You may have heard in recent days about a stimulus package that congress has passed to help stimulate our lagging economy. Well some details of that plan are now being fleshed out:
Bush and House lawmakers yesterday agreed on a $150 billion economic stimulus package aimed at avoiding an election-year recession. About $100 billion would pay for tax rebates to about 117 million families and $50 billion for business tax breaks.
For our family, a married couple with no children, it looks like we stand to receive a $1200 rebate if and when this finally passes. To find out what kind of a rebate you might stand to gain, check out this .pdf file from the treasury department. The reader’s digest version of the package goes like this: Singles: make less than $75,000, you’ll get $600. Married couples: File jointly and earn less than $150,000 combined, and you’ll get $1,200 and an additional $300 per kid.
I’m hoping that they’ll quickly pass this legislation, but it now sounds like some democrats may not be so inclined. They may bog down the bill by adding additional programs that will raise the costs of the bill, making it harder to pass:
sentiment among Democrats may signal trouble ahead. U.S. senators, largely left out of the negotiations, said they wanted to weigh in with a broader array of programs that may increase tensions, bog down a package and raise costs.
My message to our legislators is this: “Just get it done!”.
LINKS:
Treasury Rebate Fact Sheet: Check it out to see what your refund might be.
Bloomberg article on the stimulus package
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