Bush hails tax-rebate deal as ‘robust’ [View All]

Source: MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders announced a deal with the White House Thursday on an economic stimulus package that would give most tax filers refunds of $600 to $1,200, and more if they have children.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would act on the agreement — hammered out in a week of intense negotiations with Republican Leader John A. Boehner and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — “at the earliest date, so that those rebate checks can be in the mail.”

President Bush is hailing the deal with congressional leaders on tax rebates and business tax cuts as "an effective, robust and temporary set of incentives" that will boost the U.S. economy.

The rebates, which would go to about 116 million families, had appeal for both Democrats and Republicans. Pelosi’s staff noted that they would include $28 billion in checks to 35 million working families who wouldn’t have been helped by Bush’s original proposal. Republicans, for their part, were pleased that the bulk of the rebates — more than 70 percent, according to an analysis by Congress’ Joint Tax Committee — would go to individuals who pay taxes.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22782454/