posted
The Largest Tax Hikes in History From Ryan Ellis on Thursday, July 1, 2010 4:15 PM
In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect. They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011:
First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief
In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:
Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:
- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15% - The 25% bracket rises to 28% - The 28% bracket rises to 31% - The 33% bracket rises to 36% - The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%
Higher taxes on marriage and family. The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child. The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level. The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.
The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.
Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.
Second Wave: Obamacare
There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011. They include:
The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).
The “Special Needs Kids Tax” This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education.
The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.
Third Wave: The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes
When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise—the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired. The major items include:
The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year. According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families—rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million. These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level. The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.
Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear. Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or “depreciate”) equipment purchases up to $250,000. This will be cut all the way down to $25,000. Larger businesses can expense half of their purchases of equipment. In January of 2011, all of it will have to be “depreciated.”
Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses. There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place. The biggest is the loss of the “research and experimentation tax credit,” but there are many, many others. Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.
Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced. The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available. Tax credits for education will be limited. Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses. Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut. Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed. The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.
Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed. Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA. This contribution also counts toward an annual “required minimum distribution.” This ability will no longer be there.
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posted
In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:
those were totally irresponsible, and even with them, our economy collapsed...
maybe it's time for people to stop, take a deep breath and pay attention to actual historical facts instead of constantly preaching and trying to practice ideology?
fact is? we have had major crashes after major tax breaks before, the Great Depression was preceded by major tax breaks in the 20's (beleive it or not)....
it's not like i am happy or want this, it's just the way it is...
theory and reality often do not agree.. i'll stick with reality, it's much more profitable...
i've avoided pointing out Osambinalivetoolongs "procalmations" about his intents with 9-11...
it's posted and hosted on the internet, i don't want to quote him, but people should really take the time to look it up and see what his "strategy" was... it was a strategy WE supported against the Soviets, it works...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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BTW? the "reality" i'm talking about is that people who make money really make don't quit because they are taxed.. that's a load of crap.. in fact? if you take more money form them in taxes they tend to just make more... it's what they do... and yes, the number of people that actually MAKE money (as opposed to gleaning it) is very low...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by a surfer: Glass.... I paid over $61,000 in taxes last year.
I am a 4 man operation.....
Under the scenario above I will be paying over $100,000.
Small businesses cannot endure hits like this and stay standing.
Reality.....you sure you're in it??
Were you in business before 2001/2003? If so...how did you manage then before the tax cuts? Just curious.
-------------------- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. Posts: 3311 | From: St. Louis | Registered: Feb 2005
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i expect only a 50% increase in my taxes, not 80%.
we entered into two or three wars depending whether you count the ah, worldwide war on terror a real war or not.. i do cuz we are sending on ehellofalot of money to other govts to help...
cutting taxes while opening up three fronts in war made no sense.. i know the THEORY they were operating under, but i also did an awful lot of studying about the great depression and what led up to it cuz i recalled how they dealt with the depression in the late teens which led to the roaring 20's... which ended in the Great Depression.. we really did alot of the same exact stuff, the difference was the bailouts this time, we didn't intitiate bank bailouts in the Great Depression...
we will find a way... it sure would help alot if the Govt would put a real import duty on all Chinese products... that would cause some pain for people in the short run too, but in the long run it would make US co's more profitable... the import duties could be reduced/removed as the Chinese fix the rate of exchange of their money..
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by glassman: i expect only a 50% increase in my taxes, not 80%.
we entered into two or three wars depending whether you count the ah, worldwide war on terror a real war or not.. i do cuz we are sending on ehellofalot of money to other govts to help...
cutting taxes while opening up three fronts in war made no sense.. i know the THEORY they were operating under, but i also did an awful lot of studying about the great depression and what led up to it cuz i recalled how they dealt with the depression in the late teens which led to the roaring 20's... which ended in the Great Depression.. we really did alot of the same exact stuff, the difference was the bailouts this time, we didn't intitiate bank bailouts in the Great Depression...
we will find a way... it sure would help alot if the Govt would put a real import duty on all Chinese products... that would cause some pain for people in the short run too, but in the long run it would make US co's more profitable... the import duties could be reduced/removed as the Chinese fix the rate of exchange of their money..
