Senate Bailout Bill 'Sweet' Spots

So, I just skimmed all 451 pages of the Senate economic recovery package (I guess calling it a "bailout" is a no-no these days) to pick out some of the juiciest items senators tossed in there to make sure they passed - and to win the favor of lawmakers who were either on the fence or downright opposed to it.

We're in such desperate need of some kind of bailout, or bail-in, or whatever you want to call it, that maybe Congress figured they had to put something to please just about anyone in here - even though some provisions have just about nothing to do with the current financial crisis. Unless, of course, someone can explain to me how much affect an exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows used by children fits into the bigger picture...

Or maybe they just saw the package as a vehicle to push other provisions through that might not otherwise be given the time of day so late in the session.

Anyway, here are some of the tax breaks and other goodies included in the bill. I'm not making these up. You, too, can read them here, if you have a few hours to spare:-cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands until Jan. 1, 2010, applies to distilled spirits brought into the U.S,

-excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children – language says the tax "shall not apply to any chaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means of enhancing the spine of such shaft..." (seriously?!)

-benefits for litigants in the Exxon Valdex litigation (as a reminder, that spill happened in 1988)

-amends the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

-"Heartland and Hurricane Ike Disaster Relief" provides temporary tax relief for areas damaged by 2008 storms, tornadoes, flooding; tax exempt bond financing for low-income housing tax relief for damaged areas

-reporting requirements relating to disaster relief contributions

-energy production incentives for renewable energy sources, including a one-year extension for wind and refined coal facilities, until Jan. 1, 2010; two-year extension for certain other facilities until Jan. 1, 2011; production credit for electricity produced from Marine renewables

-credit for steel industry fuels (also defines "coal waste sludge")

-electric restructuring policy

-carbon mitigation and coal provisions (including expansion of coal-gasification investment credit); expansion and modification of advanced coal project investment credit, from $1.3 billion to $2.55 billion

-temporary increase in coal excise tax; funding of black lung disability trust fund

-tax credit for carbon sequestration

-transportation and domestic fuel security provisions, inclusion of cellulosic biofuel in bonus depreciation for biomass ethanol plant property

-hybrid plug-in credits

-modification of energy efficient appliance credit for appliances made after 2007 ($45 for dishwasher made in 2008 or 2009 "and which uses no more than 324 kilowatt hours per year and 5.8 gallons per cycle") and $75 for dishwasher made in 2008, 2009 or 2010 which uses "no more than 307 kilowatt hours per year and 5 gallons per cycle"

-green building and sustainable design projects bonds

-increase and extension of oil spill liability trust fund tax from 5 cents a barrel to 8 cents a barrel of crude oil or other petroleum products entering the U.S. before Jan. 1, 2017

-The "Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief" section includes: deductions for teacher expenses; additional standard deduction for real property taxes for non-itemizers; Indian employment credit; accelerated depreciation for business property on Indian reservations; railroad track maintenance; 7-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility; enhanced deduction for qualified computer contributions; tax incentives for investment in the District of Columbia; extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products, wool research fund, wool duty refunds.