Senators seek tax breaks for NASCAR, wind energy, beer

Senate tax writers unveiled dozens of amendments on Wednesday to the Finance Committee’s legislation to extend a slew of expired tax breaks, seeking to tack on incentives for NASCAR tracks and wind energy.

{mosads}Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), the committee’s top Republican, rolled out a package of 45 expired or expiring provisions, commonly known as tax extenders, on Tuesday.

Committee members filed 93 amendments in all to that measure, the Finance panel said Wednesday, a day ahead of a scheduled mark-up.

Those amendments included expected efforts to extend tax incentives that expired at the end of 2013, but were left out of Wyden and Hatch’s initial package – including the preference for NASCAR track owners.

Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) – all of whom have NASCAR tracks in their state – are pushing to extend that measure.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the self-professed father of the production tax credit for wind energy, is pushing to extend that preference along with eight committee Democrats.

Wyden has said that he’d like to limit the extenders mark-up to provisions that expired either at the end of 2013 or 2014.

But that didn’t stop his fellow tax writers from seeking to tack on a string of other tax measures.

Republicans, for instance, are seeking votes to delay new proposed federal rules governing tax-exempt 501(c)(4) groups, target taxes in the healthcare law and scrap the estate tax.

Bipartisan groups are pushing for tax break for smaller beer brewers and Olympic medalists.