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Fallout: The Financial Crisis

Tax cuts included in Obama plan

Nancy Marshall-Genzer Jan 5, 2009
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Fallout: The Financial Crisis

Tax cuts included in Obama plan

Nancy Marshall-Genzer Jan 5, 2009
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TEXT OF STORY

Renita Jablonski: Barack Obama will also be on Capitol Hill today. His visit is to talk stimulus. Mr. Obama wants quick movement on a broad economic package but congressional leaders say it won’t be ready for at least another month. The president-elect won’t put a price tag on the plan, but congressional aides say he’s looking for more than $300 billion in tax cuts. Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall Genzer has more.


Nancy Marshall Genzer: The stimulus package is expected to include a middle-class tax cut, and funding for states, focusing on infrastructure projects. Obama is said to be considering a reduction in payroll taxes. Consumers’ paychecks would be slightly fatter.

The thinking is, they’d go out and spend that extra money right away. The infrastructure projects would include roads, bridges, broadband access, and energy efficiency.

Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner says those are good investments.

Mark Vitner: Spending dollars on infrastructure adds more to the economy than what you physically spend. It has a greater payback.

Some Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats aren’t convinced. They want to weed out spending on projects that are important locally, but look like pork on Capitol Hill.

In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.

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