Don't forget the War on Drugs glassman.
-------------------- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. Posts: 3311 | From: St. Louis | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by a surfer: Glass.... I paid over $61,000 in taxes last year.
I am a 4 man operation.....
Under the scenario above I will be paying over $100,000.
Small businesses cannot endure hits like this and stay standing.
Reality.....you sure you're in it??
Were you in business before 2001/2003? If so...how did you manage then before the tax cuts? Just curious.
I went in business in 2002 but I was solo at that point. I managed fine then and I will manage fine in the future. My work speaks for itself and I am booked through next year already but I'll be damned if I am going to keep dumping cash in to the ponzi scheme that is called our government.
Considering 90% of Americans work for small businesses (under 500 employees) my concern is that there is a fine line....a tipping point if you will, that the employer cannot absorb the expense.
It almost feels like I am giving money to a crack head that swears he won't spend it on crack.
Sickening...
How many people are on food stamps....35 million??
Then I watch as they load the groceries into the caddie escalade with spinners. WTF?
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here's a sign of the times that is not good:
Charity Joins Top Home Builders' Ranks Habitat for Humanity Keeps Putting Up Houses as Nation's Biggest Companies Cut Back; 'A Lot Less Tied to the Market'
EAST PATCHOGUE, N.Y.—A dozen female volunteers gathered recently in this blue-collar Long Island town, enduring the heat to help form the entryway of an 1,100-square foot home for Cheri Sabolenko and her two young children.
The Sabolenko house will soon join more than 5,000 other homes expected to be built, repaired and rehabilitated in the U.S. this year by a well-known addition to the upper echelon of America's largest home builders: the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity International.
As the housing and financial crisis struck several years ago, the large publicly traded builders, including D.R. Horton Inc. and KB Home, pulled back. But Habitat kept building.
"We're a lot less tied to the market as a whole," said Mark Andrews, Habitat's senior director for U.S. operations. "We've been able to keep chugging along at a pretty solid pace."
As a result, Habitat, a Christian group founded 34 years ago in Americus, Ga., around a philosophy of constructing and rehabilitating homes for low-income families, was recently ranked as one of the nation's top 10 builders for the first time in a closely watched industry list compiled by Builder Magazine.
Habitat was ranked eighth, based on the number of homes sold and closed, placing it above Ryland Group Inc. and behind Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. Habitat's closings, which include new homes and rehabs, were down 3% to 5,294 in 2009. Ryland's tumbled 30%, while Hovnanian's sank 50%.
quote:Originally posted by a surfer: Glass.... I paid over $61,000 in taxes last year.
I am a 4 man operation.....
Under the scenario above I will be paying over $100,000.
Small businesses cannot endure hits like this and stay standing.
Reality.....you sure you're in it??
I wonder why people put so much faith in this government. Paying 10's of thousands of more in taxes because "you will make enough anyway"
Do you remember the cash for clunkers? How much did each clunker cost in totality? It was around 23-24,000 dollars! If the government would make sense of the money they get you would think you wouldnt mind paying more.
Pay more, waste more, get less.
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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So you're running threads on how in the world can we improve the economy.. Yet you just detest the idea of removing the biggest drag on the economy.. Just hilarious to watch.
