Headline

Legislative Affairs

Congress has extended the moratorium by seven years on Internet access taxes. E-mail and text messaging also will remain tax-free under the bill. The current moratorium, first enacted in 1998 and renewed twice since then, expired in October.

Financials

OfficeMax: The office supplies multichannel retailer’s third-quarter earnings rose 61 percent as it overcame soft retail sales with the help of cost-cutting measures and the weak dollar. It also opened fewer stores than originally planned. Net income rose to $49 million from $30.4 million a year ago, when costs related to the company’s headquarters’ consolidation and severance lopped close to $13 million off its earnings. Sales increased 3 percent to $2.32 billion from $2.24 billion.