WASHINGTON As expected, President Bush has vetoed the controversial war-appropriations legislation that Congress had appended with a provision to raise the federal minimum wage, giving the restaurant industry a chance to push for more tax breaks as offsets to any pay increase.
The legislation presented to Bush included such industry-favored measures as the so-called FICA tax credit fix, which would have extended an income deduction for the FICA taxes that restaurateurs pay on servers' tipped income. The bill also delayed expiration of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, a break offered to companies that employ persons perceived to be at a hiring disadvantage. But the industry was unsuccessful in its attempt to include an accelerated depreciation schedule for restaurants.
The wage component was a minor portion of the bill, which is known as the Iraq Supplemental Conference Report. Its main provision is the allocation of an additional $124 billion to continue the war in Iraq. The Democrat-controlled Congress also included a requirement that all U.S. troops be withdrawn from Iraq by next March. Bush said he would veto any measure that set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.