Wednesday, January 2, 2013

'fiscal cliff' deal doles out millions

Besides the unemployment extension for yet another year, there's plenty of crony perks buried within the 150-page deal. New Year’s gifts to some of Washington’s favorite industries, if you will...

ABCNews: The mix of tax perks covering the next year, but with budget implications for the next two years includes everything from incentives for employers to hire veterans to incentives for employers to invest in mine safety. But it also includes these:
$430 million for Hollywood through “special expensing rules” to encourage TV and film production in the United States. Producers can expense up to $15 million of costs for their projects.
$331 million for railroads by allowing short-line and regional operators to claim a tax credit up to 50 percent of the cost to maintain tracks that they own or lease.
$222 million for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through returned excise taxes collected by the federal government on rum produced in the islands and imported to the mainland.
$70 million for NASCAR by extending a “7-year cost recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities.”
$59 million for algae growers through tax credits to encourage production of “cellulosic biofuel” at up to $1.01 per gallon.
$4 million for electric motorcycle makers by expanding an existing green-energy tax credit for buyers of plug-in vehicles to include electric motorbikes.
So, rile up the country to get on board with taxing the top 2%, and then provide plenty o' loopholes and deductions for lawmakers' friends. Did anyone doubt this would happen among the DC elite? This blog didn't...

ADDENDUM: Repeal the Hollywood tax cuts!