WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2008
Senate Passes Huge Tax Break Package
$100 Billion Bill Targets Alternative Minimum Tax; President Signals His Approval
-
(CBS/AP)
-
Interactive U.S. Taxes Find out more about where your dollars go, and take a quiz on filing with the IRS.
-
In The Spotlight Reforming The Tax Code Recommendations for sweeping changes in the tax system
At a cost of more than $100 billion, the bill also nudges the nation toward greater use of alternative energy resources, renews popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals, and extends relief to disaster victims.
It includes a provision to ensure that mental health problems get the same level of insurance benefits as other medical treatment. The bill passed 93-2.
"The economy is struggling," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said. "At times like these, Americans need tax cuts that they've come to count on, that can help them get by."
But with time running out in this session of Congress, the House is choosing to diverge from the Senate by taking up a bill that fully pays for the business and individual tax breaks by eliminating some tax breaks for hedge fund managers and for corporations doing business overseas.
The Senate only partially offsets the costs of its business and individual tax breaks, and Senate leaders warned that any changes could doom the bill. The House could take up its version as early as Wednesday.
The White House has signaled its support for the Senate bill, reports CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.
"Despite concerns with some provisions in this bill, it’s a bill the President can sign, and we strongly encourage the House to pass it," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "We don’t believe the appropriate way to protect 26 million Americans from the Alternative Minimum Tax is to impose tax increases on other Americans. We also strongly support the extensions of tax credit for research and experimentation expenses, incentives for charitable giving, and the tax incentives for renewable energy.”
The tax bill is one of several major efforts to right the teetering economy in what could be the final week of this session of Congress. Lawmakers are trying to reach agreement on a $700 billion plan to bail out failing financial institutions, and Democrats are trying to put together a stimulus package to help average citizens get through the current economic crisis.
The alternative minimum tax was enacted in 1969 to catch a few very rich tax dodgers. But it was never adjusted for inflation and now Congress must act every year to ensure it doesn't catch more people.
Without action, those affected could grow from about 4 million to 25 million, at an average tax increase of $2,000. The fix would cost $64 billion spread out over 10 years.
Last year Congress, after a prolonged fight over whether to pay for the fix with new tax revenues in other areas, waited until late December to pass legislation, causing delays in some IRS refund payments. The AMT patch this year, as last year, is not paid for.
The first segment of the three-part tax bill was a $17 billion measure to spur investment and create jobs in the renewable energy industry. The energy legislation extends for eight years, through 2016, investment tax credits for the solar power industry and for homeowners who install solar and wind equipment.
Taxpayers can claim a credit of up to $7,500 for purchasing plug-in electric cars, and production credits are extended to wind, biomass and marine - waves and tide - facilities. There are incentives to use smart meters for more efficient home energy use.
A study commissioned by the Solar Energy Industries Association found that the eight-year extension would more than triple investment during that period, to $325 billion, and almost triple employment in the industry, to 440,000 in 2016.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who helped put the energy package together, said the solar industry investment would provide power for more than 7 million people.
The measure drew opposition from the National Wildlife Federation, which objected to incentives for oil shale, tar sands and coal-to-liquid production it said was harmful to the environment.
While enjoying wide bipartisan support, the tax bill has struggled to get through the Senate this year. Senate Democrats have been caught between Republicans and the White House who oppose any new taxes to offset the costs of the tax relief and House Democrats demanding that the bill be paid for to avoid adding to the federal deficit.
"Don't send us back something else," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in an appeal to the House. If there are changes, he said, "it will die."
The Senate bill offsets the energy measures by limiting tax breaks for the oil and gas industry and pays for about $25 billion of the $68 billion in individual and business tax breaks.
Among the extensions of expiring tax breaks, the biggest is the $19 billion research and development tax credit. Also renewed are deductions for state and local general sales taxes, higher education costs and teachers' personal expenses.
The legislation additionally includes more than $8 billion in tax relief for Midwestern states hit by natural disasters this summer and for the more recent victims of hurricanes in Texas and Louisiana.
It requires private insurance plans that offer mental health benefits to offer benefits equivalent to those of medical-surgical treatments.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From U.S.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 57 CommentsThey''''re being set up by the handlers of the Bush Administration, aka Karl Rove and his people.
They aren''''t going to win this election. The Bush Administration and its circles know it.
That is why these crooks are taking almost a trillion dollars of US Treasury funds and running. Anyone want to take bets that folks from the Bush Administration will end up in Halliburton''s Dubai, where there are no extradition laws? And We, the People put them in office. Or, You the People did, anyway. LOL.
America has been shot in the back, folks, by GOP leadership. And the criminals will laugh at us as they leave the country with the money.
