Posted on 10/11/2004 12:36:11 PM PDT by ijcr
Senator Nelson D-Fl stated that State Sales in the six States that do not have State income taxes will be deductible in 2004 and 2005.
This is hugh.
Another example of why the people need to clean House and Senate -
If you remember - once upon a time people could deduct sales tax, interest on other loans - but then along came the Socialist Democrats and the corrupt Rep. - and if I remember - it was under Kennedy most of this happened - including taxing of the saving account -
Notice Dashle is a co-sponsor. This is all about politics my friends.
Thanks for the link... I see how they've constructed it to pass the "Equal Protection" test.
They're giving the taxpayer the choice of either deducting your state income tax or your state sales tax.
then let the states with no income taxes impose one so their citizens can get the federal write-off - and lower their sales taxes accordingly.
Used to be
This is just wrong.
Why should some of us be paying why others are not.
I cry foul
Don't forget about Tennesseans. I think the average is supposed to be $300-400 in tax savings per year in the Volunteer State, but hey, I'll take it. The tax and spend libs have been whining for an income tax for years, and one reason they always give is that local income taxes are deductible on your federal income taxes. But when Washington started talking about bringing back this deduction, they could see that their chance fading away to convince anyone that an income tax is better, so they started whining about how few people itemize on their federal income tax, and therefore the sales tax deduction is a tax break for the rich.
Rather than a "break" for the consumer, I suspect this was engineered by states to increase their revenue stream.
But you get a high crime rate in exchange!
Quit screwing around and repeal the Federal Income tax
But if a state has an income tax, it could be deducted. Rephrase it to say that the income tax deduction in FL is ZERO because they have no income tax to deduct. They word this law to give an alternative or did it in leu of. That brings it a bit closer to being constitutional, although clearer laws have been challenged.
Tax tables.
Oct 11, 3:24 PM EDTSenate OKs Sweeping Corporate Tax Reform
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate passed a far-reaching, $136 billion corporate tax package Monday that cuts taxes for businesses ranging from film companies to bow and arrow makers while closing tax loopholes and bringing U.S. exporters in line with international trade rules.
With the 69-17 vote, the legislation that was two years in the making and required a rare weekend session in the Senate to complete, goes to President Bush for his signature.
"About 200,000 American manufacturers will receive a benefit to help create jobs," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Senators also passed by voice vote two spending bills for 2005, a $33 billion homeland security bill and another including $14.5 billion in relief for Florida hurricane victims and drought-ravaged farmers in the Plains states, before their belated departure for the campaign trail.
The House adjourned on Saturday after finishing its actions on the three bills.
Monday's vote was made possible by a Sunday night agreement to satisfy the concerns of several Democrats threatening to immobilize the Senate with a weeklong filibuster.
Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., sought to protect measures left out of the corporate tax bill, while Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, objected to a cut in spending for a farm conservation program linked to drought assistance.
In the settlement, the three senators were promised mostly symbolic votes in which the Senate will reaffirm positions it has taken in the past, but which have been opposed by House Republican leaders.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, blamed politics for the difficulties in getting the bill through Congress. "Certain members of this body don't want a Republican president signing a jobs bill a few days before the election," he said.
Harkin held up action on the hurricane aid, attached to a $10 billion military construction spending bill, to protest the decision to pay for the $2.9 billion in drought relief by cutting a farm conservation program that he has championed.
The hurricane money, intended mostly for the election battleground state of Florida, is not budgeted and will increase the federal deficit.
Landrieu won agreement for a vote on a measure giving a 50 percent tax credit to employers who compensate workers up to $30,000 in lost pay when military Reservists or National Guard members are called to active duty. It was estimated to have a $2.5 billion cost over 10 years.
Her proposal had been in the Senate version of the corporate tax bill but was taken out when House Republicans opposed it. Given that opposition, it was unlikely to win House passage.
Harkin got a vote Monday on a Senate resolution to instruct members of an upcoming budget conference committee that the Senate wants funding restored for the agriculture conservation program.
