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Senate Votes to Hold Stock Dividends Tax By MARY DALRYMPLE, AP Tax Writer WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to suspend taxes on stock dividends for three years, restoring the centerpiece of President Bush's economic plan in a package of tax cuts that is still half the size he wanted. "It would encourage investment, it would encourage jobs, it would encourage growth," Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., said just before Vice President Dick Cheney cast the tie-breaking ballot in the 51-50 vote to abolish dividend taxes in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The taxes would be restored in 2007. Sen. Max...

Fiscal Policy: The more we hear about the House and Senate alternatives to the Bush tax cut plan, the more we're convinced the House's approach is superior.In fact, there really isn't much of a choice. The Senate's $350 billion product is what you'd expect from a deeply divided body trying to propitiate all interests while satisfying none. It's a mishmash — and (in hiking some taxes to cut others, for example) a self-defeating mishmash at that.The $550 billion House plan, on the other hand, is a well-thought-out piece of legislation that improves on what the president came up with, whether...