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quote:Originally posted by Relentless.: So you're running threads on how in the world can we improve the economy.. Yet you just detest the idea of removing the biggest drag on the economy.. Just hilarious to watch.
no, taxes are not a big drag on the economy, you are the one who is brainwashed.
you and i both live/work in a couple of the poorest states in the country and our taxes here are very low. we, Al and MS both, get back many more federal dollars than we pay in federal and state taxes combined...
sorry DQR, but you are th edelusional one here, i know what the biggest drag on the economy is and it is most defintiely NOT taxes, whne this countries taxes have been highest? we have experienced the highest growth rates..
that's fact, not fiction or ideology.
i am more than happy to counsel you thru your deprogramming if you want
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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Now this is funny. You are actually trying to tie the Bush tax increases to the 90's boom years? And call me delusional.. I love this board. I remove 90% of my brain and poof wallah bang I still can't think slow enough to find logic in these premises.
The economy is the money we the people posses... If that money is taken by the government then we now have a weaker economy... Yes taxes are a huge drag on our economy.. That is logic. What you spew is the regurgitated flatulence from all the brainwashed Manchurian candidates that have held office. If you believe so firmly that higher taxes will save us from a depression then for once be a man and lead by example. Send every morsel of your gross worth to the government and save us. Then we'll talk .
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If that money is taken by the government then we now have a weaker economy...
IF the Govt took the money and burned it? you would be right, but they don't do that...
i am not tying anything together that doesn't fit perfectly. You must be willing to see the patterns.
The pattern is very clear, the uSA has been much more prosperous during times of higher taxation than they have under lower taxation, it's not a mirage, it's not mythology like you beleive. It's just the fact plain and simple.
there's no talkin' to you cuz you already perceive reality... stop "pervceiving" and really look...
If you believe so firmly that higher taxes will save us from a depression
LOL... don't put words in my mouth. we have staved off a depression so far by runaway govt spending. that spending began long before Obama took office, and has increased since Obama took office. I think he's doign he only thing he can do to prevent a full blown depression, and we will end up with a lost decade like the Japanese had at best...
these things have been determined by peoples actions long before Obama came to the WH, and i was right here pointing them out as they happened... investors "investing in oil" was one thing that did it. it doesn't create jobs, it destroys the economies that depend on it.. that was cannibalism.... Another thing is when housing becomes too expensive, especially whn you are making too much of the housing and you expect it to be a good investment... but the worst thing our economy has experienced and still faces is not taxes at all..
it is the cumulative trade deficit... in 2007? we went over th ecliff...
If the Fed Reserve doesn't raise interest rates to maintain our ability to attract funds to keep borrowing, it will not be able to finance the trade and fiscal deficits. Not raising interest rates will allow the dollar to fall relative to other currencies and cause inflation as the prices of imported "cargo" rises because the US dollar is worth less. That cargo is oil too, and it is also moved by oil... If the Federal Reserve raises interest rates significantly, it will slow the economy. Many consumers will be unable to maintain large and growing consumer debt and bankruptcies will rise. Many more homeowners with variable rate mortgages will face foreclosure. Less consumer spending and higher interest rates will lead to less business activity and associated layoffs.
so that was the situation in '06 and early '07... oil did go thru the roof, and our TRADE deficits ballooned, the Fed did raise rates and the housing market folded like a cheap lawn chair with 300 lb person in it...
The U.S. economy collapsed already.... right now we are in the process of regrouping... and we may not make it, but if we don't i can tell you it will be because we as a nation spent way more than we earned, and the Govt is to blame for that, but not because of income taxes.. Govt spending has been counted in GDP for very long time... maybe if you ignore all basic economic principles? you can still beleive that taxes are the biggest problem... but it's a big stretch, and myopic to boot.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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this old article puts it all in pretty stark terms, and quite frankly? i'm tired of the old GOP V Dem , Lib V Conservative bickering that even you now seem to be engaged in relentless...
in essence? we have lost 115,000$ of wealth per family in this country due to our trade deficits... and that is in fact why health care costs are rally too high and why housing became unaffordable..
