[StBernard] Passage of 2009 Budget Resolution Includes Key Tax Relief Measures for La.

[Westley Annis]

Passage of 2009 Budget Resolution Includes Key Tax Relief Measures for La.

Democratic Senate leaders will work on details of Road Home tax fix during
Easter recess.

 

WASHINGTON - In a so-called Vote-O-Rama that lasted approximately 15 hours
and included 44 record votes, the Senate passed a $3 trillion 2009 Budget
Resolution yesterday, 51-44. In addition to a key provision that will
provide tax relief to the recipients of Louisiana Road Home rebuilding
grants, the nonbinding budget plan endorsed tax cuts for working families,
credits for families with children, relief from the joint-filing penalty
paid by America's couples, and an extension of the adoption tax credit.   

The Road Home tax fix measure was included in an amendment offered by Senate
Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., which was approved 99-1. It is a
critical first step in correcting the unfair situation facing Louisiana
homeowners who claimed a casualty loss deduction following the 2005
hurricanes and subsequently received a Road Home rebuilding grant. According
to rules outlined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), homeowners are now
being required to pay back the causality loss deduction. Chairman Baucus and
other Democratic leaders have committed to Sen. Landrieu to work on final
details of the fix over the upcoming recess.

 "I am pleased that the U.S. Senate has now committed its support to
crafting a fair solution for Louisiana taxpayers who are facing
unjustifiably large tax bills," Sen. Landrieu said. "As the people of
Louisiana continue trying to rebuild what was lost to Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita, they should be able to maximize the resources Congress provided
following the storms. They should not be forced to untangle complex rules
outlined by the IRS that diminish the very resources that were intended to
ease the innumerable burdens already facing the victims of the Gulf Coast."

As many as 145,000 Louisiana homeowners stand to benefit from a Road Home
tax fix.

The other provisions of the Baucus amendment will also greatly benefit
Louisiana families. A $1,000 tax credit provided for each child in a family
will affect 362,544 Louisiana families, while 500,000 Louisiana families
will be relieved from the joint-filing penalty that affects married couples.
Furthermore, the amendment permanently extended the adoption tax credit,
which was utilized by 752 Louisiana families in 2005. 

            The Baucus amendment will allow millions more Americans to
deduct property taxes on their federal returns, which would affect 885,000
families in Louisiana.

            The overall budget also spares approximately 110,000 Louisiana
households from the alternative minimum tax. 

            This budget eliminates an upcoming estate tax hike and freezes
the tax at a $3.5 million exemption for individuals (7 million for couples)
and a 45 percent tax rate for estates above these levels. Sen. Landrieu
offered an amendment that would have provided substantial and fully paid-for
estate-tax relief for family farmers and business owners. The amendment
would have raised the individual estate tax exemption to $5 million, or $10
million for couples, and would have dropped the tax rate to 35 percent.
However, the measure was defeated (23-77) as was an amendment offered by
Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., that would have provided equal tax relief but was
not funded in any way. 

 

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