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The Economic Stimulus And How It May Affect Americans
February 17, 2009 9:13 a.m. EST
Mitchell Jaworski - AHN Reporter
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - President Obama is set to sign the $787 billion stimulus plan into law on Tuesday. AHN has taken time to examine how the plan will impact Americans.
The stimulus, formally named the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" is broken up into several initiatives. However, taxes, unemployment and infrastructure spending are the big three.
The tax portion of the bill will affect the most Americans. Obama's "Make Work Pay" plan will reduce payroll taxes for all single workers earnings less than $95,000 and couples earning less than $190,000. It will come in the form of a $400 tax credit and will break down to about $13 additional dollars in each weekly paycheck beginning in June.
The plan also gives tax incentives for anyone purchasing a new home or new car before Dec. 1. Those who purchase a new home are eligible for an $8,000 tax credit and new car buyers will be able to write off the sales tax from the purchase.
The Alternative Minimum Tax is being bypassed, which impacts about 26 million Americans who will not be subject to tax this year. $70 billion in stimulus funds are allocated to cover this change.
Parents who are paying for their child's college tuition will be eligible for tax credits up to $2,500 in 2009 and 2010.
The above items are even more appealing to those residing in states with higher sales tax. New York resident Jim Borusso, a director of financial planning for Adecco, said he's pretty excited about the tax changes.
"Between the tax credits I'm going to get on my daughter's tuition and being able to write off the 8.5 percent sales tax on the new car I'm about to buy, I might fall into a lower tax bracket this year," said Borusso. "That could become another rebate in itself."
In regard to unemployment, the stimulus is set to add $25 to the benefit checks of the near 5 million Americans collecting unemployment. Benefits will also be extended five additional weeks in most states.
For those who become unemployed this year, the first $2,400 in unemployment benefits will not be counted as taxable income.
"Any extra time or money helps," said Alyssa Kowalski, an accountant who was recently laid off by ADT. "Knowing I'll probably have an extra month or so to find a job before my unemployment runs out makes the process a lot less stressful," she added.
The stimulus has $27.5 billion designated for infrastructure spending on repairing roads and bridges. Half of those funds need to be committed to projects within 120 days of legislation.
An additional $19 billion is set for use on clean water and flood control projects.
The infrastructure projects have largely been touted as the path to job creation. However, until projects are actually selected, the impact on local economies remains unclear.
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