Emergency Tax Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims
EMERGENCY TAX RELIEF FOR HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on Tuesday night, Senator Baucus and I introduced a package of tax relief measures designed to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina both in the short and long term.
We know that tax incentives helped to revitalize New York after 9/11. They can do the same for New Orleans, Gulfport, and other hurricane-hit areas. We are pleased that the Members of the affected region join us in this effort, including Senators LOTT, LANDRIEU, VITTER, COCHRAN, and SHELBY.
The immediate relief package will help get short-term aid to the hurricane victims by encouraging food donations and the employment of displaced persons, as two examples.
For those who have suffered casualty losses, we have liberalized the tax rules to permit affected taxpayers to deduct losses from damaged property.
We also want to help protect Katrina victims from undeserved IRS harassment.
We expect to see prompt action by Congress on this tax relief package. We need to get these tax incentives on the books and help Katrina victims make a fresh start.
After this package is completed, our focus in the committee will be on longer term tax incentives to help rebuild homes and businesses. We are looking at depreciation changes, tax-exempt bond authority, and enterprise zone initiatives.
Life will never be the same for our fellow citizens in the gulf region, and what we have all seen over the last 2 weeks will stay in the hearts and minds of all of us for years to come.
With this first initiative from the Finance Committee, a bipartisan initiative--and I thank Senator Baucus for his extreme cooperation, in fact, even leadership in getting this to where it is now--this first initiative--and there are going to be more in other areas where we have jurisdiction--we want the victims in all the affected areas to know they can count on us to create a set of measures that will help return vitality and vigor to the gulf region.
Mr. President, I defer now to Senator Baucus.
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, obviously, I thank Senator Baucus for the personal comment he made about my upcoming birthday. More importantly, once again, we have had such smooth working relationships on these two very important bills. Our staffs have cooperated very closely. There has been some compromise but not a lot because I think we are all going in the same direction.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, pursuant to the remarks I made and the remarks Senator Baucus has made, that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of S. 1696 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
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