The Republican plan
Got this in an email from Lorie Byrd of Wizbang:
The Republican Whip’s Office just released the following information:
DEMOCRATS MADE TAX RELIEF SMALLER…
· Cut car credit (potentially from $11.5 billion to $2 billion)
· Cut “Make Work Pay” credit from $500/individual to $400/individual, and from $1,000/couple to $800/couple (approximately $28 billion less in tax relief)
· Cut home buyer credit from $35 billion to $3-5 b (limited to first-time home-buyers)
· Cut Net Operating Loss significantly to as little as $2 billion (makes it only applicable to employers with $5 million or less in revenue—many small businesses have high revenue but small profits, penalizing them)
· Percentage of Bill That President Obama Wanted for Tax Relief: 40%
· Percentage of “Final” Democrat Spending Bill Dedicated for Tax Relief: 26%
· Percentage of “Final” Democrat Spending Bill Dedicated for Tax Relief Minus the Alternative Minimum Tax Patch, Which Doesn’t Provide any American with new Tax Relief: 17.5%
…TO ADD MORE GOVERNMENT SPENDING
· $9 billion for school construction was added back in (originally cut by Nelson-Collins)
· $5 billion increase for the state fiscal stabilization fund (originally cut by Nelson-Collins), making it a grand total of $53.6 billion
· $2 billion for neighborhood stabilization program, money for groups like ACORN
· $1 billion added back for Prevention & Wellness Programs, including STD education
· Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research was added back in, leading Americans down the path towards healthcare rationing (63 patient advocacy groups signed a letter voicing their concerns with this provision)
(BUT, NOT INFRASTRUCTURE)
· Money for highways and bridges was cut by $1 billion from the House-passed level
KEY POINTS:
· Tax relief to help middle class families and small businesses was sharply pared back in order to increase government spending. Public opinion over the last 4 weeks has shown that Americans overwhelming believe tax cuts, and not government spending, are a better way to stimulate the economy.
· Approximately $75 billion in true tax relief was CUT from the Nelson-Collins package. So, while the overall size of the package may have gotten slightly smaller, the spending actually increased.
A COMPARISON OF THE FINAL DEMOCRAT STIMULUS BILL AND THE HOUSE REPUBLICAN ALTERNATIVE
COST:
· Cost of the Final Democrat Bill: $790 Billion
· Cost of the House Republican Alternative: $477 Billion
JOBS:
· Number of Jobs Created by the Democrat Bill: 3.5 million
· Number of Jobs Created by the House Republican Alternative: 6.2 million
|
House Republican Alternative |
Final Democrat Bill |
|
| Tax Relief for Working Families | Tax relief for 100% of income taxpayers:
· Minimum average relief would be $500 per year · Most families would see relief closer to $1,500 per year · A married couple see relief as high as $3,200 a year |
Tax relief phased-out for some income taxpayers.
· Benefit capped at $400 a year for an individual and $800 a year for a married couple |
| Tax Relief for Small Businesses | Tax deduction equal to 20% of their income for those small businesses with 500 or fewer employees | No provision |
| Tax Relief for Employers | Allow employers to offset their current losses against past tax liabilities (net operating loss carryback) | While initially identical, the final bill limited this benefit to firms with limited income, leaving out not only large employers, but also many small businesses. Initially research indicated that over 290,000 employers, with a combined total of over 77 million employees, could be excluded from this tax relief as a result of this last minute change. |
