HR 4392 is named the "Technology Retraining and Investment Now Act of 2004." Its aim is to spur employers and individuals
alike to spend money on technology training. If this pending legislation is enacted as currently drafted, 50% of up to
$8,000 ($10,000 under special circumstances) per person per year would be credited to the payer's tax bill. This could
mean tax savings of up to $5,000 for individuals who might only be paying marginal tax rates of between 20% and 28%. That
translates into no income taxes on anywhere from $28,570 to $40,000 of annual income (though social security and Medicare
taxes on such earnings are still due).
Needless to say, I'm strongly in favor of such legislation, as are most players in the IT certification industry. It
could stimulate much-needed activity in the training sector, which has been off by half or more of the historical high
levels experienced during the go-go days of the dotcom boom in the last years of the 20th century. Coverage under the
bill includes the following items (copied directly from the text of the draft resolution):
course work,
certification testing,
programs carried out under the Act of August 16, 1937 (50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq)
which are registered by the Department of Labor, and
other expenses that are essential to assessing skill acquisition.
Of course, everybody's interested to know if item (D) includes items such as books, practice exams, and other exam
prep materials. My hope is that the answer is yes, because that would help the cert prep business immeasurably. But
only time will tell, and before the legislation does anybody any good, it must be passed. If you're planning to spend
money on training or certification, therefore, you might want to contact your congressperson to tell him or her that
you support HR 4392, and you want them to support it on your behalf, too!
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