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Arrows, rum, wool and NASCAR? Oh my
By Andrew Zajac | Tribune Washington Bureau
11:50 AM CDT, October 3, 2008
The heart of the Wall Street bailout bill approved Wednesday by the Senate authorizes the Treasury Department to spend up to $700 billion to buy up "troubled assets" currently held by banks and other financial institutions.
But the rest of the 450-page bill now headed to the House is a hodge-podge of tax legislation. It include a series of tax breaks to benefit transportation, energy production and energy conservation; tax breaks for parts of the country, mostly in the South and Midwest, hit by storms, and tweaks to the tax code, to the tune of $62 billion, to prevent about 20 million taxpayers from being subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax.
All told, these tax breaks are expected to increase the deficit by about $112 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
They include a grab bag of narrowly tailored provisions affecting relatively small numbers of people:
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--The NASCAR provision. Owners of race tracks would get to keep writing off the cost of their facilities over seven years, instead of over 15 years as sought by the IRS. Worth an estimated $100 million, the biggest beneficiary of the amendment stands to be International Speedway Corp., the racetrack arm of NASCAR. Both entities are controlled by the France family.