The corporate tax bill grew out of the need for Congress to respond to a World Trade Organization ruling that a $5 billion annual subsidy for U.S. exporters was illegal. As a result, 1,600 American exports to Europe are being hit by penalty tariffs that now stand at 12 percent and are rising by one percentage point a month.
The bill became the vehicle for the most significant overhaul of corporate tax law in nearly two decades. It includes $76.5 billion in new tax relief for the manufacturing sector, which was broadly defined to include oil and gas producers, architectural and engineering firms and film and music companies.
The package also provides benefits for a wide range of groups, from native Alaskan whalers, importers of Chinese ceiling fans, NASCAR race track owners and residents of states without state income taxes, who would be able to deduct state and local sales taxes from their federal tax returns.
The measure includes a $10.1 billion buyout for tobacco farmers. Several senators from both parties objected strenuously that the final version of the bill drops Senate-approved language that would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco.
The Senate late Sunday approved two measures pushed by Kennedy and Harkin to reassert FDA authority over tobacco and to ban implementation of new Bush administration rules that critics say will deny overtime pay to millions of workers. Both proposals are unlikely to win approval in the House.
In addition to the tax relief for manufacturing, the tax measure has $42.6 billion in tax relief for multinational companies. All the tax breaks are paid for by $136 billion in measures intended to close corporate loopholes and tax shelters.
---
The corporate tax bill is H.R. 4520
Key Elements of Corporate Tax Bill
Key provisions of the corporate tax bill before the Senate for final approval. The cost estimates over 10 years come from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation:-Repeal tax break for American exporters that the World Trade Organization found violated global trade rules. Savings: $49.2 billion.
-Close a variety of corporate loopholes and tax shelters. One of the provisions to save $2.4 billion would tighten deduction rules for donating cars to charities. Total savings: $81.7 billion.
-Cut taxes for manufacturers and other domestic producers, a category which would include such non-factory operations as construction companies, engineering and architectural firms, film and music companies, and the oil and gas industry. Cost: $76.5 billion.
-Revise rules governing treatment of multinational corporations including allowing companies with overseas operations to bring profits back to the United States at a reduced rate for a limited time. Cost: $42.6 billion.
- Reinstates the deductibility of state and local sales taxes on individuals' federal income tax returns, which will primarily benefit residents of Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, all which have a state sales tax, and Alaska, which has local sales taxes but not a state sales tax. Cost: $5 billion for a deduction that would last only until Dec. 31, 2005.
- Reduce excise taxes on the sale of bows and arrows, fishing tackle boxes and sonar fish finders. Cost: $24 million.
In Ca., the communist legislature passed a "temporary" sales tax on gasoline while the communist sympathizer jimmy carter was in office. Now it adds up to about 18 cents per gallon of gas, driving up the cost of gas a lot.
I see your fine governor vetoed another illegal immigrant license bil. I missed your kudos on that thread.
Course I should note that I cry foul anytime I have to give the government more money :)
heh
In Texas our sales tax rate is 8.25% - that's higher than New York IIRC.
In 1999, the average effective residential property tax rate per $100 valuation in New York City was $0.83 - in Houston it was $2.84. This is after adjusting the nominal tax rate by dividing it by the percentage of property actually taxed.
"By all rights, it should be made permanent...
Used to be"
Yes, it did. Just another step the government took to raise our taxes (take more of our money) along with all the other fair deductions we are now denied -- along with a raft of DOUBLE TAXATION...I could go on...
And don't forget... The California Sales Tax goes on top of the Federal and State excise taxes... another 15 cents per gallon.
44 states pay an income tax and a lower sales tax rate than the 9.25% sales tax we pay in TN (with very few exemptions and ceilings--if you buy it, you pay sales tax on it). We pay no income tax, so shouldn't we get to deduct at least part of our sales tax? We shouldn't be punished just because we've been smart enough all these years to know that a consumption tax is the fairest tax off all!
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