The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a revamped version of President Bush’s sweeping $700 billion economic rescue package, which has grown to include more than $100 billion in tax provisions that affect everything from Puerto Rican rum imports to motor racing speedways, mental health coverage and the alternative minimum tax.
Those provisions - “sweeteners” the Senate added to push the bill through the House - have convinced several lawmakers, who helped defeat it, to change their minds. By yesterday, however, the add-ons had failed to convince some members, further irritated others, and no one on Capitol Hill was bold enough to predict the bill’s fate.
“I’m optimistic that we will take a bill to the floor,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. The bill wouldn’t reach the floor for a vote, she added, unless the odds were high that enough members would approve it.
And several of the proposals were designed to make it tough for some members to say no.
One benefit seemed to be aimed specifically at Representative Mike Thompson, a Democrat of California, who has backed the auto racing tax break and was among 95 House Democrats who voted down the rescue package.
Thompson declined a request for an interview, and his office would not say how he plans to vote today.
Public disclosure forms show the International Speedway Corporation, which owns multiple racing facilities across the country, also spent at least $1 million lobbying Congress for the provision since 2007. The company did not return calls seeking comment.
A spokeswoman for Thompson said the racing industry would find it harder to build new racetracks without the tax break, but government watchdog groups were skeptical that the raceway tax break - which would allow owners to write off expenses over seven years instead of 15 years - is needed.
“Auto track owners are simply trying to get out of paying more taxes, which they’d have to do if they deducted less every year,” according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a public-interest group. “These owners have gotten plenty of tax breaks over the years from states and localities eager to get speedways.”
Details of The NASCAR provision:
Owners of race tracks would get to keep writing off the cost of their facilities over seven years, instead of over 15 years as sought by the IRS. Worth an estimated $100 million, the biggest beneficiary of the amendment stands to be International Speedway Corp., the racetrack arm of NASCAR. Both entities are controlled by the France family.
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