Tax breaks sweeten bailout bill
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Senators are hoping that popular tax provisions that expired last year will be the spoonful of sugar that recalcitrant Representatives need in order to swallow the revamped financial services bailout bill.
The measure that Senators will vote on tonight includes short-term continuation of several popular individual (and business) tax breaks, as well as another patch to keep folks from paying more because of the alternative minimum tax.
Although these proposals have had bipartisan support all year, they looked dead just a couple of days ago.
But as noted in my earlier blog about the legislative stare down, when politicians return to their states and districts to campaign, they would like to have something to show that they also can provide assistance to voters folks who aren't directly connected to Wall Street.
Let's hope that our lawmakers do indeed act, and act appropriately adult, this time.
The Senate has attached to the bailout measure its version of the House-passed
Title II: One-Year Extension of Temporary Provisions - Subtitle A: Extensions Primarily Affecting Individuals - (Sec. 201) Extends through 2008:
(1) the election to deduct state and local sales taxes in lieu of state and local income taxes;(2) the tax deductions for qualified tuition and related expenses and for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers;(3) the exemption from withholding for interest-related and short-term capital gain dividends received from a regulated investment company;(4) tax-free distributions from individual retirement plans (IRAs) for individuals called or ordered to active military duty and for charitable purposes; (5) the election to include combat pay as earned income for purposes of the earned income tax credit;(6) authority for use of qualified mortgage bonds to finance residences for veterans; (7) special rules and definitions relating to regulated investment companies; and(8) the tax exclusion for amounts received under qualified group legal services plans.
CNN also notes that:
In addition, the bill includes relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, without which millions of Americans would have to pay the so-called 'income tax for the wealthy."
The debate over extending AMT relief is an annual political ritual. It enjoys bipartisan support but deficit hawks on both sides of the aisle contend the cost of providing that relief should be paid for. Others argue it shouldn't be paid for because the AMT was never intended to hit the people the relief provisions would protect. Nevertheless, lawmakers pass the measure every year or two.
And the New York Times reports:
The Senate proposal would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production and use of renewable energy sources, like solar energy and wind power.
The bill would also extend the business tax credit for research and development, expand the child tax credit, protect millions of families from the alternative minimum tax and provide tax relief to victims of recent floods, tornadoes and severe storms.
Senators Obama and McCain will be there for the expected passage of the bailout bill.
But don't go making any tax or other financial plans until this is a done deal. House leaders thought they were going to approve a bailout bill earlier this week and we all know how that turned out!
Photo © 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
I also believe that tax provisions that expired last year will be the spoonful of sugar that recalcitrant Representatives need in order to swallow the revamped financial services bailout bill.
Posted by: goedkope verzekering | Friday, March 06, 2009 at 01:14 AM
I wouldn’t be surprised if the recent overhaul of bankruptcy legislation was designed for this economic situation; it turns human debtors into indentured servant. And that is necessary for the following reason:
The ’sssssss’ we are noticing with this credit crunch is just the leak before the big burst. This credit bubble has been inflated by a logorithmic base 10 scale of dollar creation.
The practice of using 90% of ‘real’ wealth for lending that can then be invested and re-deposited for recycling again and again for more and more credit probably has the same effect of simply printing more money. The difference between those two ways of creating wealth is that creating money by credit inflation redistributes wealth for the benefit of financiers. And printed money is real; not fake.
This credit bubble burst should, then, be creating a shortage of money. And the cure may be as simple as the government printing more money. The only problem with that scheme is that there would not be another bubble to burst to correct for over-inflation. Printed dollars don’t evaporate away like the ones the financiers are trying to sell taxpayers now.
And that is why those who have engineered this bubble need those new draconian bankruptcy laws. Only wage earners can turn this fake money into real wealth. And that is why the Bush administration and other supporters of the great bailout plan are adamantly against giving bankruptcy judges the right to restructure debt according to who is most responsible for making bad loans.
Bryant Arms
Posted by: Bryant Arms | Wednesday, October 01, 2008 at 08:35 PM