A $1Trillion…
…spending bill passes the senate. The House still needs to pass it, but Schumer was able to send the Senate home for recess. Be careful on the monkey bars and the teeter-totter and play nicely! What a bunch of kindergartners…
$1,200,000,000,000
That’s a lot of zeros. It gives you an appreciation for what $1.2 trillion looks like when you spell it out.
Very quickly… Cal State San Bernardino is doing a survey of businesses in the IE. If your business is in the IE, click here and take about 15 minutes to answer the questions. It’s worth the time.
Back to the spending bill… yes, there are a lot of items in the bill, but what’s the interesting stuff?
Employee Retention Credit (ERC) – before, the ERC was going to go through the end of 2021. Well, that has been cut short so that Q3 2021 will be the last quarter for the ERC. This is an excellent program if you qualify for it. Call me for details.
$5 billion for electric school busses – American made electric school busses. That doesn’t mean it is an American company, just that it’s made in the US. Of course I am referring to the Chinese company, BYD, in Lancaster that makes electric busses.
$7.5 billion to build a nationwide network of plug-in electric vehicle chargers along highways to enable long-distance travel, as well as within communities. At some point that will come in handy as long as you can bring the recharge time down from 90 minutes.
Tax regulations on cryptocurrencies to the tune of bringing in $28 billion into government coffers.
There’s a lot more, some of it really not related to infrastructure, such as expanding the child tax credits; establishing paid family and medical leave; funding universal preschool and free community college because $600/semester isn’t cheap enough. Really. That is what community college costs in California.
What is not in the bill? A tax increase, which is kind of refreshing. Well, at least not a direct corporate tax increase. It pays for itself in other ways, one of which is utilizing unspent Covid funds. I’m guessing there are one or two restaurants that could have used those “unspent” covid funds. There is also $125 million provided for a pilot program to determine the feasibility of a national vehicle mileage fee. This is where drivers would report the mileage of their car at the beginning of the year and then at the end of the year. The difference between the two would be taxed. I can’t wait to pay gas taxes with a mileage fee thrown in for good measure.
SBA Update
Well, the PPP SBA portal is pretty slick; I was impressed. In an ideal world, they would have done this about a year ago but as Confucious says “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is now.” At least it is up and running. Please note that it is only for loans that would qualify for the 3508S; in other words, loans for $150,000 or less, and only for lenders that signed up for the program. Big bank borrowers need not apply.
I hear from many businesses that the SBA continues to struggle with EIDL increases and word on the street is that is due to software glitches. Keep trying and calling their phone number and unfortunately that is the best I have on that.
And Finally…
Enjoy the dog days of summer! Baseball playoffs are right around the corner!
