As published in the Winter Park/Maitland Observer, Thursday Jan. 3, 2012 Edition Offers... Read More »
Gallup: Americans Don’t Much Like Class Warfare
What if they waged a class war and nobody showed up? Jeffrey Jones of Gallup Politics tells us: PRINCETON, NJ — Creating good jobs, reducing corruption in the federal government, and reducing the federal budget deficit score highest when Americans rate 12 issues as priorities for the next president to address. Americans assign much less…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Campaign 2012, Tax PolicyMaryland to Increase Taxes on “Rich” Residents Earning More than $100K Per Year?
Tax Policy Blog reports that the Maryland legislature is considering whether to pass a law that would raise tax rates on wealthy individuals. And what is considered wealthy in Maryland? $100,000.00 of annual income: Maryland’s tax special session began today; expect more analysis on it from us tomorrow. However, we just received detail on S.B.…
Read Full Article Categorized in: State Taxes, Tax PolicyIn Your Face Governor Tells Undertaxed Billionaire to Pay Up or Shut Up
Chris Christie’s in-your -face-I-don’t-take-no-crap-from-anyone schtick is getting old. If I hear him tell some John or Jane Doe to shut up and mind their own business again, I think I’ll lose a gasket. But Warren Buffett’s woe-is-me-I-am-so-undertaxed schtick has gotten even older. So, I was pleasantly pleased when I heard the rotund Governor smack down the octogenerian Ukelele player…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Satire, Tax HumorFiscal Times: The Buffett Rule is an “Empty Shell”
By way of Paul Caron, Liz Peek of Fiscal Times explains why the Buffett Rule is pile of propagandistic nonsense (emphasis added): Fiscal Times, Obama’s ‘Buffett Rule’ Fails the Tax Reform Test, by Liz Peek: President Obama has a new favorite possession – the “Buffett Rule.” Like a poodle with a new chew-toy, Mr. Obama can’t…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax PolicyWealth Tax, Conservatism and the Right to Privacy
In today’s WSJ, Stanford economics professor Ronald McKinnon makes what he calls a “conservative” case for a wealth tax (the emphasis is mine): In order to have a fairer tax system, we should implement a new federal wealth tax in addition to the federal income tax. Unlike the current income tax, the wealth tax would not rely on how…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax PolicyWealth Flight Update
Kay Bell reports: Democrats who control the New Jersey legislature are vowing to revive the state’s millionaire’s tax. The state’s Republican governor releases data showing that higher taxes drive out New Jersey’s top income earners. Coincidence much? No, politics as usual. Dr. Charles Steindel, the top economist for the N.J. Treasury Department, and two colleagues…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Tax PolicyTop 50% get 100% Percent of the Income Tax Breaks
Now this is awfully unfair to the bottom 50% of Americans, don’t you think? I mean, what kind of a society treats its most vulnerable citizens this way? Surely, the Occupy Wall Streeters will start focusing on this horrifying inequity, right? Oh, wait. I almost forgot. The bottom 50% don’t pay any income tax at all. Nevermind.
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Satire, Tax PolicyRafael Nadal to Skip Wimbledon Warm-Up Event to Avoid Taxes
WebCPA reports that tennis player Rafael Nadal will not play in the traditional Wimbledon tennis tournament warm-up event next year because of stringent British tax laws: The No. 2-ranked Spanish tennis player said Thursday he can “lose money” playing in the Queen’s Club tournament because of the tax laws that affect athletes, musicians and actors.…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Tax Policy, The EconomyTaxes, Competition and Pricing
If President Obama were like George Washington and could not tell a lie, this is what he would say to the American taxpayer: Yes, we are going to increase your taxes, but don’t worry. If we waste those funds, we’ll just increase your taxes again. An entity that can raise its “prices” without consequence (i.e. without the loss of “business”…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Opinion, Philosophy5 Reasons a Millionaire Tax is Dumb
Howard Gleckman of TaxVox writes in The Democrats Millionaire Tax: Smart Politics, Awful Policy: Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid’s plan to fund a $445 billion stimulus, err, jobs bill with a 5.6 percent surtax on millionaires is not all bad. After all, Tax the Rich does make a nice campaign bumper-sticker. But it is mostly…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Legislative Watch, Tax PolicyObama to Propose Buffett Rule: A Minimum Tax Rate for the Uber-Rich
“The tenth rule of the ethics of rules and means is that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it in moral arguments. …the essence of Lenin’s speeches during this period was “They have the guns and therefore we are for peace and for reformation through the ballot. When we have…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Legislative Watch, News, Tax PolicyTax Equality Proposal: Abolish the Standard Deduction and Let Poor People Itemize
In a recent post I criticized Howard Gleckman of Tax Vox for claiming that lower-income taxpayers who don’t itemize their deductions receive no benefit from their charitable contributions even though these taxpayers “gave about 3.5% of their income in 2009″ to charity. The reason for this, Gleckman asserted, is that [T]hese taxpayers can only take the deduction…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Deductible Expenses, Tax Policy, Taxes 101Chuck Woolery’s Message to Guilty Rich Folks who Want to Pay More Taxes
This is hilarious: (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin)
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax Humor62% of Taxpayers Say Increased Taxes Will Not go to Deficit Reduction
According to a Reason-Rupe Poll nearly 69 percent of taxpayers expect their taxes to go up in the next five years and 62 percent think Congress will spend tax increases on new programs instead of paying down debt i.e. the government will use the new money to expand government rather than pay down the deficit. We’ve…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, The EconomyA Return to 70% Top Tax Rates?
Senior Fellow of Stanford’s The Hoover Institution, Michael Boskin, writing for the Wall Street Journal says that we should Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate (emphasis is mine): President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate and bipartisan calls for deficit reduction to demand higher taxes. With unemployment stuck at 9.2% and a vigorous economic…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax Policy, The Economy