Obama Reminds Americans To Take Advantage of Tax Breaks

Transcript. Check out the White House tax saving tool here. See major tax breaks below.

Here are some of the tax breaks in the recovery act that you may be eligible for:

RECOVERY ACT TAX RELIEF
Major Tax Benefits

Taxpayers can collect on more than a dozen 2009 Recovery Act tax benefits when they file their 2009 tax returns, including:

Making Work Pay - Ninety-five percent of working families are receiving the Recovery Act’s Making Work Pay tax credit of $400 for an individual or $800 for married couples filing jointly in their paychecks in 2009 – and will continue to in 2010.

Taxpayers whose withholding in 2009 did not provide the full amount of the credit they are due will get the additional amount when they file their 2009 tax return. Even though most taxpayers received the benefit of this credit in their paychecks from adjusted tax withholding by their employers, they still need to claim this credit on their tax returns (i.e., Form 1040 or 1040A).
Up to $2,500 in College Expenses – Families and students are eligible for up to $2,500 in tax savings under the American Opportunity Credit as well as enhanced benefits under 529 college savings plans, which help families and students pay for college expenses.

American Opportunity Credit – More parents and students are eligible for a tax credit of up to $2,500 to pay for college expenses and can claim the credit annually for four years instead of two.
529 College Savings Plans – Students can now use a 529 plan to pay for computer technology, adding this to the list of traditional college expenses (tuition, books, etc.) that can be paid for by a 529 plan.
Up to $8,000 for Purchase of First Home – Homebuyers can get a credit of up to $8,000 for first homes purchased by April 30, 2010 under the First Time Homebuyer tax credit. Long-time residents who don’t qualify as first-time homebuyers and those with incomes of up to $145,000 for an individual and $245,000 for joint filers are also eligible for a reduced credit.

Up to $1,500 in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Incentives – Taxpayers are eligible for up to $1,500 in tax credits for making some energy-efficiency improvements to their homes such as adding insulation and installing energy efficient windows.

Money Back for New Vehicle Purchases – Taxpayers can deduct the state and local sales taxes they paid for new vehicles purchased from Feb. 17, 2009 through Dec. 31, 2009 under the vehicle sales tax deduction. In states that don't have a sales tax, some other taxes or fees paid may be deducted.

Expanded Family Tax Credits - Moderate income families with children may be eligible for an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit and the additional Child Tax Credit.

Earned Income Tax Credit – The Recovery Act increased the credit for families with three or more children, bringing the maximum amount to $5,657.
Child Tax Credit – More families will be able to take advantage of the child tax credit under the Recovery Act, which reduced the minimum amount of earned income used to calculate the additional child tax credit to $3,000 from $12,550.
Up to $2,400 in Unemployment Benefits Tax Free in 2009 – Unemployment benefits are normally taxable, but the Recovery Act made the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received in 2009 tax free.

Where are the Jobs?

Full reporting on jobs at Recovery.gov

The NYT reports that it was teacher jobs that were saved:

The best symbol of the $787 billion federal stimulus program turns out not to be of a construction worker in a hard hat, but rather of a classroom teacher saved from a layoff.

On Friday, the Obama administration released the most detailed information yet on the jobs created by the stimulus. Preliminary data showed that of the 640,239 jobs created or saved, 325,000, or more than half, were jobs in education that school districts claimed were saved when stimulus money averted the need for layoffs. While the stimulus was initially sold in large part as a public works program, only about 80,000 of the jobs that were claimed Friday were in construction.

Joe Biden speaks on the stimulus and jobs:

Forget About Fox - White House Fires Back at AP

The White House is pushing reporters to up their game. If they're going to criticize the White House, they better have solid reporting to back it up. It all began with Fox News because its the sloppiest, mostly because of its straight-up bias.

The White House fired back Wednesday night at an AP story questioning administration claims on job creation spurred by the Recovery Act.

In a story titled "Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands," AP highlighted discrepancies between reported job creation and actual hiring, pointing in one instance to a company that reported adding 4,231 jobs through stimulus spending that actually only hired 1,000 people. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6692063.html

Ed DeSeve, a senior adviser to the president for Recovery Act implementation, said in a statement that nearly all the errors AP identified had already been spotted and fixed by the administration.
.....
"This story draws misleading conclusions from a handful of examples. It looks at only a small portion of the data – an initial upload of data representing just two percent of Recovery Act spending – that was made publicly available before a full review of its accuracy could be done. Virtually all of the errors found by the AP had already been found by our review, and were already corrected in an update to be loaded onto Recovery.gov this week," DeSeve said.
Politico

The AP story:

The AP review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced.

