The final version of major federal tax-cut legislation appears to be a mixed bag for the life insurance industry.
The members of the House-Senate conference committee hammering out the compromise version of the bill unveiled it Tuesday.
The primary purpose of the bill is to extend tax cuts enacted in 2001 and scheduled to expire in 2008 an additional 2 years.
Members of the House expect to vote on the bill today, and members of the Senate expect to vote on the bill Thursday.
The bill needs only a simple majority to pass in the Senate.
The conference committee pleased life insurers by leaving out a bill provision that could have imposed punitive taxes on investor-owned life insurance transactions.
But life insurance industry lobbyists worry that the IOLI provision could crop up again in a companion tax-cut bill.
The provision may resurface because it has the support of the Bush administration and could raise $267 million over 5 years, one industry lobbyist says.
Some members of Congress who are thinking about the fall elections would like to use that extra revenue to offset the cost of tax cuts with strong popular appeal, life industry lobbyists say.
