When the Senate returns from its week-long recess on April 19, lawmakers are expected to take up a corporate tax and trade package that has important provisions for architects and engineers.
At the heart of the legislation, on which debate began before the break, is repeal of the Extraterritorial Income (ETI) program, a tax break for design firms, manufacturers and other industries that operate overseas. That program, in essence, gives export subsidies to U.S. firms to offset trade inequities due to differing U.S. and European tax systems. But in 2002, the World Trade Organization ruled that ETI violated international trade law.