Stimulus raised the expensing limit

During the campaign, Barack Obama promised to extend a tax break for small businesses to give them a boost during the recession. The tax change raised the expensing limit — the amount that small companies can claim as their business expenses for investments.

A sharp-eyed reader brought to our attention a tiny provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic stimulus package, that did exactly that. Section 1202 of the stimulus legislation raised the limit to $250,000. A May 2009 memo from the Internal Revenue Service confirms the change.

We rate this Promise Kept.