In Fond "Memory" of Ken Lay, wherever you are.
This is a sad and pathetic gimmick by a man who is ill-prepared to debate and ill-prepared to be president.
My message to conservatives is simple:
STOP DESTROYING MY COUNTRY. I refuse to call it yours any more. Since you don''t give a *** about what happens to it, you''ve forfeited your right to call it yours.
Posted by: Joe Miller on August 19, 2008 at 8:36 PM
My congratulations to you on combating ignorance with facts.
Ignorance is bi-partisan but facts are non-partisan.
:)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Nancy_Naive at 12:32 PM : Sep 24, 2008
How do you know he can''t speak?
Just to head off the many comments on how you should not need the aides or speaking because it is an insult to the deaf community, I would like to point out that it should be a choice left up to the deaf person how they want to interact with the world. One is not better than the other depending on the person.
Posted by excoachken at 09:56 AM : Sep 24, 2008
And engineered the demise of the energy initiatives begun in the Carter Admin.
If those initiatives had not been ended we would not be where we are today in regards to energy.
Posted by guyfrompa49 at 08:45 AM : Sep 24, 2008
LOOK MORE GOP WAR HERO''S LOL
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY - did not serve (1)
Senate Assistant Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-MI - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Phil Gramm LONG STINT IN THE DEREGULATION DEPT
Bill Bennett TOUGH TALKER DID NOT SERVE
Chief Justice Antonin Scalia WISE GUY DRAFT DODGER
Ted Nugent Hack Musician Wildlife killer Did not serve
Posted by guyfrompa49 at 08:45 AM : Sep 24, 2008
guyfrompa49
I found list of your
"MY HERO''S"
GW Bush - decided that a six-year Nat''l Guard commitment really means four years. Still says that he''s "been to war." Huh?
VP Cheney - several deferments , the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service")
Former Att''y Gen. John Ashcroft - did not serve , ; received seven deferment to teach business ed at SW Missouri State
Jeb Bush, Florida Governor - did not serve.
Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve , too busy being a Republican.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve
Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl, R-AZ - did not serve.
Senate Republican Conference Vice Chair John Cornyn, R-TX - did not serve.
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign, R-NV - did not serve.
Defense Policy Board member Richard Perle and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz: No military service
Sean Hannity DID NOT SERVE
MICHAEL SAVAGE DID NOT SERVE
RUSH LIMBAUGH BOO HOO HAD A HEMMOROID DID NOT SERVE
Posted by guyfrompa49 at 08:45 AM : Sep 24, 2008
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH - did not serve.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-MO - did not serve.
House Republican Conerence Chair Adam Putnam, R-FL - did not serve.
House Republican Policy Committee Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI - did not serve.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-OK - did not serve.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani - did not serve.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney - did not serve in the military but did serve the Mormon Church on a 30-month mission to France.
Former Senator Fred Thompson - did not serve.
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Former House Majority Leader *** Armey - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve (1). "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself."
Former House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve. (An impressive medical resume, but not such a friend to cats in Boston.)
Go ahead and tell us how a man that relied on an Astrologist as main advisor should be considered a wise man
Joan Quigley , of San Francisco, is an astrologer best known for her astrological advice to the Reagan White House in the 1980s.
Quigley later wrote a book about her experiences, titled What Does Joan Say?. Quigley writes, "Not since the days of the Roman emperors%u2014and never in the history of the United States Presidency%u2014has an astrologer played such a significant role in the nation''s affairs of State."
Posted by excoachken at 09:56 AM : Sep 24, 2008
----
What''s your point Ken? I''d agree with you that the US has put itself in an economically vulnerable position - much like the ''Reagan strategy'' put the Soviets in a vulnerable position. The question is who''s trying to use that strategy to change the balance of power - China? Bin Laden?
As to your comment about the Russian economy ... just reflect, except for perhaps oil and a nesting doll when was the last time you bought anything designed, built, and sold from Russia - bet you can''t name one, especially one that uses high technology.
Don''t let your partisanship cloud your arguments.
Paying for Reagan
Oct 5th, 1990
Shortly after Mr. Reagan was elected President, he said energy conservation meant being too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. His policy was in keeping with that ignorant sneer.
Funds for research on energy conservation were cut toward the vanishing point. Energy efficiency standards for cars and appliances were cut back, opposed, delayed. And the Reagan Administration just about ended the search for solar and other renewable energy sources.
By the conservation measures started in the Carter Administration, the United States had reduced its dependence on imported oil to 28 percent of its total supply. Now about half the oil we use is imported.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDB113BF936A35753C1A966958260
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 57 Comments