Tax Package Almost Done

It appears that the President is about to get a domestic policy victory by getting a tax package through Congress.

Tax writers in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have reached an "understanding" for a 10-year tax-cut package of $382.8 billion, a key committee chairman said on Wednesday.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas said the bill followed the outlines of a $550 billion measure passed by the House that would lower the top rates on dividend taxes and capital gains to 15 percent.

The tax cut section of the package would keep within a $350 billion target set by the senate but it also includes $20 billion in aid to states and $11.9 billion child tax credit refunds that lawmakers categorize as spending, he said.