It's finally official. After being dead almost a full year, a group of individual and business tax breaks were resurrected. Another batch that would have expired this Dec. 31 has been given at least one more year of tax life.

Although much attention was paid to three popular write-offs, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (H.R. 6111) that Dubya signed into law today actually included 23 dead or near dead tax deductions.

In addition to the sales tax, tuition and fees and educators expenses deductions, the new law also extends several provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the one that offers tax credits for some home improvements) and, for businesses, continues the research and experimentation tax credit, the Welfare to Work Credit and the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.

TaxProf has a comprehensive roundup of the new law, including links to video and print coverage of the bill signing, the official legislative text and various official government documents discussing its provisions and costs. I also ran across this good synopsis of the measure that Deloitte's tax department put together just after it passed.

I know what I'll be reading this evening!

White House photo by Kimberlee Hewitt