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from the a-billion-here-a-billion-there-pretty-soon-you're-talking-about-real-money dept.
Biden signs $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, making $1,400 checks and child tax credit official:
President Joe Biden on Thursday signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which includes a third stimulus check, for up to $1,400, and an expanded child tax credit. The IRS and Treasury will begin to send the new stimulus checks as soon as this weekend, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday at a press briefing.
The bill signing comes just one day after the amended bill passed in the House by a vote of 220-211. The House initially passed the bill on Feb. 26, and the Senate approved it last week, albeit with some changes.
[...] Democrats had been pushing to get the stimulus package signed into law before current unemployment benefits expire March 14. Biden was originally scheduled to sign the bill on Friday, but it got moved forward after Congress sent the final bill to the president more quickly than anticipated, Psaki said on Thursday.
The stimulus package, called the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, includes changes made by the Senate last week, such as reducing income limits for the third stimulus payment and lowering proposed weekly unemployment benefits from $400 a week to $300 a week (though they'd extend through Sept. 6 rather than the end of August). The Senate also dropped a federal minimum wage increase from the legislation, but proponents say they'll reintroduce that at a later date.
How to watch President Biden's national address tonight.
House passes $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, sends it to Biden to sign:
[...] Here are the proposal's major pieces:
- It extends a $300 per week jobless aid supplement and programs making millions more people eligible for unemployment insurance until Sept. 6. The plan also makes an individual's first $10,200 in jobless benefits tax-free.
- The bill sends $1,400 direct payments to most Americans and their dependents. The checks start to phase out at $75,000 in income for individuals and are capped at people who make $80,000. The thresholds for joint filers are double those limits. The government will base eligibility on Americans' most recent filed tax return.
- It expands the child tax credit for one year. It will increase to $3,600 for children under 6 and to $3,000 for kids between 6 and 17.
- The plan puts about $20 billion into Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution, along with roughly $50 billion into testing and contact tracing.
- It adds $25 billion in rental and utility assistance and about $10 billion for mortgage aid.
- The plan offers $350 billion in relief to state, local and tribal governments.
- The proposal directs more than $120 billion to K-12 schools.
- It increases the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit by 15% through September.
- The bill includes an expansion of subsidies and other provisions to help Americans afford health insurance.
- It offers nearly $30 billion in aid to restaurants.
- The legislation expands an employee retention tax credit designed to allow companies to keep workers on payroll.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 12 2021, @05:22AM (6 children)
What can be passed via reconciliation can be un-passed via reconciliation.
The obvious rebuttal to any debt concerns would be to repeal that tax cut for rich people.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 12 2021, @05:59AM (5 children)
Because you're totally going to nail "rich people" for 1.9 trillion bucks. 1,900,000,000,000. Even if you go for the richest 10,000,000 taxpayers (cutting well deep into the middle class here) that's an average of 190,000 each.
That's exactly what we'd be clawing back, right?
You don't believe your own arithmetic, if you even checked it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 12 2021, @06:43AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nFI2Zb7qE [youtube.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 12 2021, @06:53PM (2 children)
We could bring in $7.5 trillion by simply enforcing the existing tax code on rich people. [nytimes.com] REfund the IRS!!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday March 12 2021, @07:22PM
Agreed, these are the reasons we have a "debt", so why is anybody talking about raising taxes [reuters.com]?! Why aren't Biden and all the other democrats putting this on the front page? The net just a little too big? Might catch Pelosi and Feinstein, et al perhaps?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 12 2021, @10:53PM
7.5 trillion - over ten years.
And even that is a guesstimate, assuming that the people they want to go after have incompetent accountants and lawyers.
Maybe.
If they first dump fat pots of money at the IRS.
It would make way more sense to simplify the tax structure to remove loopholes and so on ... but that's also a mess because who depends vastly on those loopholes? The middle class.
It would make way more sense to ditch personal income tax entirely, structure it as a (much lower, yet net similar) payrol tax on businesses, vastly reduce the expense burden of the IRS, and stop hassling individuals.
But no ... that's not the narrative that the writer wants to produce. Rich people are eeeevil tax cheats. You know it, I know it, it feels right.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Saturday March 13 2021, @11:47AM
Think again. They've reportedly added $1.1 trillion to their money bins during the past year alone https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/american-billionaires-added-1-1-trillion-in-wealth-during-the-pandemic/ar-BB1d6AgG?viewall=true+ [msn.com]