The housing industry should get a big boost from the latest addition to the stimulus bill that is working its way through the Congress. On Wednesday, Senators approved a proposal that would give home buyers a tax credit of 10% of the value of new or existing residences, up to a $15,000 limit. The current law, that was passed last year, provides for a $7,500 tax break and only for first-time homebuyers.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, (R-Georgia) said "It is time to fix housing first." Isakson's office said the proposal would cost the government an estimated $19 billion. In all, the stimulus is now topping an estimated $920 billion.
President Barack Obama, in an op-ed that appears in Thursday's Washington Post, painted a dire picture if Congress fails to move quickly to pass the stimulus bill. "This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse," Obama wrote in the op-ed titled, "The Action Americans Need."
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