(House Ways and Means Committee) 提出，并递交整个众院讨论。讨论后通过的议案交到参院的一个委员会(Senate Finance Committee)，再由该委员会递交给全体参议员讨论修改。因为两院代表的利益集团不太一样，因此在这个过程中可能会加入一些新的条款。这些修改的版本然后交由两院的一个联合委员会(Joint Conference Committee)进行协商，最后出炉一个joint version，再交给两院同时投票。如果两院都通过，那么议案会很快递交给总统最后签署。当然总统也可能最后否决，但这个法案是布什倡议的，所以估计很快可以顺利通过。
那么，到底谁能拿到退税？拿到多少呢？这个法案最后的版本有一个主要条款
(In General)，和几个特殊条款(Special Rules)。主要条款的内容是，如果纳税人2008年有net income tax liability(也就是说你应该交税的话)，那么你的退税额度将由你实际应交税额决定： 如应交税额少于600美元，则可以拿回全部税额；但如果应交税额多于600美元，则只能拿到600美元的退税。如果夫妻file joint return 的话则最高可以拿回1200元。但是，这里还有一个phaseout的问题，也就是说，高收入阶层得到的退税会打折扣。具体来说，如果个人收入在7万5以上，夫妻总收入15万以上的话，退税额将按照超过上限的收入部分的5%逐渐减少(例如，一对没有孩子的夫妻收入是17万，没有phaseout 的话他们可以得到$1200的退税；但是由于收入超过了15万，退税额将减少1000 (=20000 x 5%)，即最后他们只能得到200美元的退税)。
The rebates only apply to your children under 17 years old, it does not apply to your parents even though you claim them as your dependents when filing tax.
How about our parents? They have green cards and they live with us. We claim them as our dependents when we file income tax. Will they get the benefit this time? Thanks!
There are many different rankings. The following link shows the ranking of accounting programs published by CCH, an independent accounting professional association. It might give you some quick information:
Not so sure if you are talking about the amount that you contributed to your 401K plan or the amount you received as a distribution from the plan. The contribution to a 401K plan, which nornally would be deducted from your pay check, is not considered a taxable income, thus, should not be included in "total income". However, if you received a distribution from your 401K plan (you should receive a Form 1099-R), the amount received is taxable, thus should be included in "total income"
Phaseout applies to your total income, so you basically substract phaseout amount (5% of the amount that exceeds the cap - 75000/person, or 150,000/couple), from your total tax rebate amount (including the $300/per kid). For example, if a couple makes $180,000, and has two kids, then without the phaseout, they would get a total of $ 1800 in rebate. But with the phaseout, they have to substract $1500 from it ($30,000 x 5%), so in the end they would only get a $300 rebate. If they make $186000 or more, then they don't get anything (1800 - 3600x5% = 0).
Wonder: I was only talking about Title I of the bill in this article. What you referred to was included in Title II, which is too complicated to explain here :). Basically it makes it much harder for people with lower income to get loans (espcially jumbo loans).
Any news on the confirming loan and Jumbo loan limit? Right now the confirming loan amount is or equal to $417,000, wondering if there are any updates? Thanks!
