Posts tagged house ways and means committee
Yogi Berra Wishes He Could Be This Good
Jun 30th
From the Associated Press – This just in.
WASHINGTON — Homebuyers would get an extra three months to complete their purchases and qualify for a generous tax credit under a bill overwhelmingly passed by the House on Tuesday. The bill would give buyers until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases. The extended deadline only applies to people who signed purchase agreements by April 30. The National Association of Realtors estimates that about 180,000 homebuyers who already signed purchase agreements are likely to miss the Wednesday deadline.
“We owe this to the people who have essentially followed the rules who are caught by a closing date,” said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The Realtors group says the tax credit has generated 1 million new home sales that wouldn’t have happened otherwise………..
Really?
Of course none of this comes as any real surprise for us. But as Greg celebrates the inception and blossoming of Bloodhound Blog, and as I consider the many faceted Yogi Berra and what he would say concerning this about face in policy, I can only share the following video. It’s a microcosm of Congress and NAR, much funnier, and certainly something Yogi would like.
2009 deductibility of Chile donations
Mar 11th
Have you filed your 2009 taxes yet? If you haven't and you contributed to relief efforts in the wake of the massive Chilean earthquake last month, you might want to hold off a bit longer.
The House yesterday approved a bill that would allow donations to groups providing aid to those affected by the Feb. 27 earthquake centered outside Concepción, Chile, to be counted as 2009 tax deductions as long as they are made by April 15.
News Update: Two strong aftershocks, measured at 7.2 and 6.9 magnitudes, stuck Chile this morning as the country's new president was being sworn into office. They were the strongest aftershocks to date.
The Chile donation bill, H.R. 4783, is similar to the emergency charitable contributions law enacted after the earthquake in Haiti.
In fact, this latest charitable deductions measure would extend the tax deduction time frame for deductible charitable gifts made in connection with the Haiti disaster. Donations to Haiti relief also could count as 2009 write-offs as long as they also are made by April 15. Under the earlier law change, that donation deadline was Feb. 28.
Hmmm. Sounds very familiar to my proposal in Chile & charitable tax deduction fairness for permanent
changes to charitable donations. I don't know if I should be pleased or
troubled that a majority of House members and I are thinking along the
same legislative lines.
Bipartisan support: H.R. 4783 was introduced by acting House Ways and Means Committee Chair Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) and W&M ranking minority member Dave Camp (R-Mich.).
The bill, which passed with no opposition and by voice vote, was designated as an emergency measure. That means it doesn't have to
meet the House's "pay as you go" restrictions demanding that any lost
revenue be offset by funds from elsewhere.
H.R. 4783 is now in the Senate's hands.
Whether such extended donation deduction options really prompt additional aid is debatable. But the bill apparently has wide bipartisan support, so I expect the Senate to soon act on it favorably.
Related
posts:
- Chile & charitable tax deduction fairness
- Haiti donation deadline Feb. 28
- Congress OKs accelerated tax deductions for donations
to Haiti - Red Cross receipts for text donations
- Alabama tax tidbit (Haiti donations state deduction)
- Year-end Money Moves 2009: Giving
- The 12 Tax Tips of Christmas: #4 Be Charitable
- Keep the giving going
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Politicians’ property tax problems
Mar 9th
When it comes to property taxes, it's not just you, me and a certain Motown star that have issues.
Politicians do, too.
The new chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Michigan Democrat
Sandy Levin, last week repaid a Maryland property tax credit that he had erroneously
received from Montgomery County.
The tax break was a one-time-only benefit for owner-occupied homes and
Levin, reports the
the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, does not live in the house.
The
Congressman's office said that the home had been inadvertently
misclassified when Levin's share of the property was transferred into a
trust.
Levin's chief of staff told the newspaper that the Congressman "has written a check of $690 to the County and
clarified and confirmed once again to them that the correct
classification of the … property is 'Not a Principal Residence.'"
Must be something in the Committee water: Levin has the W&M gavel because Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is
taking a leave of absence from that post while ethical questions, including unpaid taxes on Caribbean rental property, are sorted out by his House colleagues.
Levin also is now the tax-writing committee's chair because Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), who was acting Ways and Means
chairman for a day (sounds like a Capitol Hill game show!), also had a Maryland property tax
problem last
year.
Of course, property tax problems know no political party boundaries.
Remember the housing issues the McCains faced during the 2008 presidential campaign?
Back then, John and Cindy owned multiple properties and encountered a property tax issue with one of those pieces of real estate.
Yep, homeownership can variously be a boon or a boondoggle for all of us.
