[lbo-talk] WaPo: Obama Shelves Jobs-Credit Proposal

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Wed Jan 14 09:47:08 PST 2009


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/12/AR2009011203298.html

Tuesday, January 13, 2009; A04

Washington Post

Obama Shelves Jobs-Credit Proposal

Democrats Said $3,000 Tax Incentive Could Be Abused by Businesses

By Shailagh Murray

Staff Writer

Bowing to widespread Democratic skepticism, President-elect Barack

Obama will drop his bid to include a business tax break he once touted

in the economic stimulus bill now taking shape on Capitol Hill, aides

said last night.

Obama suggested the $3,000-per-job credit last week as one of five

individual and business tax incentives aimed at winning Republican

support. He proposed $300 billion in tax relief in a bill that could

reach $775 billion, and he resurrected the jobs-credit proposal from

the campaign trail as one of his main provisions.

Republicans reacted favorably to the higher-than-expected ratio of tax

breaks to spending for road projects, alternative energy production,

health-care technology and unemployment benefits. But they offered

mixed reviews of his specific tax proposals and floated their own,

including cuts in corporate and capital gains taxes.

Stronger opposition came from Democrats, who dismissed the $3,000

credit to employers for every job created or saved as ripe for abuse

and difficult to administer. When no champion for the proposal came

forward, the president-elect decided to sideline the incentive.

"We've always said we're open to other ideas. This was never set in

stone," said a senior Obama adviser of the decision.

<end excerpt>

Michael



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