Zack Space is doing good stuff for us in Congress

Zack Space has taken a couple hits in this journal, but I believe it to be the fault of blundering from inexperience, rather than evil intent.

Fact is, I still like him very much and he's doing good stuff as our representative from the 18th District to the U.S. House of Representatives. In a recent e-mail to constituents, he told about some of his recent work:

He introduced, and the House passed, legislation "to reward teachers who generously purchase school supplies out of their own pocket, and to help students meet the skyrocketing cost of tuition. Congress has also passed legislation that will make sure that our servicemen and servicewomen – those who have sacrificed so much in defense of our nation and our freedom – will not suffer a ridiculous tax hit for receiving combat pay. Finally, the House passed my initiative to make sure working families caught up in the recent foreclosure crisis are not subject to a devastating 'phantom tax.'"

To stop the IRS from unfairly taxing Ohio families Zack introduced a bill to severely cut the foreclosure tax being levied on families devastated by a mortgage crisis. He explained it like this:

"The IRS creates 'phantom income' for families going through foreclosure by counting forgiven debt as income and taxing them on it," Zack said. “The IRS must stop adding insult to injury when American families are in financial trouble." This bill recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is headed to the Senate.

To honor veterans and service members, Zack "introduced a bill to help service members qualify for tax credits and assist veterans to purchase homes. This bill allows service members to exclude combat pay from their income taxes, making many eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The House has passed this bill.

“Those in uniform have made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our nation, it’s time America gives something back,” Space said.

To reduce the soaring costs of education, Zack's "legislation to extend key tax relief provisions before they expire has passed the House." The bill extends deductions for tuition costs for higher education; for teachers for the school supplies they purchase out of pocket; for the contribution of books to public schools.

Zack also introduced a bill to extend for four years the enhanced charitable deduction for contributions to food banks. This, too, has passed the House.

“If a company has food available and there are people in need, why not provide a financial incentive for the company to help? Not only will businesses get tax breaks, but our charities get the supplies they need,” Zack said.