Related
posts:
- And the new W&M chair is Sandy Levin
- Stark to lead Ways and Means
- Rangel resigns Ways and Means post
- Rangel must go redux
- Way & Means chair in trouble … again
- Property problems for Charles
Rangel - More Rangel wrangling and W&M
ghosts - 'Rangel Rule' would nix penalties and interest on back
taxes
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Here Comes More Political Theater: Geithner To Testify Three Times This Week, Volcker To Testify On Volcker Rule
Feb 1st
Just when you thought you were going to miss the Geithner grilling we saw last week, and would need to fill the vacuum with YouTube reruns of Brady asking Geithner when he would finally quit, here comes Congress with some more just announced political soap operas. Tim Geithner is now scheduled to testify a whopping three times this week, mostly relating to the just announced budget, before the Senate Finance Committee (10am on Tuesday), before the House Ways and Means Committee (10am on Wednesday) and before the Senate Budget Committee (10am on Thursday). More importantly, Paul Volcker will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on his proposal to ban prop trading, which according to many is already dead in its tracks, courtesy of a substantial push by those most likely to be impacted by such a ban.
Lastly, on the political calendar, Congress will vote on the Senate proposed bill to increase the debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion to $14.294 trillion.
Nothing like ongoing political theater to mask for the complete lack of any actual reformative actions yet to be undertaken by this administration, which has so far proved good in only two things: spending and borrowing.
Special tax breaks proposed for Haitian earthquake relief donations
Jan 19th
As relief workers scramble to bring aide to the victims of last week's devastating earthquake in Haiti, U.S. lawmakers are working out details of a tax break for those who've donated (or plan to donate) to the cause.
Under a bipartisan House bill, if you contributed money to nonprofits providing relief to the stricken island nation, you would be able to deduct those donations on your 2009 tax return. This would allow you the tax benefit of the gifts now, rather than making you wait almost a year to claim the charitable gift when you file your 2010 tax return in 2011.
This approach is similar to the deductibility time shifting Congress granted in 2005 following the Indian Ocean tsunami that struck in late December 2004.
Under the Haitian donations proposal, charitable cash gifts — and in IRS-speak, "cash" also means donations charged to a credit card, as well as checks — that are made on Jan. 12, the day of the quake, through Feb. 28 would qualify for the accelerated deduction.
Note, however, that this is optional. If you'll get more of a tax benefit by waiting, you can decide to postpone your deduction until next filing season.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and ranking minority member Dave Camp (R-Mich.) are expected to introduce the bill today.
"This measure provides an immediate benefit for those who have already given and incentive for those who are considering a charitable contribution," Rangel said in announcing the bill.
"The contributions Americans make to the relief efforts in Haiti can literally mean the difference between life and death to many of those still struggling through this tragedy and devastation," said Camp. "To the extent that we can encourage additional giving sooner, by making these donations tax deductible, it is the right thing to do."
Across Capitol Hill, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking minority member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) say they
will bring the measure to their colleagues as soon as the bill is
passed by the House. House leaders say that could happen this week.
Dueling donation bills? Two other Senators are working on a slightly different charitable tax break approach in connection with the Haitian catastrophe.
New York Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand want to temporarily remove the deduction limits for both individuals and corporations for donations to Haiti. Under current law, individual taxpayers cannot deduct as charitable gifts more than 50 percent of their income in a tax year. The annual deduction limit for businesses is 10 percent of income.
This proposal also takes its cues from previous tax-law changes in the wake of a natural disaster.
After Hurricane Katrina nearly wiped out New Orleans, an emergency tax act allowed for much more generous charitable contribution deductions for donations to that storm's victims that were made within a certain time period
Schumer and Gillibrand are also urging their colleagues to renew the expired tax incentive for charitable donations of food inventory. This law, which is part of the extenders bill passed by the House last year but not the Senate, would let grocery stores and others to deduct the market value of contributed food rather than the production cost.
It's not clear whether the two New York Senators will make the food provision part of their increased deduction limit bill or simply push for fast and final action on the full slate of extenders.
'Qualified Disaster' declaration sought: Meanwhile, the Council on Foundations is urging the IRS to declare the earthquake a qualified disaster (under section 139(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code) so that companies can make specific payments toward the relief effort from company foundations.
In a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, the Council's President and CEO Steve Gunderson noted that the move would provide private foundations greater flexibility in contributing to long-term earthquake relief in Haiti.
Such a determination was made by Shulman following the China earthquake in 2008 and by his predecessor after the 2004 East Asian tsunami.
Related posts:
- Craig's wise words about Haiti's crisis
- Year-end Money Moves 2009: Giving
- The 12 Tax Tips of Christmas: #4 Be Charitable
- Keep the giving going
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