BUDGETS FROM PAGE 30 more competitive and in-house (possibly reducing the head cost-effective, Wang More money-saving strategies
count) and faster service. predicted.
One of the most prevalent third-party When evaluating how r Understand your company’s operations plans
options, SAAS (software as a service), a third party might help r Aggregate purchases by partnering with other
will continue to grow in popularity. maximize your IT dollars, companies for group buys or buying in quantity. (But,
During the year, vendors will don’t discount third-party given economic uncertainties, it’s best to keep bulk or
improve the model, adopting vari- software maintenance group buys on the spare side.)
ants of multitenant SAAS, multi- vendors. It’s a growing r Choose products you know will work together,
instance software virtualization and trend, despite competi- either because they come from the same company or
on-demand hosting. At the same tive pressures from large come from different vendors whose products have a
time, competition will spur vendors vendors to stymie third- history of working well together.
to improve pricing models, causing party maintenance ven-the entire model to become even dors, Wang said. ´
IT INDUSTRY ANGLES FOR SLICE OF STIMULUS PACKAGE
U.S. SEN. JOHN ENSIGN HOPES TO GIVE TECHNOL- $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples. Families
ogy industries a boost in the economic stimulus with children would receive checks for $300 per child.
package before the Senate. Under a proposal by the The House package also expands investment tax
Nevada Republican, corporations doing business over- breaks for business and adds capital to the mortgage
seas would receive a large tax break for reinvesting market by allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy
foreign profits in the United States. mortgages above the current federal limit.
Currently, those profits are taxed at a 35 percent rate. “It’s important that the package not get overloaded,”
Large corporations such as Microsoft, Intel and Hewlett- Pelosi warned. “Let’s hope that the Senate will take its
Packard that operate foreign subsidiaries have been lead from us and be disciplined.”
reluctant to bring overseas profits home, Ensign contends, But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max
because of the large tax bite. Ensign wants to lower that Baucus indicated he favors smaller checks to more
rate to 5. 25 percent for one year. people, including millions of senior citi-
“If we lower the tax rate, they would zens that Baucus said were left out of the
bring the money back [into the U.S.],” Ensign House package. The Joint Committee on
said Jan. 30 during the Senate Finance Taxation said Baucus’ package would cost
Committee debate on the stimulus package. $161.3 billion.
Ensign pointed to a similar measure he In addition, other Democrats, includ-authored as part of a 2004 corporate tax ing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,
bill. By reducing the tax on foreign profits, want to add $5 billion to the package
more than $200 billion was “repatriated” for transportation-related projects. Sen.
back into the country. “We can do it again, Maria Cantwell also wants the package
and we can do it in the next 60 days,” to include energy tax incentives that
“We can do it again ... in the
Ensign said. next 60 days,” Ensign said. the Washington Democrat claims would
The House on Jan. 29 approved a $146 stimulate $20 billion in 2008.
billion stimulus package negotiated with the White House. Bush echoed Pelosi’s and Boehner’s concern that
At a press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate add-ons would delay passage of a stimulus
Republican leader John Boehner urged the Senate not to package.
add new provisions that could delay getting the legislation “The temptation is going to be for the Senate to load
to President Bush’s desk by Feb. 15. it up,” Bush said in a Jan. 29 statement. “We need to
By hitting that target date, Pelosi and Boehner said, get this bill out of the Senate and on my desk so the
the government could begin sending rebate checks checks can get in the hands of our consumers, and our
to approximately 111 million Americans by June. The businesses can be assured of the incentives necessary
House bill would authorize rebate checks of as much as to make investments.” —Roy Mark