it's not coplicated at all, but the politicians seem to be able to keep the discussion off this topic entirely, both sides do it:
Cumulative U.S. Trade Deficit Soars to $9.13 Trillion in 2008
With a trade deficit of $677.1 billion in 2008, the U.S. has completed its 33rd consecutive year with a trade deficit which, since the last surplus in 1975, is now a cumulative $9.13 trillion (in constant 2005 dollars). Although the trade deficit declined for the second year in a row, from $753.3 billion in 2006 to $700.3 billion in 2007 to $677.1 billion in 2008, the decline last year was due entirely to the recession. Were it not for the dramatic decline the last two months of 2008 caused by the collapse of the global economy, the 2008 trade deficit would have been at least $717 billion. And, since the recession began in December of 2007, it’s likely that the entire year’s deficit, not just the last two months, was affected by the global slowdown. It’s possible that the 2008 trade deficit would have been a record without it. The fact that the deficit declined is good news. The fact that the decline was accomplished by trashing the economy is not.
Consider the ramifications. GDP per capita (a good measure of Americans’ purchasing power) was $38,300 in 2008. Every dollar of a trade deficit erodes this figure. That’s not an editorial comment, it’s how the government calculates GDP. In 2008, the trade deficit reduced per capita GDP by $2,213. Without the trade deficit, GDP per capita would have been $40,513. That’s a loss of $8,852 per family of four in 2008.
But the story is much worse than that. The net worth of the average American family is $115,569 less than it would be otherwise, thanks to the cumulative $9.13 trillion trade deficit since 1975. All of this erosion of net worth is the result of 33 years of downward pressure on wages and income caused by the loss of manufacturing jobs.
In 2008, the trade deficit in manufactured goods was $434.9 billion. A good rule of thumb is that two thirds of the cost of a product is labor. So that’s a cut of $289.9 billion from America’s payrolls. If we assume a cost of $50,000 per year for wages and benefits, that’s a loss of 5.8 million jobs.
that 5.8 million jobs is from only one year... add it up and you see why we are in The Great Recession, and until we address this issue? Taxes are going up because htose of US that can pay them (which are become fewer and fewer) will have to pay them, and those that cannot, will increase the debt, and it is not their fault, it is the poilticians fault for ENCOURAGING this situation...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote: The U.S. economy collapsed already.... right now we are in the process of regrouping... and we may not make it, but if we don't i can tell you it will be because we as a nation spent way more than we earned, and the Govt is to blame for that, but not because of income taxes.. Govt spending has been counted in GDP for very long time... maybe if you ignore all basic economic principles? you can still beleive that taxes are the biggest problem... but it's a big stretch, and myopic to boot.
First, we are not recouping.. This that we are seeing is a bearish consolidation. How can you call for less government spending after spending years on this board cheering everything government wastes money on? On top of that how can you not see that taxes are too high? Not just income taxes.. ALL taxes. How much tax is on a gallon of gas? How the #&$@^%^ can you proclaim that isn't a huge drag on the economy? After all this time I just can't fathom that you still don't understand that it is we the people that come first.. Not your precious &@^$#@$ government. Abolish the federal government right now and construct a new one.. Destroy the federal reserve and again allow us to issue our own currency not based on debt but on a valuable backer.. be it gold, silver or whatever. I know that thought scares you and many on this board ****less.. I know.. But it's ok. Humans have survived on this planet for a couple million years.. NOT because of government but inspite of it.
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quote:Originally posted by glassman: sir relentless, i have question for ya, do you know why the Federal Reserve would actively force this policy of US debt?
Debt is slavery, Glass... Pure and simple.. Basing the entire economy on debt is the single easiest way to ensure a populace will never have the ability to rise up. Simple.
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How can you call for less government spending after spending years on this board cheering everything government wastes money on?
cheering? LOL i think you are confused now. i merely point out that the so-called conservaties are doing as much spending as the liberals do, and i defintiely do not agree with everything the Govt does, but what they do right? i want to keep.
How much tax is on a gallon of gas? How the #&$@^%^ can you proclaim that isn't a huge drag on the economy?
uhm, i wonder what roads you'll drive on if we don't pay for them?
as it is? our infrastructure is falling down around us already cuz we don't want to pay to fix it...
