THE ECONOMY: ADJUSTING TO NEW REALITIES : How Budget Would Affect Business
President Clinton has unveiled his budget for fiscal 1995 as part of a long-term program that aims to restrain spending and cut the deficit. Here are some of the budget highlights for business and investors.
* Wall Street: Increases fees by $375 million a year on stock trades, registration statements, mergers and tender offers.
* Defense conversion: Allocates $195 million for displaced defense workers and $140 million for communities hurt by military base closures or contract cutbacks.
* Pensions: Seeks an increase of $1.6 billion over five years in the amount of payments by companies with underfunded pension plans.
* Technology: Spends $7 billion in the next five years to develop civilian high-tech products.
* Purchasing: Simplifies procedures for obtaining federal contracts worth up to $100,000 instead of $25,000.
* Taxes: Seeks a law that would allow the IRS to use private collection agencies to track down delinquent taxpayers.
* Job training: Spends $300 million to give students on-the-job training while still in school.
* Job centers: Creates one-stop “shopping centers” where workers can obtain unemployment benefits and enroll in job training and education programs, at a cost of $300 million over two years.
* Economic development: Includes new federal guarantees of $269 million in loans to help businesses in distressed areas.
* Community banks: Creates a new loan-guarantee fund to provide capital to credit unions, minority-owned banks and other local financial institutions. Establishes a $50-million reserve to guarantee $269 million in loans.
* Infrastructure: Provides $100 million for road, water and sewer systems for poor communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
* Regulation and safety: Expands enforcement staff to intensify inspection for workplace hazards, mine safety and oversight of Family and Medical Leave Act, at a cost of $66 million.
* User fees: Collect $100 million a year for overtime inspection of meat and poultry products.
* Statistics: Revises and updates the consumer price index.
