Posted on 01/02/2013 5:40:49 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Whatever ultimately emerges from the fiscal-cliff negotiations over the past 48 hours, the country will survive. But the damage can't be undone. Taxes are going up for all working Americans. And so is the size of government.
Businesses have been waiting to see whether a second Obama administration will encourage the economy. During the fiscal-cliff negotiations, however, the president made clear that his goal isn't to get business going again but instead to expand government and redistribute income. He offered no real spending cuts and instead used the year-end deadline to divide America into classes—to the point of campaigning on New Year's Eve against higher earners. Though the president talks about fairness, his policies penalize profit and investment. This hurts aspiring Americans more than it hurts those who have already made it.
The deal that emerged from the Senate early Tuesday morning is being sold as a tax cut for the middle class, but the expiration of the two-percentage-point payroll tax holiday means that working Americans' take-home pay will drop. The bill reduces the value of tax deductions for upper incomes and, with the new open-ended 3.8% Medicare tax that was enacted under ObamaCare, income-tax rates on families and small business owners earning over $450,000 have been pushed above 44%.
The Senate bill makes the tax code more complex, provides for no spending cuts and creates four deadlines—for the debt-limit increase within weeks, the March 1 automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, a second sequester on March 27 (to make up for overspending since the first sequester) and the March 30 expiration of government spending authority. These deadlines will keep Washington negotiations on the front page for months but with little likelihood that government will cut programs, sell assets or downsize the 1,300 federal agencies and commissions.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Republicans are so foolish. They give Obama credit for “taxing the rich” and “middle class tax cuts” while they allowed payroll taxes on working families to go up $1 trillion.
They have no sense. Meanwhile Obama still attacks them. How do they think they can win the mid terms like this?
This is awful - it fortifies the lefty position of offering goodies to folks that have no skin in the game. The only chance for a conservative comeback in my view was to make EVERYONE pay so they have a stake in government absurdities. We’re likely to never win again now. Stupid. Who knows what they did on capital gains ?
It’s going to be interesting to see what is going to happen when people get their paychecks this Friday. Imgine how surprised they are going to be when they find out that they are the rich.
After reading the entire article, crony capitalism is the only thing that works in Washington.
It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder. - Bastiat
Socialism is Legal Plunder- Bastiat
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. - Americans
I think they have basically maintained or provided for the earned income tax credits as well, so “the poor” will continue to receive “refunds” for money they never earned in the first place.
Let’s face it, it pays to do nothing in this country.
it’s now eminently clear the US govt does not want entrepreneurs or companies operating within the US.
stay in the US a be a slave to the govt, handing over 60-75% of your life (earned income) to be redistributed to the polically favored. no thanks.
I wonder if countries will start offering deals to attract corporations and entrepreneurs
Newsmax
Senate-Passed Deal Means Higher Taxes on 77% of Households
Tuesday, January 1, 2013 02:10 PM
By: Richard Rubin
The budget deal passed by the U.S. Senate today would raise taxes on 77.1 percent of U.S. households, mostly because of the expiration of a payroll tax cut, according to preliminary estimates from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington.
More than 80 percent of households with incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 would pay higher taxes. Among the households facing higher taxes, the average increase would be $1,635, the policy center said. A 2 percent payroll tax cut, enacted during the economic slowdown, is being allowed to expire as of yesterday.
Congratulations obama voters. A special congratulations to the obama voters who still have a job. Your vote counts and you did not listen to the warnings. Congratulations!
Rubio Slams Deal: ‘I Just Couldn’t Vote for It’
By Robert Costa
January 1, 2013 2:23 A.M.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida says the Senate’s fiscal-cliff compromise, which passed the upper chamber early Tuesday, was a political mistake.
http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/336678
Did the rate on Capital gains go up?
“Did the rate on Capital gains go up?”
“The bill would raise rates on long-term capital gains and dividends for top-bracket taxpayers to 20% for 2013 from 15% in 2012. Meanwhile, the 15% rate would continue to apply to taxpayers in the 25%, 28%, 33% and 35% income tax brackets. People in the 10% and 15% brackets would continue to have a zero rate on capital gains and dividends.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820104578216092043022764.html
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