Destroy the federal reserve and again allow us to issue our own currency not based on debt but on a valuable backer.. be it gold, silver or whatever.
you are forgetting that i am a proponent of that and was even recomending buying gold and silver from the fiorst day i got on this board...
i donot like th situation we are in, i have been dumbfounded by the stupidity over and over again, and i fully recognised that Bush was not "real conservative" very early on, i also recognise that Obama is not a"real liberal" but there isn't much we can do about the whole economy...
i've been screaming for targeted import tarrifs for a decade now and the "conervatives" tell me that's not free market as if we ever have a freemarket anyway, sheesh... and the liberals are afraid the poor people won't get the help they need to destroy their cultures and wear Gap jeans and Tshirts instead of their native attire... yeah, i get it.. but i ain't goin' to slit my friggin wrists over it... i'll do what i can, which is keep pushing for trade policies that are more favorable to the US, i don't hear the tea Party mentioning that either...
taxes suck, but they are always inevitable, it's part of th efabric of any society that doesn't invade other countries and take what they need form them (Rome?)
the money is already spent, can't get it back now... will Obama cut spending? doesn't seem to be interested... want to cut? look at teh DOE, they are worthless and redundant everywhere they participate... get rid of the Education Dept? LOL... we'll be on the third world express with that one...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by glassman: sir relentless, i have question for ya, do you know why the Federal Reserve would actively force this policy of US debt?
Debt is slavery, Glass... Pure and simple.. Basing the entire economy on debt is the single easiest way to ensure a populace will never have the ability to rise up. Simple.
OK, tru eenough, but i was looking for an answer along the bottom line.... it's quite profitable to them isn't it? and who better to loan money to?
the rest of the owrld defaults onloans all the time... we are the only country that doesn't default... (yet anyway)
these guys are the guilty party they are the ones that have engineered this...
why does the Fed have a dotgov address? they aren't the Govt
posted
Well, yes that's my point exactly.. But you can't let government off the hook here. Our federal government needs to be dismantled as prescribed in our constitution. The federal reserve needs to also be abolished. Further more all involved need to stand trial for treason and then swiftly shot. But none of that will happen. What will happen is we will be lead into the worst economic crash anyone can imagine. We will then eagerly greet a new economic system which is exactly the same as the one we are now watching fail.. only it will be a global system with taxes paid to some obscure collection of world banks.
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and what i'm saying is that we already have the best system in the world, and it is definitely broken, but we do not need to destroy the whole thing to fix it..
as a middle class person here, even if/when taxes go back up to pay this bill, you still have the best chance in the world to become wealthy by your own work... China may offer a better chance to certain people now, but their govt, IMO is poised to take anythng they want at anytime.. and yeah, i recognise that we are gettin gmore like them, and no i don't like it either...
we have been thru worse, and we can get thru this.
i don't WANT higher taxes anymore then the next guy, but almost all the damage has been done, and was done prior to when oil hit 147 barrel... that's not the only reason, just a major portion of the problem and it was definitely the final straw....
the Fed is bunch of crooks, and so is the Senate... gop or dem? they are in it together
import taxes should never be done away with... our founders taxed imports...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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Glass, that is the same BS excuse I hear all over MSM and talk radio. It may be broken but it's the best and the American dream is alive... BS. The American dream was dead long before you or I were born. The system we have currently is a system of slavery that doesn't just need to be destroyed.. It needs to be fought in the future, much like the founders of this nation warned. But, again, none of that will happen. We are about to sell our kids and every soul on this planet into slavery to a global banking cartel that no one can defeat. All while patting ourselves on the back for having our freedoms bla bla bla bla.
