Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

  Senate Democratic leaders on January 7 unveiled an ambitious agenda for the start of the 111th Congress that focuses on economic recovery and reinvestment through job creation, energy independence and middle-class tax relief. Instead of rolling out the first 10 bills of the new Congress, the leadership painted a broad picture of the areas they intend to address and some of the ways they plan to achieve benefits through legislative action. With a renewed focus on the middle-class, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, said Democrats will push legislation to address stabilizing the housing market and investment firms, rising costs of higher education, health care and providing for elderly parents.

  Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said additional middle-class tax relief would come in the form of increased college tuition tax credits and elder care credits, tax breaks for the purchase of college textbooks and, to enhance savings, an increase in the allowable IRA contributions. On the environmental front, Democrats plan to invest heavily in renewable energy and energy efficiency through tax credits aimed at business owners.

  There will also be a heavy emphasis on affordable health care, with promises to lower costs, protect existing coverage and extend coverage to the some 46 million Americans who have none. Democrats also promised to restore confidence in the economy by protecting consumers from Wall Street abuses and protecting homeowners from foreclosure. Leadership said it will address those issues by increasing transparency and accountability in those areas to prevent risky bets that threaten the whole system. They also promised to protect consumers by preventing predatory lending and stabilizing credit markets.

  By Jeff Carlson, CCH News Staff