Posted on 12/04/2012 8:19:48 AM PST by IbJensen
When President Obama put forth his first offer on the fiscal cliff, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said, “You can’t be serious.” We could say the same thing to the Speaker after his counteroffer yesterday.
In a letter signed by House Republican leadership, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), Boehner offered to raise taxes by $800 billion and cut spending by $1.4 trillion, with no substantive reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving U.S. spending and debt.
Heritage’s Alison Fraser, director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, and J.D. Foster, the Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy, quickly responded that “the Republican counteroffer, to the extent it can be interpreted from the hazy details now available, is a dud. It is utterly unacceptable. It is bad policy, bad economics.”
Boehner’s letter to the President actually said that the Republicans were not going to make their more serious proposal, which has already passed the House.
If we were to take your Administration’s proposal at face value, then we would counter with the House-passed Budget Resolution. It assumes an overhaul of our tax code with revenue remaining at historically normal levels and proposes structural reforms to preserve and protect the Nation’s entitlement programs, ensuring they are sustainable for the long-term rather than continuing to grow out of control.
But, they said, “we recognize it would be counterproductive to publicly or privately propose entitlement reforms that you and the leaders of your party appear unwilling to support in the near-term.”
This is precisely the time for laying out bold reforms, showing the nation the principles, vision and policies conservatives share to dig out of this budget mess, today and for the long term. Instead, the leadership pointed to a plan they said was suggested by Erskine Bowles, the co-chair of President Obama’s debt commission and formerly Bill Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff. It raises taxes, but not by raising tax rates—instead, by lowering the amount or number of tax deductions or exemptions available.
This misses the point of the tax reform America really needs, said Fraser and Foster:
While preferable in general to raising tax rates, this proposal largely dooms future efforts at tax reform based on the sound principle of broadening the tax base to lower the rates. Instead, this proposal would broaden the base, not to lower rates, but to raise revenues. So much for improved economic growth.
Essentially, it appears the Republican leadership caved on raising taxes and first steps toward fundamental entitlement reforms that are desperately needed to keep Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid going. To be sure, the Boehner letter is short on details. But, as Fraser and Foster put it, “Beyond disappointing, the House Republican counteroffer appears at best to suggest incremental tweaks to these programs. Without real entitlement reform—not just spending cuts—we will never fix the underlying problem.”
Not only would this be the right course to take, but Americans polled just after the election have these priorities more in order than the President and Congress.
Just a few days after the election, Gallup asked people to rank a list of 12 issues by importance for the President’s second term. Restoring “a strong economy and job market” was No. 1, with entitlement reform—“take major steps to ensure the long-term stability of Social Security and Medicare”—No. 2. “Make major cuts in federal spending” was No. 6 on the list, while raising taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year was way down the list at priority No. 10.
Now is the time for leaders to get serious. That means serious entitlement reforms that will deliver real savings and improve the programs. The President and House Republicans should both start over and work together toward solutions the nation truly needs.
Even when he was a teenager, Barack Obama displayed his thinking. He liked to participate in the illegal activity of smoking marijuana with a group of other young men. Even in this group of lawbreakers, there were norms of fairness. You passed the choom around one way in the circle. Everybody got their fair hit of choom. Except for Barac. He would cut in any time he felt like it and grab the choom. It looked to me like he was hanging with a group of white boys, so they probably felt that stopping him from violating the norm might be seen as a racist act. Obama was exploiting his skin color. A white kid grabbing the choom out of order would probably have been slapped. So, we’re supposed to just laugh off Obama’s behavior. He’s exploiting his skin color. I don’t care if he is darker than me, he’s a grifter.....a con man.....a pickpocket. There’s no honor amongst crooks.
You can get the Bible (in its many versions) on your cell phone as an app. :)
Mr. Boehner, you can clean the gavel for Nancy, you worthless piece of dog crap.
Tell'em to put their money where their mouth is.
350K votes in 4 states and this is the result? 2010 was just 2 years ago, and the GOP holds historically high non-DC seats of power.
Agree totally, eventhough the higher rate will affect me personally.
If they just extend to $250K then that is fractional income so if you earn $300K then the higher rate is on the $50K, is my understanding, not the first $250K.
I am not saying that is great policy as it obviously will deter some from earning the extra $50K
Now even if House Rs extended it to say $300 or $500K as Buffet now recommends then they still would improve their chances of not suffering another humiliating defeat by O as with last years FICA standoff (and you know they gave in to him after that anyway)
And why should they go on record as raising any taxes when-that is unnecessary?
To me it seems like they are playing an empty hand of not even pairs against O who has lined up all the aces on this one.
I cant even fake surprise at the coming outcome, its too predictable.
” To me it seems like they are playing an empty hand of not even pairs against O who has lined up all the aces on this one.
I cant even fake surprise at the coming outcome, its too predictable. “
Yeah....when it happens every time, it is predictable.
“If they just extend to $250K then that is fractional income so if you earn $300K then the higher rate is on the $50K, is my understanding, not the first $250K.”
That is the way the tax code works, you pay different rates at different levels of your own income.
Federal Income Tax Brackets for 2012
Tax Bracket Married Filing Jointly Single
10% Bracket $0–$17,400 $0–$8,700
15% Bracket $17,400–$70,700 $8,700–$35,350
25% Bracket $70,700–$142,700 $35,350–$85,650
28% Bracket $142,700–$217,450 $85,650–$178,650
33% Bracket $217,450–$388,350 $178,650–$388,350
35% Bracket Over $388,350 Over $388,350
You know why Bohner is kicking the conservatives off the committees? Its for the coming ‘deal’
” You know why Bohner is kicking the conservatives off the committees? Its for the coming ‘deal’”
No other reason to do it. Very transparent.
PMAS, I don’t agree with that. I may not be right, but my take is that once you qualify for a higher rate, you pay that higher rate on all your income.
If you earn $250,500, you’re not only going to be taxed at the higher rate on $500.00. Your tax would change very little under those circumstances. You’re tax changes significantly when you exceed a new level even by a few dollars.
Exactly right.
No, that’s not the case. It is progressive, I know I go through every detail with my accountant who is also a tax attorney.
I’ll take your word for it. If you’re a tax attorney, you should know.
No, I’m not a tax attorney - my accountant is also a tax attorney.
Anyway, here is a link to a pretty good federal tax rate calculator if you enter the amounts it gives you the tax amount due:
http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_calculator.htm
Oops, can’t read either. LOL
Thanks for the link.
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