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i think the American dream is and always has been primarily a dream... i dunno what you think you have lost hat was avauilable to whoever it is you think had the "dream"..
my grandparents lived in mortal fear of another Great Depression, they scrimped and saved till they had more money than they knew what to do with, and then they were still worried about it...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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Curing the debt problem by... creating more debt. Doesn't matter what party or politician is in office as long as the reigns never switch hands:
quote:In case one is wondering why the House Democrats attached a document to the emergency war supplemental bill that "deemed as passed" a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget, which basically allows the ruling party to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the constraint of an actual budget, here is the answer: on June 30, the US closed the books with just over $13.2 trillion in total debt, an increase of $210 billion in one month, or $2.5 trillion annualized. There is just $1.1 trillion left on the ceiling. As we have long been warning, at the current run rate, the ceiling will be breached in under six months, or just around November 2. More disconcerting is that the monthly debt roll continues to be in the "ridiculous amount" category, hitting a total of $660 billion, of which $583 billion was rolling off Bills (we are not sure what the $19 billion im "GSE investment" was for, but we are fairly sure the words Ponzi and Perpetuation are part of it). Of course, if America knew that according to the Obama non-existent budget the debt ceiling would be breached in 2010, it may not have a favorable reception among those few who are still willing to vote for either party of the bipartite farce that passes for a government.
posted
Curing the debt problem by... creating more debt.
all they're doing is trying to buy time and waiting for something to change, but nothing is changing...
in 2005? the GOP could have made the tax cuts permanant, or in 2006 even right after the election when they were lame ducks- (they retained control until jan 2007) or '04 too.. they didn't because this was a political ploy. They knew that it was irrepsonsible and they knew that if when they lost office they would have the chance to blame the other party for allowing them to lapse...
you cannot filibuster the budgets, they could also have drilled in ANWR by tying it into the budget and didnd't... in other words? this taxhike is like a timebomb they left in place....
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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It is.. I can tell you firsthand that companies are cramming every last penny of revenue into what's left of this year... This is just warm and fuzzy for this year, but backlog that should have gone through April or May will now not be there.. Huge crash a comin'.
Posts: 2965 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Relentless.: It is.. I can tell you firsthand that companies are cramming every last penny of revenue into what's left of this year... This is just warm and fuzzy for this year, but backlog that should have gone through April or May will now not be there.. Huge crash a comin'.
but there aren't really two parties are there?
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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so if there aren't two parties? then who did this and why?
here's a good place to start looking:
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, (Pub.L. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338, enacted November 12, 1999) is an act of the 106th United States Congress (1999-2001) signed into law by President Bill Clinton which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, opening up the market among banking companies, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company.
Many of the largest banks, brokerages, and insurance companies desired the Act at the time. The justification was that individuals usually put more money into investments when the economy is doing well, but they put most of their money into savings accounts when the economy turns bad. With the new Act, they would be able to do both 'savings' and 'investment' at the same financial institution, which would be able to do well in both good and bad economic times.
Prior to the Act, most financial services companies were already offering both saving and investment opportunities to their customers. On the retail/consumer side, a bank called Norwest which would later merge with Wells Fargo Bank led the charge in offering all types of financial services products in 1986. American Express attempted to own almost every field of financial business (although there was little synergy among them). Things culminated in 1998 when Citibank merged with Travelers Insurance creating CitiGroup. The merger violated the Bank Holding Company Act (BHCA), but Citibank was given a two-year forbearance that was based on an assumption that they would be able to force a change in the law. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed in November 1999, repealing portions of the BHCA and the Glass-Steagall Act, allowing banks, brokerages, and insurance companies to merge, thus making the CitiCorp/Travelers Group merger legal.
Top Citigroup officials were allowed to review and approve drafts of the legislation before it was formally introduced.[4]
After * resigning as Treasury Secretary * and while secretly in negotiations to head Citigroup, Robert Rubin helped broker the final deal to pass the bill.[4] He later became one of three CEOs that headed up CitiGroup.
i've been trying to find out if this bill was required to pass in order for AIG to sell CDSes or not... i beleive it was, but i'm not positive yet...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
now this is interesting; take care to note that it's in facebook and not on a news wire:
Obama regime censors Reuters article Share Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 5:27pm
Reuters posted the following article on 2/1/2010 and took it down after White House complaints about "factual errors." They didn't debate the "errors" in public or issue a correction.
