WASHINGTON–Facing serious opposition from property-casualty insurers and other business interests, key Democratic legislators in Congress have backed away from an effort to take away insurance industry tax breaks.

At issue is language that was tacked onto a minimum wage bill barring insurers and other businesses from deducting the costs of punitive damage awards in civil suits and for deducting the cost of settlements with government agencies.

Following a decision Friday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., those provisions the industry fought against have been stripped away.

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