President Bush’s 2007 budget proposal includes an increase in the Section 179 write off to $200,000, USA Today reports. Bush proposed that the temporary tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003, be made permanent. Bush claims the economy was recharged after Section 179 was quadrupled to $100,000 in 2003. Expensing is less complicated than depreciation over many years, the White House says, and doubling the limit would encourage small business to expand. When the limit was increased to $100,000 in 2003, many small businesses took advantage of the higher cap to buy expensive SUVs. Congress closed the “SUV loophole” a year later, limiting the annual write-off for SUVs to $25,000. But trucks and vans that meet certain criteria remain eligible for the full write-off. A survey in December by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) trade group found that many small businesses see taxes as an obstacle to growth. The NFIB supports a higher cap and the move to make it permanent, the article said. The survey found that 33 percent of small companies planned capital expenditures in the next three to six months, down from 38 percent in December 2004. Among firms saying they had made capital investments in the previous six months, 49 percent said they had bought equipment, and 26 percent said they bought vehicles. Bipartisan support of the proposal is expected.