For the past week, we've been hearing how vital passage of the bailout bill is. Yet, in order to pass it, the once three page bill Treasury Sec. Paulson offered is now several hundred pages and includes the following:
Extensions of the AMT patch, tax deductions on state and local sales taxes, tuition, teacher expenses and real property taxes and tax credits for business research and new market investors;
Energy tax credits and incentives to encourage wind and refined coal production, new biomass facilities, wave and tide electricity generators, solar energy property improvements, CO2 capturing, plug-in electric drive vehicles, idling reduction units on truck engines, cellulosic biofuels ethanol production, energy efficient houses, offices, dishwashers, clothes washers and refrigerators, and fringe benefits for employees commuting by bicycle;
A requirement for private insurance plans to offer mental health benefits on par with medical-surgical benefits;
Tax relief provisions for victims of this summer's Midwestern floods, and Hurricane Ike;
Freezing of deductions for sale and exchange of oil and natural gas, mandatory basis reporting by brokers for transactions involving publicly traded securities and an extension of the oil spill tax;
Economic development credit to American Samoan businesses;
$10,000 tax credit for training of mine rescue team members;
50% immediate expensing for extra underground mine safety equipment;
Tax credit for businesses with employees from an Indian reservation;
Accelerated depreciation for property used mostly on an Indian reservation;
50% tax credit for some expenditures on maintaining railroad tracks;
7-year recovery period for motorsports racetrack property;
Expensing of cleaning up "brownfield" contaminated sites;
Enhanced deductions for businesses donating computers and books to schools, and for food donations;
Deduction for income from domestic production in Puerto Rico;
Tax credit for employees in Hurricane Katrina disaster area;
Tax incentives for investments in poor neighborhoods in D.C.;
Increased rehabilitation credit for buildings in Gulf area;
Reduction of import duties on some imported wool fabrics, transfers other duties to Wool Trust Fund to promote competitiveness of American wool;
Special expensing rules for film and TV productions;
Increasing cover of rum excise tax revenues to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands;
Making it easier for film and TV companies to use deduction for domestic production;
Exempting children's wooden arrows from excise tax; and
Income averaging for Exxon Valdez litigants for tax purposes.
A bill that was so clearly vital needed all of these extra items to be included to get it through? I can only wonder what intelligent leaders around the world think of us today.
I'm sorry, but I'm embarrassed to be an American.
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3 comments:
You would think that in this time of crisis that they could, just once, pass a bill that is not completely laden with assorted extra garbage. For once, well more than once, I agree with you. Here was a chance to show the world we can take the bull by the horn and do something right and we come off looking like a bunch of buffoons. Hugo Chavez has more brains than some of our so called leaders in congress.
Johnny Di! The world as we know it is ending. You and I agree on something. Though I am not sure I will go as far as to say I am ashamed to be an American over this "bailout bill."
Re-electing George Bush in 2004....on the other hand....
Hugs.
Rubes
It is amazing how most of the the area's congressmen and women voted for the original bill except for Randy Kuhl. They had to load up the bill with a bunch of unneeded pork before he would vote for it. How can anyone in their right mind vote this guy 2 more years?? Not that Eric Massa is the answer but Randy Kuhl has exposed himself as a pork master and has to be voted out. His vote showed a lack of consideration for his country in a time of crisis. All of the other stooges that voted for the extra pork should be shown the door too.
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