Lead taxwriters in the House and Senate have emerged from lengthy negotiations to announce a deal on legislation to extend various popular tax breaks that expired at the end of 2009. For individuals these include the deduction for state and local sales taxes, the additional standard deduction for real property taxes, and the above-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses. These tax breaks aren’t particularly controversial, but every year there’s a struggle to reach agreement on whether to offset the revenue loss with a tax increase somewhere else, and if so, how to do that. Despite the agreement between Democrats Max Baucus of the Senate Finance Committee and Sander Levin of the House Ways and Means Committee, it isn’t yet clear that the votes are available to pass this legislation. (more…)