[Bromymbollile]

Republicans agree on tax cuts extension
$70 billion measure includes investor tax breaks

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republican leaders are ready to move forward on tax breaks worth $70 billion over five years to investors and some middle-income families now that they've sorted out a disagreement among themselves.

The breakthrough Tuesday set up a vote in the House late Wednesday.

The Senate could clear the bill for President Bush's signature by week's end, achieving one of his top tax priorities and giving his GOP allies on Capitol Hill a victory in times of sagging poll numbers.

The bill offers a two-year extension of the reduced 15 percent tax rate for capital gains and dividends, currently set to expire at the end of 2008.

And it would keep 15 million families from being hit this year with the alternative minimum tax, which was designed to make sure the wealthy paid taxes but is ensnaring more middle-income families because it was not indexed for inflation.

"This is a responsible bill that protects families and small business owners from tax increases, while also providing investors with a bigger window of certainty -- critical to continued economic growth," said Rep. Bill Thomas, R-California, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Critics, including many Democrats, have attacked the tax rate reductions on dividends and capital gains as being largely tilted to the wealthy. They say provisions should not be extended at a time of large budget deficits and massive spending for the war in Iraq.

The agreement capped weeks of talks among GOP lawmakers over how to go ahead on their party's tax agenda. They had to decide how best to deal with a rule that lets them advance up to $70 billion in cuts in a way that would prevent any filibuster from Senate Democrats.

Republicans devised a strategy to advance the investor tax breaks and alternative minimum tax relief in a first, filibuster-proof bill, then use a second bill for other tax breaks.

The second bill is to contain a number of widely backed tax breaks, among them a tuition tax deduction, a tax break for teachers who buy their own school supplies, and a research and development tax credit for businesses.

Republicans should have "chosen to renew important tax provisions like the R&D tax credit, the college tuition tax deduction, and the credit for teachers," said Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, top Democrat on the Finance panel.

"Instead, they chose to extend capital gains and dividends tax breaks that have not expired and won't expire for years to come."

Treasury Secretary John Snow asserted that the tax breaks that would be extended have ushered in a period of rising business investment and strong economic growth. "When you get investment occurring and strong GDP growth, you get jobs," he said.

Under the bill, wealthier people would be allowed to transfer retirement savings into Roth IRAs. This would provide a shorter-term revenue boost, and so helped lawmakers fit more measures into the bill. That's because money moved from traditional IRAs into Roth accounts is taxed immediately, instead of later, when taxpayers withdraw their invested money.

Opponents say the Roth plan would help the Treasury now but shortchange the government in the future years because money saved in a Roth IRA grows tax free.

The bill also would extend for two years provisions sought by small businesses to let them write off up to $100,000 in investments in equipment.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[OrefZorremn]

Heh.

I hope they KEEP extending it since I am finally at the point where I can start putting $$ in to there!!!!

I think the whole system stinks, but what stinks more is when you work your way through all the crap to get to a certain point, and then they just raise the bar (or remove what benefits you can now afford) when you get there.

They need to stop this piecemeal restrucuring of the tax code and overhaul the entir thing. You do one piece at a time and you end up screwing 3/4 of the people out there and 1/4 finds a way to get around it...

[cigsstorenick]

Care to comment on the Bush Administration raising our debt limit for the FIFTH time for a total of $10,000,000,000,000.? Perhaps if we actually collected taxes, we wouldn't have such debt.

[MpNelQTU]

Who, me?

BR, you know I can comment on everything.

The one point that I think people are missing is what is the point of having a debt limit at all? It seems rather ephemeral when the government will not just shut down if the legal limit is exceeded.

Or, rather, only things such as social services would cease to have funding if the number is exceeded.

I am not endorsing increased spending, not by any means, nor am I supporting the debt, but the debt limit itself does not seem like a very viable target for discourse.

And I also should have known you were looking for a ....discussion. How many clips did you post this morning bud?

[BitStillrhile]

Care to comment on the Bush Administration raising our debt limit for the FIFTH time for a total of $10,000,000,000,000.? Perhaps if we actually collected taxes, we wouldn't have such debt.

$70 billion is not a large sum considering that if they did not fix AMT in 2006, it would hit millinos of middle class taxpayers pretty hard, especially those living in New York City and other places with high local/state taxes. And low investment taxes play a huge role in stimulating the economic growth. It is an incentive to invest and save rather than spend.

You can decrease the debt by not continuing other income tax cuts and decreasing spending on medicare, medicaid and the military (and Iraq).

[ufUUZCnc]

...You can decrease the debt by not continuing other income tax cuts and decreasing spending on medicare, medicaid and the military (and Iraq).

You are sooo gonna get it for that comment. You know you are.
I sometimes think you write this stuff just to, hmm, provoke a debate.

[stoneeZef]

who, Spice???

[suilusargaino]

CIA Official's Home, Office Searched
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Law enforcement officials executed search warrants Friday on the house and office of CIA's outgoing executive director as part of an investigation into corruption involving agency contracts, the FBI said.

The CIA's third ranking official, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, has been under investigation by the FBI, IRS, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the CIA's inspector general and the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, said FBI spokeswoman April Langwell in San Diego.

Under a sealed warrant, officials searched Foggo's Virginia home and his office at the CIA's Langley, Va., campus, Langwell said. She could provide no other details.

The FBI and other agencies have been investigating whether Foggo improperly intervened in the award of contracts to a San Diego businessman and personal friend, Brent Wilkes, who has been implicated in a congressional bribery scandal.

In a statement, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise Dyck also confirmed the searches of his home and office on Friday morning.

"The agency is cooperating fully with the Department of Justice and the FBI," she said. "Agency leaders outside of the (inspector general's office) were informed just prior to the execution of the search warrants, in keeping with standard law enforcement procedures."

This week, Foggo announced his retirement from the agency after 25 years serving around the world. His decision came three days after CIA Director Porter Goss also announced he would be stepping down from the agency.

Dyck said the Foggo investigation has "absolutely nothing, zero" to do with Goss' resignation.

In a statement on Foggo's behalf last week, the CIA said he denied any improprieties. "Mr. Foggo maintains that government contracts for which he was responsible were properly awarded and administered," the agency said.

Wilkes has been described in court papers as an unindicted co-conspirator in a plot to bribe then-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican who is now serving time in a federal prison for taking $2.4 million from government contractors.

FBI agents also have been investigating whether Wilkes provided Cunningham with prostitutes, limousines and hotel suites.

Foggo has acknowledged participating in the poker parties at the hotel rooms, but he has said there was nothing untoward about that. "If he attended occasional card games with friends over the years, Mr. Foggo insists they were that and nothing more," the CIA statement said.

Foggo's associates have said he received the Intelligence Commendation Medal for supporting the war on terror in 2002. Before becoming the agency's No. 3 leader in 2004, he was the chief of base at a classified facility that supports the war on terror.

As executive director, Foggo had the powerful position of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the CIA.

One FBI agent told reporters from Copley News Service, who were at Foggo's residence, that Foggo was not at home in his quiet suburban neighborhood near CIA headquarters and had not been detained. The agents refused to answer other questions about the raid.

A neighbor told Copley that the agents arrived about 8 a.m. EDT. A white Chevrolet van was backed up to the carport of the split-level brick home and, at one point, a man wearing latex gloves emerged from the house and went around back.