The $700 billion "bailout" for Wall Street -- officially
known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 -- contains
multiple "earmarks", or special funding for various
pet projects, that add as much as $100 billion more to the costs.
The
first proposal by the Treasury Dept. was 3 pages. The failed
House version was 110 pages. The final bill that was passed
was over 450 pages.
Some of the earmarks
tucked into the bill's pages by both Democrats and Republicans
include:
* $2 million tax benefit
for manufacturers of toy wooden arrows for children
* $100 million tax
break to benefit automotive racetracks
* $192 million in
rebates for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry
* $224 million for
temporary emergency penthouses for financial company executives
* $148 million in
tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers who use imported yarn
* $49 million tax
benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989
tanker Exxon Valdez spill
* $48 million a year
for film and TV producers who produce their work in the United
States
* $33 million tax
credit for select corporations earning income from American Samoa
The punch line? All
of those provisions are true -- except for one. Can you figure
out which one is fake?
Source
for the true earmarks: Taxpayers
for Common Sense.
The fake one: "the $224 million for FEMA temporary emergency
penthouses for financial company executives."
|