United States Department of Acronyms

Originally (back in the good old days), when Congress made changes to the Internal Revenue Code, the bill would be titled "Revenue Act of YEAR." Then someone got the bright idea to change the names given to acts amending the Code to titles like "Taxpayer Relief Act" or "Tax Reform Act." Who can oppose taxpayer relief?

Well, apparently that wasn't enough. Now the Government has to be even more "clever" with the act names. First it was "Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS)" (they actually included the JOBS in the title in case we were too slow to figure it out) and yesterday President Bush signed "Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008" (I guess we should be thankful they didn't spell it out for us this time).

Today, there was a report in the BNA Daily Tax Report (Subscription Required) that the Senate is finishing up the housing stimulus bill. If they decide to continue this title trend, I have a suggestion for the title of that bill, "Politicians Assistance Needed for Debtors' Escalating Rates."