As I understand it, you’ve got it approximately right.
So, there are two ways to look at this. One is that Toll is getting a freebie that they should never have gotten (Rich’s view – which is legitimate). The second way to look at it is that there’s nothing wrong with Toll’s receiving this benefit SO LONG AS EVERY OTHER COMPANY AND INDIVIDUAL GETS THE SAME BENEFIT. My problem with this crap is not so much that Toll gets this benefit, but rather that everyone else doesn’t get the same benefit. Mine is a level-playing-field argument.[/quote]
He had it exactly right. And it does now apply to all taxpayers. One of the earlier stimulus bills (I can’t remember which one it was) changed these rules only for small business (i think it was average gross reciepts under $15 million) allowing for a 5 year carryback instead of 2. The bill in the late fall (November I think?), which also extended and changed the new homeowner credit, also extended those modified carryback rules to all other taxpayers that were previously eligible to carryback losses. There may have also been a change in the applicable years. The new law only covers losses for 2 years ending in 2008 and 2009.
Homebuilders were among its biggest beneficiaries, but far from it’s only ones.
