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Dozens of tax breaks added in effort to ease bill's passage

WASHINGTON - Rose City Archery Inc., an Oregon company that makes arrows used by children, has hit a bull's-eye with the Senate's financial rescue legislation.

WASHINGTON - Rose City Archery Inc., an Oregon company that makes arrows used by children, has hit a bull's-eye with the Senate's financial rescue legislation.

Senators attached a provision to the $700 billion bill that would repeal a 39-cent excise tax on wooden and fiberglass arrows designed for children.

The provision, proposed by Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, would save Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Ore., $200,000 a year.

It's one of dozens of tax breaks - benefiting Hollywood producers and stock-car racetrack owners, among others - included in the broader legislation to entice those who had rejected it in the House just two days ago.

"This is how Washington works," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "A big pot of pork is their recipe for final passage."

Representatives for Wyden, a Democrat, and Smith, a Republican, did not return calls. Jerry Dishion, president of Rose City Archery, was unavailable to comment.

Most of the provisions are part of a package of provisions known as "extenders" because they are renewed for only a few years at a time.

Popular with lawmakers, the items include a research tax credit amounting to $8.3 billion a year for companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Harley-Davidson Inc.

The package also would spare 24 million households from a $62 billion increase in the alternative minimum tax this year and renew $17 billion of incentives for energy production from renewable sources such as solar and wind.

Some provisions, such as one that would save NASCAR track builders $109 million this year, have been staples of the tax code for years.

Among new provisions are two tax breaks worth $478 million over the next decade for film and TV producers who shoot in the United States.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for Rep. John A. Boehner, the House minority leader, said the inclusion of the tax breaks "will increase the appeal of the package for our members."