Word: taxed
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...first-time-home-buyer tax credit that's been helping juice the housing market is set to expire on Nov. 30. A lot of people don't want to see that happen. Since some of those people are in Congress, there's a decent chance the credit will be extended into 2010. Among the bills floating about are ones that would grow the amount to $15,000 and make all home buyers - not just those who haven't owned before - eligible. One policy-analysis shop puts the odds of some extension at 2 to 1, despite a cost that could...
...does the home-buyer tax credit persist? First, because of fear. Falling house prices, necessary though they were, triggered a lot of the mess we're in, and the thought of quashing a nascent recovery naturally leads to thoughts of another round of repercussions. Home sales have been growing for months, but a one-time pullback - like the one we saw in August - can still send chills down spines...
...There's also political reality. Set aside for a moment the formidable lobbying power of real estate agents and homebuilders, as well as the fact that one of the Senate's biggest tax-credit boosters used to sell houses for a living, and you're still left with homeowners - also known as voters. Many of them have long asked their elected representatives why ordinary folks aren't getting more government help. A house-related tax break - whether or not it's good policy - sure does play well. (See high-end homes that won't sell...
...this tax break probably isn't good policy, especially now that we seem to have left the darkest part of the housing-market woods. Here are the numbers. The IRS says 1.4 million first-time buyers have benefited from the credit so far; the National Association of Realtors thinks that figure will hit 1.8 million before the end of November. Meanwhile, a number of groups have estimated how many of those people wouldn't have bought houses had it not been for the tax break - about 350,000 or 400,000. In other words, some 80% of buyers would have...
...matters of business and finance, Westerwelle is far from sharing France's passion for government meddling. Indeed, his calls for German tax cuts and fiscal restraint to bring down the budget deficit is diametrically opposed to Sarkozy's plans to spend his way out of the crisis with a new gigantic government-bond issue. Still, when it comes to Germany's relationship with France, Joannin of the Robert Schumann Foundation points out that the Chancellery rather than the Foreign Ministry usually calls the shots. (Read: "Guido Westerwelle: Angela Merkel's Unlikely Partner...