House Approves New Tax-Cut Package

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-led House approved an $82 billion package of tax cuts Thursday that will boost the child tax credit for millions of families, rich and poor, CNN reported.

The bill -- prompted by a political outcry over who benefited from last month's sweeping $350 billion tax cut -- was adopted on a 224-201 vote that generally followed party lines.

The move -- once reconciled with a Senate version -- means that low-income families who were left out of the measure President Bush signed in May will get rebate checks.

Under the House bill:

• Those families who earn between $10,500 and $27,000 would get the additional $400-per-child provided in the previous bill to higher income families. The checks will go out six to 10 weeks after the law is enacted, sources said. The provision costs about $3.5 billion, according to the Republican staff of the House Ways and Means Committee.
• A $1,000-per-child tax credit would be extended through 2010. It otherwise would have expired in 2005. That provision alone costs $57.3 billion.
• The child credit would be expanded to couples who earn $150,000 before the credit begins to phase out. In the previous bill, the threshold was $110,000.
• Tax breaks would go to members of the military and for the estates of astronauts who die on space missions.
  

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 06/13/03