President Obama is poised to sign the new bipartisan legislation recently passed by Congress into law. And many Americans question, what is in this "fiscal cliff" piece of legislation and how does it effect us?
The tax deal that averted the so called "fiscal cliff" is titled;
- The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012
- Extends emergency unemployment insurance benefits for 2 million American workers actively seeking employment
- No cuts on Social Security benefits, Medicare or Medicaid
- Increases immediate and permanent tax rates on the wealthiest individual Americans earning over $250,000
- Income tax rates for middle-class families will stay low (good news for 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses)
- Cuts the deficit by $737 billion
- Extends a group of tax cuts that helps the middle-class keep more money on hand and can afford to pay for higher education (child tax credit, earned income tax credit and the new American Opportunity Tax Credit remains in effect for next five years)
- Extends Production Tax Credit and the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit (investments that create domestic clean energy jobs and innovation)
The ninth point or thing to know about the tax deal is that Congress is showing signs of having a pulse.
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