House Republicans vote for business tax cut with no offset
By Lisa Desjardins, CNN
updated 5:38 PM EDT, Fri July 11, 2014
Washington (CNN) -- House Republicans, who fervently pound the podium against the deficit, didn't blink Friday at passing a whopping $287 billion business tax cut measure with no effort to pay for or offset that amount.
GOP lawmakers argued the bill helps the economy, but budget-watching organizations outside Congress proclaimed it an irresponsible move.
The 258-160 vote marked one of the largest unpaid-for measures passed by the House in years, but was also the latest sign that tax cuts are at the center of the Republican universe and the ballyhooed deficit fight is not on the same level as a priority.
"Here in the House, we're doing what we can to help (pass jobs)," read the statement from GOP House Speaker John Boehner, "passing another bill today that would create more certainty and give small business owners an incentive to invest and put more Americans back to work."
What $287 billion does
The bill, H.R. 4178, would make permanent something called "bonus depreciation": a significant and recent benefit for businesses. Bonus depreciation allows companies to deduct 50% of the value of new equipment or assets in the year they are purchased. It's considered a "bonus" because the provision provides a much greater and much faster tax benefit than traditional depreciation.
The idea first became law under President George W. Bush in 2002, who said it was meant to be temporary.
The tax benefit has been extended repeatedly until the end of last year. At that time, it expired along with a slew of other temporary tax provisions called "tax extenders" because they have gone through this process so often.
The issue of $287 billion now
The move by Republicans to back $287 billion in tax cuts comes at a time when they are loudly questioning much smaller spending bills: the president's request for $3.7 billion to respond to children crossing the border, $11 billion to keep highway projects afloat for less than a year and the roughly $35 billion Senate measure to revamp the veteran's health care system. Combined, those measures are still less than a fifth of the tax cut bill.
"Wildfire season is approaching and there are not enough resources," said Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett during Friday's debate, "Our highways crumble, bridges literally fall down... While there is so much of vital needs that we just don't seem to have the resources to address, these same Republicans tell us that we can afford to borrow from the Chinese or the Saudis to deliver (tax cuts)."
more:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/11/politics/gop-business-tax-cut/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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