WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) supported a short term tax extenders package, approved by the Senate late Tuesday night, that will benefit small business owners, teachers, farmers and ranchers and families with disabled children. The bill now goes to the President to be signed into law.

“While I prefer to provide tax policy with long term certainty, I will not vote to penalize all of the Kansans who rely on these tax provisions and need them extended. I supported the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 to continue tax relief for teachers, small businesses, farmers and ranchers and others.” Roberts said. “I was especially glad to see that we were able to pass legislation I supported called the ABLE Act. It encourages savings for the care and future needs of disabled children — much like we encourage families to save for higher education.”

Senator Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance, which has jurisdiction on taxes, fought to secure the following provisions for Kansas families and businesses:

deductions for teachers who purchase school supplies with their own money;
help for homeowners who have defaulted on a mortgage or face financial hardship;
deductions for college tuition and expenses;
special depreciation and expensing rules that are important to the agricultural and small business sectors;
and, long term extension of legislation Roberts pushed to make sure smaller businesses are able to access the capital they need to grow and hire new employees.