02/17/2009 - Bayh points out perks to stimulus (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)

Bayh points out perks to stimulus
Benjamin Lanka
The Journal Gazette

Cathie Rowand | The Journal Gazette

Sen. Evan Bayh promotes a college tax credit during a stop at Atlantic Aviation on Monday. Doing nothing is no option for the government, he says.

The federal stimulus plan isn't perfect, but it is better than doing nothing, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said Monday in Fort Wayne.

Bayh touted many parts of the stimulus package, especially increased tax breaks for college costs, including tuition, books and room and board. He also said tax cuts for businesses and families will better help lead the country out of recession than government spending.

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act could be signed into law by President Obama today. While critics, including Bayh, attacked some of the spending portions of the bill, the senator said it was imperative for the government to act as people continue to lose jobs.

Although the bill will increase the national debt, Bayh said it will in the long term help the problem because up to 75,000 Hoosier jobs will be created or saved by the bill. Without those jobs, less income taxes would be paid.

"To do nothing would ultimately make our budget deficit much worse," he said.

Bayh said he and other senators worked to cut $100 billion of needless spending from the package, although he acknowledged he would have preferred less government spending, singling out the money for the National Endowment for the Arts as not being directly tied to job growth.

During his stop, Bayh touted the following components within the stimulus package:

A new college tax credit, the American Opportunity Credit, which would help about 76,000 Hoosiers save as much as $2,500 a year on the cost of a college education.

The Making Work Pay Credit, which will provide immediate and sustained tax relief to 2.4 million working Hoosiers through a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for workers and $800 for married couples.

An extended and increased first-time homebuyer tax credit of up to $8,000 that will assist aspiring homeowners and help stabilize plummeting home prices.

The Alternative Minimum Tax patch, which will protect an estimated 275,000 Hoosier families from thousands of dollars in additional income taxes for 2009.

A suspension of the federal income tax on the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits to alleviate the tax burden for Hoosiers working to find a job.