Sense on Cents

On the first real day of business after the holidays, I will tip my hat to PEBO and his economic team. Obama opened his press briefing this morning with his take that the economy is “bad and getting worse.” In deft fashion, he then caught almost everybody off guard by leading his proposed economic stimulus plan with focus on a significant level of tax cuts and tax credits. In my opinion, this was a very, very strong first move. Well done, Barack!!

The general outline of these cuts and credits include:

1. tax cuts for those paying taxes or with an earned-income credit. Likely for families earning up to 200k, although that is not yet defined.

2. businesses can retroactively reduce tax bills going back 5 years by writing off losses from 2008 and 2009.

3. offer tax credits to entice firms to plow money back into new investments.

4. provide a one year tax credit for companies that make new hires or forego layoffs.

5. increase write-offs for a wide array of expenditures for small business.

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