Beyond rebate checks for individual taxpayers, businesses will benefit from a key provision in the economic stimulus package that cleared Congress and the White House in February. Of particular interest to equipment buyers and manufacturers, Association of Equipment Manufacturers reports, is the legislation's allowance for businesses to deduct 50 percent of the cost of new equipment purchased and placed into service in 2008.

In a poll of AEM construction equipment members, 60 percent of respondents said the depreciation provision will offer customers an incentive to purchase new equipment. Manufacturers expect it will spur business investment in new capital goods by reducing an asset's current-year cost. Temporary bonus depreciation provisions passed in 2003 have been credited with boosting business spending by four percent in the six months following enactment. More details about the requirements of the depreciation bonus and what it means to equipment buyers are contained in a brochure, produced by AEM and Associated Equipment Distributors and posted at www.aem.org, or available through AEM/Washington office's Dana Kinsey, dkinsey@aem.org; 202/898-9064.