Deal in works on minimum wage, small-biz tax breaks

House and Senate negotiators are working toward reconciling their differing versions of legislation that increases the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour from $5.15 and extends tax breaks to small businesses. The two chambers’ packages differ mostly in how they would fund the tax breaks. Among the differences: The House legislation closes a loophole allowing rich taxpayers to shelter income by shifting it to their children; the Senate’s amended version of the minimum-wage House bill bars executives from putting more than $1 million a year in deferred compensation plans. A compromise is expected sometime this spring. For a look at the pertinent bills, HR 2 and HR 976, visit http://thomas.loc.gov