For example:

_ A company working with the Federal Communications Commission reported that stimulus money paid for 4,231 jobs, when about 1,000 were produced.

_ A Georgia community college reported creating 280 jobs with recovery money, but none was created from stimulus spending.

_ A Florida child care center said its stimulus money saved 129 jobs but used the money on raises for existing employees.

There's no evidence the White House sought to inflate job numbers in the report. But administration officials seized on the 30,000 figure as evidence that the stimulus program was on its way toward fulfilling the president's promise of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year. AP

Melody Barnes Speaks on Stimulus Teaching Jobs

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

From the White House:

WASHINGTON – The Obama Administration today announced that preliminary indications are that state governments will credit the Recovery Act with creating and saving at least 250,000 education jobs across the country when reports filed on Recovery Act education spending to-date are posted online later this month.

"This is one more indication of how the Recovery Act is helping soften the blow of tough times, by keeping educators on the job and teachers in the classroom," said Vice President Joe Biden.

A report released today by the Domestic Policy Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, finds that preliminary data shows that Recovery Act funding has enabled states to restore nearly all of their projected education budget shortfalls for FY09 and FY10. Filling these budget gaps has allowed the Recovery Act to avert layoffs of educators in school districts and universities across the nation, saving and creating at least a quarter of a million education jobs, while helping school districts make progress on reforms that will improve teaching and learning in America’s classrooms. To view the report, click HERE.

"Initial reporting from states shows that education stimulus dollars have created or saved over 250,000 education jobs across the nation and have been invested in the kinds of reforms that will help today's students compete in a global economy," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "Early feedback from states also tells us that many districts are using stimulus dollars in ways that will move us beyond the status quo. There is a lot more work to be done but we applaud those districts that have successfully used stimulus funding to stave off catastrophic layoffs and invest in critical reforms."

The education jobs were reported as part of a historic effort the Administration has undertaken to provide the American people with more information about the Recovery Act at work than with any previous government program. In addition to the extensive data already available on every area of spending on Recovery.gov, recipients of the roughly one-third of the Recovery Act made up of projects and activities are required submit quarterly reports with more specific information about their spending and the related direct job impact to be publicly posted on the site.

The final individual reports will be published on Recovery.gov on October 30th after the current review period is completed; however, preliminary data from the states on education spending shows at least 250,000 education positions directly credited to the Recovery Act. This comes on top of last week’s data on Recovery contracts. On October 15th, preliminary data tied to federal contracts – less than 10 percent of total filings – was posted on Recovery.gov and showed 30,000 Recovery Act-funded direct jobs from that area of spending.

The law requires this more detailed reporting on $276 billion of the $787 billion Recovery Act – of which approximately $150 billion was already being put to work through September 30th and subject to reporting this quarter. Recipients are only asked to report the direct job impact and are instructed not to estimate indirect or induced job data.

For estimates of the total jobs impact of the Recovery Act, including the impact of the tax cuts, aid to individuals directly hurt by the recession, and much of the state fiscal relief, experts rely on macroeconomic modeling. Using these models, the Council of Economic Advisers and private forecasters estimated that the Recovery Act had helped to create or retain about 1 million jobs as of the end of August. Independent economists have also credited the Recovery Act with contributing between 2 and 3 percentage points to real GDP growth in the second half of this year.

President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law on February 17, 2009, as the country faced the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The Act was designed to create jobs and spur economic growth through a combination of tax relief for individuals and businesses, aid to hard-hit families and state and local governments, and funding for science, technology and infrastructure projects across the country.

Obama Speaks on Highway Projects in Virginia Oct. 14

Obama spoke at the largest stimulus construction project in Virginia, the Fairfax County Parkway will connect both ends of Fairfax County. The parkway is one of more than 60 highway projects in Virginia and one of 8,000 across the nation. Three quarters (5,000 projects) of highway recovery money is already being invested, he said. The highway projects are also getting done under budget.

Obama Talks Solar Power at Nellis Air Force Base Video

Peter Souza
See the recovery act report Obama talks about here.

Obama Speaks on Transportation Projects

Also, John Porcari, secretary of transportation for Maryland, has been nominated for deputy of the transportation department under Ray LaHood:

Transportation Secretary John Porcari, one of the most respected members of Gov. Martin O'Malley's cabinet, has been nominated by President Obama as second-in-command at the federal Department of Transportation, the White House announced today.

Porcari's departure will be a big loss for the O'Malley administration: He's a hardworking and experienced road and rail wonk whom the governor lured to his cabinet for a second tour as chief of Maryland's highway and public transit systems, the Port of Baltimore, BWI Marshall Airport, and the motor vehicle agency. He'll help oversee a transportation workforce of 55,000. WaPo