approve a sweeping corporate tax bill that would do away with export and depreciation breaks that banks have gotten for years.
The House is expected to take up similar legislation soon.
The Senate bill repeals the "foreign sales corporations" and "extraterritorial income exclusions" tax breaks, which the World Trade Organization had ruled illegal export subsidies. Banks earned the credit by buying American-built aircraft and other equipment and leasing it to foreign operators.
The bill would grandfather leases signed by Sept. 17, 2003, despite European Union objections. It would also set up a new tax-advantaged system to let U.S. companies continue leasing the equipment overseas.
The tax bill does away with a controversial depreciation deduction banks and other companies earned by buying used subway cars, sewer systems, and other utilities, and leasing them back to the original owner.
The Senate did not vote on an amendment sponsored by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., that would have required banks and other companies to get permission from customers before outsourcing their data to foreign processors in countries not explicitly approved by the Federal Trade Commission. --The American Banker:
