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State Representative Paul Anderson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4317
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
GUEST COLUMN
AG INDUSTRY AILING; A LOOK AT HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT
By State Rep. Paul Anderson
President Obama has signed HR 2997, legislation aimed at helping America’s dairy farmers. The bill provides for a $350 million relief package for dairy producers. The rule-making process will be completed within 30 days, and USDA will determine how best to divide the funds. Payments should be going out to producers by the end of November or early December. The biggest question remaining is exactly how those payments will be made.
This country isn’t the only place where the dairy industry is hurting. The Agricultural Commissioner of the European Union has announced that 280 million euros (the equivalent of 418 million U.S. dollars) were being released to aid Europe’s ailing dairy farmers.
The National Newspaper Association is urging its members to drop the name “swine flu” when reporting on the flu outbreak affecting the country. The association is asking that the term “H1N1” be used to properly identify the virus.
Here’s an example of how the aforementioned improper use of terminology has affected reaction to the flu outbreak. The Egyptian government ordered the slaughter of 250,000 hogs around the city of Cairo. Those animals had been serving a good purpose before meeting their demise in that they consumed much of the garbage produced in the city. Now, officials are looking at alternatives for handling the garbage produced in the city of nearly seven million residents.
A recent update from the General Accounting Office (GAO) shows that, as of mid-August, more than 1.4 million taxpayers had claimed about $10 billion of the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit. The program, part of the stimulus package passed by Congress this year, allows qualified buyers of a principal residence to claim up to an $8,000 tax credit.
According to a news release from the IRS, nearly 74,000 first-time home buyer credit claims attached to Form 1040’s were claimed by taxpayers whose tax return entries had indications of prior home ownership. These entries included deductions for home mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and mortgage insurance premiums. While these entries indicate home ownership, the homes involved may or may not have been the taxpayer’s principal residence, so the deductions do not automatically disqualify the taxpayer from receiving the credit. They will, however, probably cause the IRS to further scrutinize those returns.
Another interesting fact uncovered during the review was that nearly 600 taxpayers under the age of 18 claimed almost $4 million in first time home buyer credits. The youngest to receive the credit was 4 years old! And since most states generally exempt children under the age of 18 from being bound by terms of a contract, “it is unlikely that these taxpayers would have entered into an arms-length transaction for the purchase of a home.”
This fall’s harvest season has stretched on and on, with few days of good, drying weather. Usually, corn harvest is wrapping up around the first of November, but many are still struggling to get soybeans out of their soggy fields. It’s not just our part of the country dealing with too much moisture, but large parts of the Midwest and South, also. I read one report of between 15 and 20 inches of rain in parts of the Mississippi Delta region in the past 30 days. Going back 60 days, those same areas have received anywhere from 25 to 40 inches of precipitation! Let’s pray that conditions improve soon. The extended forecast does offer hope that we’ll get a window of opportunity to make progress.
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Rep. Anderson encourages constituents to contact his new office with input regarding any state legislative issue. He can be reached on the web at www.house.mn/13A and via email at rep.paul.anderson@house.mn. To contact Anderson by phone, call (651) 296-4317. Mail can be sent to Rep. Paul Anderson, 239 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, Minnesota 55155.
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