Skip to main content

Senate Tax Vote

Senate Tax Vote - The Senate on Wednesday approved the $858 billion tax plan negotiated by the White House and Republican leaders, and House Democrats said they expected to pass the bill Thursday after a final, seemingly futile effort to change a provision that benefits wealthy estates.

The Senate vote was 81-19 as Democrats yielded in their long push to end the Bush-era tax rates for high-income taxpayers. Republicans agreed to back a huge stimulus package, including an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and a one-year Social Security payroll-tax cut for most workers, with the entire cost added to the deficit.

House Democratic leaders said they would bring the bill to the floor Thursday along with an amendment to tax more estates at a higher rate. Democrats privately predicted the amendment would be rejected and the package approved, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not ready to concede.

Senate Tax Vote

"We will make our point," she said at a news conference Wednesday night, repeating her opposition, shared by many Democrats, to the provision granting a tax exemption to estates of up to $5 million per person, or $10 million per couple.

While many Democrats said the money used to continue reduced tax rates on the highest incomes could be better spent on other steps to stimulate the economy, they made clear their initial fury at the prospect of extending those rates had given way to acceptance that the White House, its leverage weakened by election losses, had negotiated the best compromise it could.

Senate Tax Vote

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Contactless Debit Cards

Contactless Debit Cards - Contactless debit cards will make their formal debut in Canada next year with the launch of Interac Flash from Acxsys Corp.’s Interac Association, Canada’s national debit network. Interac’s first two Flash issuers are Scotiabank and RBC Royal Bank, which will roll out their first contactless cards next summer. The first acquirer is TD Merchant Services, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank. More issuers and acquirers are on the way, an Interac spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News, though no announcements have been made yet. Interac and the banks tested Flash this summer at some high-volume, small-ticket merchants in downtown Toronto. The spokesperson expects national merchants will be making formal announcements about acceptance. “There’s a lot of excitement in the merchant community,” she says. “Merchants are looking for that faster throughput.” In a statement, the Retail Council of Canada endorsed the new card. “Interac Flash is a welcome and needed

The Craigslist Killer TV

The Craigslist Killer TV - Lifetime last night turned the Craigslist killer headlines into a much watched and even more talked about TV movie. The movie told from Ms Megan McAllister’s point of view is chilling, even if it didn’t have her consent. For those who don’t know the story, Philip Markoff a Boston University medical student and fiancé of Ms McAllister met Julissa Brisman on Craigslist and murdered her. Markoff met Brisman on Craigslist, arranged a meeting for a massage. Police at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel found Brisman, shot dead and a massage table set up in the room. Brisman, who was 25 at the time, was pursuing a modeling career. Four days earlier a Las Vegas prostitute reported being attacked and robbed by an armed man at a nearby hotel, a stripper at the Holiday Inn in Warwick, Rhode Island reported a similar incident, as well as two more in the area. The Craigslist Killer TV Megan Mcallister, loved and almost married Philip Markoff. The question of thi

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist - An Irish tourist who was mauled to death by two dogs while visiting an organic farm in Penang yesterday morning had more than 50 bite wounds and lacerations all over his body. Penang Hospital Forensic Department head Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, who performed the post-mortem on Maurice Sullivan (pix), 50, today, said he found the wounds on the victim's head, neck, hands and legs. "The victim had died as a result of severe haemorrhage due to multiple injuries from the dogs' bites," he said, adding that there were no signs that Sullivan suffered any ailment at the time of death. Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist Bhupinder also said both Sullivan's ears and the left side of his face were gnawed off in the incident. One of the ears was recovered from the scene. Bhupinder told reporters this after carrying out the post-mortem which began at 10am. Sullivan was attacked by two mongrels at the farm while taking photographs of the gr