Final Senate vote on tax credit extension expected this week

The Senate has cleared the way for a final vote this week on extending the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit through April 30, in an 85-2 preliminary vote. The proposed bill, which the Obama administration has endorsed and which could pass as early as today, would also provide a $6,500 tax credit to homebuyers who have lived in their current residence for five or more years, and provide 14 additional weeks in unemployment benefits. States with especially high joblessness rates would get a 20-week extension. The revised tax credit extension would cost an estimated $10.8 billion over 10 years, and the additional unemployment relief would cost $2.4 billion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. [Bloomberg] and [Inman News]