They wiped the article out, off the net.
Around 3:00 pm Eastern 2/2/2010 one could find the article on Canadian yahoo news. By 6 om it was gone.
By Terri Cullen Terri Cullen – Mon Feb 1, 4:09 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters.com) --The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.
In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year -- effectively a tax hike by stealth.
If the provisions are allowed to expire on December 31, the top-tier personal income tax rate will rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. But lower-income families will pay more as well: the 25 percent tax bracket will revert back to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket will increase to 31 percent; and the 33 percent bracket will increase to 36 percent. The special 10 percent bracket is eliminated.
Investors will pay more on their earnings next year as well, with the tax on dividends jumping to 39.6 percent from 15 percent and the capital-gains tax increasing to 20 percent from 15 percent. The estate tax is eliminated this year, but it will return in 2011 -- though there has been talk about reinstating the death tax sooner.
Millions of middle-class households already may be facing higher taxes in 2010 because Congress has failed to extend tax breaks that expired on January 1, most notably a "patch" that limited the impact of the alternative minimum tax. The AMT, initially designed to prevent the very rich from avoiding income taxes, was never indexed for inflation. Now the tax is affecting millions of middle-income households, but lawmakers have been reluctant to repeal it because it has become a key source of revenue.
Without annual legislation to renew the patch this year, the AMT could affect an estimated 25 million taxpayers with incomes as low as $33,750 (or $45,000 for joint filers). Even if the patch is extended to last year's levels, the tax will hit American families that can hardly be considered wealthy -- the AMT exemption for 2009 was $46,700 for singles and $70,950 for married couples filing jointly.
posted
The way I hear it and have heard it.. The story is not wrong. You want to see how right I am about taxes being a drag on the economy?... Just wait... We're about to see it all fall apart.
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quote:Originally posted by Relentless.: The way I hear it and have heard it.. The story is not wrong. You want to see how right I am about taxes being a drag on the economy?... Just wait... We're about to see it all fall apart.
i'm hunting for the "official" WH statement...
the "thing" the WH claims is that Obamas budget "fixes" the "problem" for people making under 250 grand- that is possible, the budget is law...
however, i haven't read the budget and i know the tax breaks are set to expire....
i tend to look on the CS Monitor as fairly reliable in their reporting, of course i don't just accept any source at face value :
Obama to use backdoor taxes to hit middle class? Oops, not true.
Reuters withdrew a story Tuesday that suggested Obama would cut the deficit through backdoor taxes on the middle class.
It says something about the state of partisanship in America when the biggest budget story of the day is a nonstory. Literally.
After Reuters published a story Monday about how backdoor taxes would hit middle-class Americans under President Obama, the White House complained about inaccuracies. Reuters pulled it Tuesday morning, saying a replacement story would be coming. Later in the day, it said the story was wrong and that there would be no substitute.
By then, however, the story was Internet buzz: The Obama administration was going to cut the deficits by letting a raft of tax cuts expire, hurting the middle class. Some conservative bloggers posted it before it could be deleted.
While it's true that if Congress did let all the Bush tax cuts and other provisions expire, the middle class would end up paying boatloads more money, it's not reasonable to suggest that that will happen. Some tax cuts are just so popular – for Democrats as well as Republicans – that it's unlikely they'll be allowed to lapse anytime soon, says William Ahern, spokesman for the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax-research group in Washington, D.C..
In fact, the president's budget, released this week, calls for a continuation of the Bush tax cuts for anyone making less than $250,000. It also calls for continuing the so-called "patch" to the alternative minimum tax (AMT) so that millions of middle-class Americans don't get snared by the higher levies it imposes.
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