Pork and Mess in the Bailout Bill

I’ve just been through a good portion of the bailout. What was once 3 pages has swelled to 451 and that is before the House gets to it. New pork and changes could be added then. The actual text of what is set up and established to deal with the mortgage mess begins on page 3. Everything associated with the “bailout”, including regulations, oversight, lots of specific stuff is finished by page 113. A big bill, no doubt. But manageable on it’s own. The other 300 plus pages of this bill are total garbage that has been tacked on. Don’t get me wrong, some of them are good things that we should definitely do, but they should be proposed and voted on as separate bills. The bill writing and amending process has become absolutely ridiculous. We need to be pushing for a huge CONGRESSIONAL REFORM that limits what is included in a bill.

This is atrocious! Call you congressman and complain about that! Go to the websites of the presidential candidates and tell them to push for legislation reform!

If you think I’m wrong, then please read through what is included in this bill. Yes I went through it one section at a time and noted each one for the most part. Some of them were grouped into sections as I got tired, but you get the idea. I’ve put my favorites in BOLD print. Some that were so obscure I couldn’t translate were left in CAPS and are quoted. My comments and section numbers are in parenthesis.

- Tax credits, tax incentives, and bond measures for renewable energy. (Several sections in the 100s)
- Tax credits for steel industry fuel (seems to pertain particularly to coal). (Sec. 108)
- “SPECIAL RULE TO IMPLEMENT FERC AND STATE ELECTRIC RESTRUCTURING POLICY” (whatever that means) (Sec. 109)
- Multiple provisions to modify (from the number it’s a drastic increase) and expand coal projects and credits (Sec. 111)
- Increase in coal taxes to fund a black lung trust fund. (Sec. 113)
- “Special Rules” (I hate that language) to refund coal excise taxes for certain producers and exporters. (Sec. 114)
- Tax credit for “Carbon Dioxide Sequestration” (does this mean I can get a tax credit for planting those trees in the backyard that my wife has been begging me for?) (Sec. 115)
- “CERTAIN INCOME AND GAINS RELATING TO INDUSTRIAL SOURCE CARBON DIOXIDE TREATED AS QUALIFYING INCOME FOR PUBLICLY TRADED PARTNERSHIPS.” (anybody’s guess on the real point of this one) (Sec. 116)
- Investigating the magnitude of the effect of the tax code on carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. (no, I’m serious) (Sec. 117)
- “INCLUSION OF CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL IN BONUS DEPRECIATION FOR BIOMASS ETHANOL PLANT PROPERTY” (I’m guessing this means that people who produce ethanol from other plant matter, like the corn husks can benefit from the same pork that the people using the kernel get) (Sec. 201)
- Tax credits for biodiesel (Sec. 202)
- A clarifier that fuel incentives are designed to increase domestic production. (I guess they couldn’t even figure out WHY they were doing all of this!) (Sec. 203)
- Extension and modification of alternative fuel credit. (Sec. 204)
- Credit extensions for new qualified electric, plug-in vehicles. (Sec. 205)
- “EXCLUSION FROM HEAVY TRUCK TAX FOR IDLING REDUCTION UNITS AND ADVANCED INSULATION.” (Sec. 206)
- Alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit (I guess that’s good news if you want to open up a 7/11 that dispenses hydrogen) (Sec. 207)
- CERTAIN INCOME AND GAINS RELATING TO ALCOHOL FUELS AND MIXTURES, BIODIESEL FUELS AND MIXTURES, AND ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND MIXTURES TREATED AS QUALIFYING INCOME FOR PUBLICLY TRADED PARTNERSHIPS. (Sec. 208)
- EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF ELECTION TO EXPENSE CERTAIN REFINERIES. (Sec. 209)
- EXTENSION OF SUSPENSION OF TAXABLE INCOME LIMIT ON PERCENTAGE DEPLETION FOR OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCED FROM MARGINAL PROPERTIES.(Sec. 210)
- “Fringe benefits” to bicycle commuters (you can’t make this stuff up). (Sec. 211)
- Energy conservation bonds (Sec. 301)
- Tax credit for “Nonbusiness energy property” (Sec. 302)
- Tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings. (Sec. 303)
- Energy efficient home credits. (Sec. 304)
- Energy efficient home appliance credits (Sec. 305)
- “ACCELERATED RECOVERY PERIOD FOR DEPRECIATION OF SMART METERS AND SMART GRID SYSTEMS.” (my smart reader is telling me this whole thing is a pile of POOP!) (Sec. 306)
- Defining sustainable design projects and green buildings. (Sec. 307)
- “Special” depreciation allowance on certain properties used for reuse and recycling. (Sec. 308)
- “LIMITATION OF DEDUCTION FOR INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF OIL, GAS, OR PRIMARY PRODUCTS THEREOF.” (Do we want to be limiting deductions on DOMESTIC production? How does this help our dependency on foreign oil?) (Sec. 401)
- “ELIMINATION OF THE DIFFERENT TREATMENT OF FOREIGN OIL AND GAS EXTRACTION INCOME AND FOREIGN OIL RELATED INCOME FOR PURPOSES OF THE FOREIGN TAX CREDIT” (Oh, okay maybe this helps… or not)(Sec. 402)
- “PERCENT FUTA SURTAX.”(I have no idea what a FUTA surtax is)(Sec. 404.0.2 – no I’m not kidding)
- “INCREASE AND EXTENSION OF OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND TAX.” (Sec. 405)
- Div. C contains all kinds of individual tax relief, extensions, extensions for business and restaurants. It includes increases in the “cover over” (whatever that means) of the rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Economic development tax credits for American Samoa. Mine rescue team tax training credit. Different bond measures. Several pork bones to Indian tribes. Railroad maintenance. Katrina tax breaks. Change of tax law for motorsports race tracks (Sec. 317 of Div. C). Tax breaks for investing in Washington DC (Sec. 322 of Div. C). Tax extensions and modifications on wool (Sec. 325 of Div. C)
- Tax breaks for film and television industry. (Sec. 502)
- Some obscure tax exemption for wooden arrows designed for use by children (seriously) (Sec. 503)
- Pages of tax law changes for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)
- Tax law changes for claiming farming equipment as property. (Sec. 505)
- Tax law change on penalties for the taxpayer on understatement of liability of tax payer by tax preparer (my head is spinning) (Sec. 506)

Oh, by the way this was all tacked onto a $3.5 billion measure intended to force health-insurance companies to cover mental illness as they do physical sickness, that included it’s own pork about rural schools, federal land, and national disaster relief.

WHAT A MESS!!!