Washington, DC - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today applauded Senate passage of H.R. 2847, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. The bill,
which passed the Senate today with bipartisan support on a vote of 70 to 28, is the first in the Senate jobs agenda. The tax cuts for job creation passed today were originally proposed by Baucus and Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) as part of a job creation package earlier this month.
“In Montana and across the country many folks want to work, but can’t find good-paying employment, so we must do everything we can to continue to create jobs," Baucus said. “The HIRE Act is a targeted approach that will cut taxes for businesses, helping them grow and hire more employees and create new jobs rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. Today’s passage of the HIRE Act is the first step in the Senate’s jobs agenda to put Americans back to work and strengthen our economy. We will continue working in the coming weeks and months to create jobs for out-of-work Americans and ensure that America can compete in the global economy."
The HIRE Act includes four key provisions:
* New Jobs Payroll Tax Exemption: offers an employer exemption from Social Security payroll taxes for every worker hired after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011 that had previously been unemployed for at least 60 days. It also allows an additional $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks to be taken on the employer’s income tax return.
* Section 179 Expensing: helps small businesses grow by allowing them to write off more of the cost of their 2010 expenditures in lieu of recovering those costs over time through depreciation.
* Highway Trust Fund Extension: extends existing highway programs which provide states and localities with the certainty they need to make decisions on projects. It allows for billions more to be invested in infrastructure throughout the nation and saves one million jobs.
* Expanding Build America Bonds: allows state and local governments to borrow at lower costs to finance more infrastructure projects and put people to work.
Source: Ranking Member’s News
