Whew! We can all breathe a sigh of relief now that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act has passed…….NOT! Yesterdays blog fully expected the bill to pass and it did. Congress is ecstatic. Now we can start to get the wheels back on the economy. If it were only that easy. This legislation is so full of pork and earmarks it is incredible. What began as a 3 page proposal from Sect’y Paulson two weeks ago, ballooned to roughly 150 pages under the House’s proposal early this week to well over 400 pages in the Senate version which eventually passed. Hope we all like pork, the other white meat, because it does appear that we’re gonna be eating it for quite awhile. How about tax breaks for rum distillers in Puerto Rico, bicycle commuters, children’s arrow makers, whatever that means? There are a few things in the bill for the average American, though. Upgrade your home appliances to more energy efficient ones, get a tax break, although nominal. Upgrade to other energy efficient products in your home, get a tax break. There are incentives for builders to build more energy efficient homes. One very positive thing for first time homeowners (meaning you haven’t owned a home in the last 3 years) is the extension of the so called $7500 tax credit through 2010. It is really a tax free loan, payable in your income taxes at $500 per year over 15 years.
Guess we win some and we lose some. What can the average guy do with this? Consult your tax professional, find your tax advantages in this bill and implement them. Hey, we don’t get to make the rules, we just have to play by them. As the Beatles sang, “o-bla-di, o-bla-da, life goes on.” We’ll keep weeding through the legislation to find those other little pieces that may help our clients. Oh yeah, if anyone happens to be involved in the wool industry, check pages 288 and beyond, there’s some benefits for you.
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