Lawmakers divided about whether to renew dozens of expiring tax breaks appear increasingly likely to extend them only through 2014, a move that would leave businesses and individuals in limbo for 2015 and beyond.

Houston CPA Bob Fumagalli says he's not surprised since Congress goes through this nearly every year.  But it doesn't make it right.

“There are businesses out there trying to make decisions on whether to buy fixed assets, equipment or not before the year end, so it is very meaningful for them depending on how they're going to be able to write off those items,” Fumagalli tells KTRH News.

President Obama threatened to veto a bipartisan plan to make some of the break permanent because he says favors business interest over the middle-class. 

Fumagalli argues businesses deserve the breaks.

“They pass that on to their employees, they pass that on by having a lower cost of their product and they're the ones who pay the most taxes to begin with,” he says.

The $400 billion worth of breaks affect everyone from schoolteachers and commuters to corporate research and alternative energy.  They include breaks on college tuition and state and local sales taxes.

“Writing off these important tax provisions as tax breaks for businesses show just how little the president understands about our tax code and how making American companies less competitive around the world is bad,” says Congressman Kevin Brady.

“They provide fairness to families who are in states like Texas without a state income tax, and businesses that want to invest in research and development here in America,” he says.