FILMMAKERS LIKE TAX-CUT PREVIEW.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

WASHINGTON - The Senate shipped President George W. Bush a $136 billion corporate tax-cut bill Monday, benefiting a wide range of businesses from filmmakers to farmers.

The tax bill, which the Senate approved 69-17, began as an effort to help U.S. exporters avoid European tariffs. But as Republican leaders hunted for votes, it swelled into the most profound rewriting of the corporate tax code in two decades.

The final 633-page product pared taxes for interests ranging from major manufacturers to native Alaskan whalers and ethanol producers. Other winners included filmmakers who are confronted with runaway production, fishing tackle-box makers, NASCAR track owners, Chinese ceiling-fan importers, and foreigners winning bets at U.S. horse and dog racing tracks.

For U.S.-based film productions valued at $15 million or less, a provision in the tax bill would accelerate deductions, ultimately saving producers more than 10 percent to 12 percent of their total economic costs.

``Looking purely at the economic issues, this bill changes the equation for producers who want to stay here,'' said Jean Prewitt, president and chief executive officer of the Independent Film & Television Alliance, a Los Angeles-based trade association. ``We view this tax bill as the foundation for various production incentives.''

The Directors Guild of America also touted the bill's ability to curb the influx of films shot abroad and create jobs domestically.

``This groundbreaking federal tax-incentive legislation, in combination with a growing number of state and local incentives, will stem the tide of film and television productions, and the jobs they create, from going abroad,'' Michael Apted, president of the DGA, said in a statement. But while ``this legislation is an important step forward, our efforts to keep entertainment industry jobs here in the U.S. are far from done.''

The White House has signaled that Bush will sign the legislation. But the administration kept a low profile as the bill progressed, underscoring the controversy enveloping some provisions.

Though the tax bill would cut business taxes by $136 billion over the next decade, it claimed to raise an equal amount of revenue by increasing other taxes, including stricter rules governing the deduction for cars contributed to charities.

Supporters said the bill would create jobs - the loss of which during the Bush administration has become a campaign issue. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who helped write the measure, said 200,000 U.S. manufacturing firms would benefit.

But opponents said the main beneficiaries would be well-connected special interests.

``What was supposed to be a quick and minor fix of the tax code blossomed into this huge giveaway of tax benefits,'' said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Work on the tax bill began two years ago as a drive to repeal a $5 billion-a-year subsidy for U.S. exporters that the World Trade Organization ruled illegal. About 1,600 American exports to Europe were slapped with penalty tariffs rising 1 percent monthly to 12 percent now.

The legislation repealed that subsidy, which was to cost $49.2 billion over 10 years. Its other savings included nearly $82 billion from closing tax loopholes and corporate shelters.

In their place, taxes were cut for U.S. manufacturers by $76.5 billion. The top corporate tax rate was cut by 3 percent - to 32 percent - and qualifying businesses were expanded to include engineering and architectural firms, film and music companies, and the oil and gas industry.

Tax breaks for multinational companies totaled $42.6 billion, including lower rates for one year for companies returning overseas profits to the United States.

Opponents said that would reward companies that moved jobs overseas, but supporters said it would increase capital available for investments in the United States.