The House tax package, which may be voted on as early as Thursday afternoon, is slightly different from legislation passed by the Senate Tuesday, throwing into question whether there is time to reach a final deal. With Congress expected to adjourn in the next few days for November elections, time is running out for both chambers to clear a bill that can be sent to the White House. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned House lawmakers on Tuesday not to alter the bill the Senate passed. “If they try to mess with our package, it will come back here, it will die,” Reid said. Charles Rangel, the Democratic Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, urged the Senate to be more flexible. “We can wrap this up today if they don’t insist it’s their way or the highway,” Rangel said. “They should not miss this opportunity to pass this bill so we can make law and provide this tax relief to families and businesses.” Both the House and Senate bills would extend production tax credits for wind energy and investment tax credits for solar energy projects. The bills also provide tax credits for purchasing plug-in electric vehicles, though at different amounts. The tax breaks in both bills are funded by limiting tax breaks for oil and gas companies. Unlike the Senate bill, however, the House bill does not provide tax incentives for refineries to process oil from shale and tar sands or for projects that turn coal into liquid fuel. Environmental groups oppose the oil shale development in the West because of the vast amount of water that would be used in states that have scarce water resources.
Indian inflation held steady above 12 percent in mid-September, and economists said volatile crude oil prices and the chance of a spike in some food costs would force the central bank to keep policy tight.
The wholesale price index, India’s most widely watched price measure, rose 12.14 percent in the 12 months to Sept. 13, unchanged from the previous week and below a Reuters forecast for an annual rise of 12.23 percent.
“We are still seeing very strong price pressures from the primary articles group, and this week we have also seen very high volatility in global crude prices,” said Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist at Bank of Baroda in Mumbai.
“So going ahead, we will continue to see an upward tendency in inflation.”
Others analysts said a hefty revision, also released this week after a series of more modest amendments, showed price pressures were yet to ease.
The inflation rate for the 12 months to July 19 was revised upwards to 12.54 percent from the previously reported 11.98 percent.
Most economists expect inflation to stay in double digits for some months and lower output of some crops could push up food prices in the medium term.
Food prices dominate the primary articles group, and floods in some regions and forecasts of lower output of some crops could fuel inflation in the weeks ahead.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expects inflation to moderate as the steps taken by authorities take effect.
But on Thursday, statistics chief Pronab Sen said the headline inflation rate was likely to remain above 10 percent until the end of January due to a statistical base effect and higher prices of manufactured products.
The Reserve Bank of India lifted its main lending rate in both June and July to tame inflation, and it now stands at a seven-year high of 9 percent. It has also raised banks’ cash reserve requirements to trim demand and cool prices.
A Reuters poll earlier this month showed economists had scaled down expectations of further interest rate increases in 2008/09 as recent policy steps and lower oil prices were seen cooling double-digit inflation.
A rise in fuel prices in June pushed inflation into double digits, and in early August it soared to 12.63 percent, the highest reading since annual numbers in the current data series became available in April 1995.
Financial markets closed before the data was released.
The partially convertible rupee ended at 46.20/22 per dollar, 0.5 percent weaker than 45.95/96 on Wednesday.
The 10-year bond yield ended at 8.57 percent, six basis points lower from its close of 8.63 percent the previous day. The 30-share BSE index fell 1 percent.
The central bank is scheduled to review monetary policy under its new governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, on Oct. 24.