Shocking News: Dems Want New “Revenues” (Why Is This Shocking?)

Townhall.com ^ | November 17, 2013 | Bruce Bialosky

[Kaslin]

It took a government shutdown, but after four years the Democrats in the U.S. Senate (led by the Undertaker) finally agreed to an established process that has gone on for ages: sitting down with the House of Representatives and hashing out a budget. And in another bit of shocking news, they are demanding new “revenues” (they never say taxes) to come to a compromise.

You may have heard that the feckless Democrats in the Senate have not passed a budget for three years. They standardized a rarely used way of operating a government – continuing resolution or the new in vogue term: a CR. They only did pass a budget this past year because of a House Republican law that was passed that said “No budget, no pay.” The Undertaker and his crew said we can spend recklessly and be irresponsible, but taking away our paychecks is just downright uncivil. But then the Undertaker told his budget chair, Patty Murray (D-WA) that she could not meet with those scoundrels from the House who actually want to operate the government on a budget and maybe trim that nasty overspending.

So while I was working on year-end tax planning for my clients, I came upon the multitude of tax increases that go into effect this year to cover the cost of Obamacare and the expanding federal government.

Here are a few of the more important changes that will occur for this year:

• There is some special depreciation that is scheduled to expire in 2014. It does not look at this time like it will be renewed. There is a 50% bonus depreciation on most new equipment and software. You can write off up to the first $500,000 of acquisitions of fixed assets. Also, there is a special 15-year depreciation for leasehold improvements that usually has to be depreciated over 39 years. Not renewing effectively raises tax rates especially on small businesses.

• A new Medicare tax begins in 2013 of .9% for wages over $200,000; $250,000 for couples.

• A new surtax of 3.8% exists for the lesser of your investment income (dividends, capital gains) or adjusted gross income over $200,000; $250,000 for couples.

• A new tax rate of 39.6% exists on taxable income above $400,000 for individuals; $450,000 for couples.

• The tax rate on dividends and capital gains goes from 15% to 20% for individual taxpayers with income above $400,000; $450,000 for couples.

• Personal exemptions again are being phased out. The phasing out begins at $250,000 for individuals; $300,000 for couples.

• Once again itemized deductions are being phased out for income over $250,000 for individuals; $300,000 for couples.

The stated top tax rate of 39.6% is obviously very misleading. Because of the surtaxes and phase out of exemptions and itemized deductions, taxpayers will be facing federal tax rates of over 50%.

This is not a comprehensive list of all the changes because that would either make your eyes roll to the back of your head or give you severe nausea.

This does not include the hidden taxes that are part of Obamacare that will just be passed through to you by the various industries that were targeted by the health care law. You probably know well about the tax on medical devices, but there are also new taxes on prescription drugs and health insurance policies. You will never see a line item on your bill for these taxes because they will just be hidden in your increased costs.

Probably the most fascinating aspect of the demand for new “revenues” (if there can ever be a fascinating aspect of leftists demanding new taxes) is that they have not even waited to see what the effects are of all these new taxes that are just coming on line. If ever there were a telling moment about what left-wing Democrats are all about, this it is. Don’t wait until you see the actual amount of taxes you collect from all these new rates and don’t wait to see the impact of the new taxes on the economy – just plow ahead asking for new taxes to be piled onto the heap. It might be that they forgot about all these taxes because they voted them in three years ago, but did not want people to see them until after the 2012 election.

Fortunately the House Republicans have their smartest, Paul Ryan (R-WI), going up against the Dems on the conference committee. They also have a bulldog from the Senate – Jeff Sessions (R- AL). And they also have the sequester as a hammer against the Dems. On the other hand because the entire Senate Budget Committee is included bringing the membership to 29, Bernie Sanders (D-VT), who is a Socialist, will be at the table. At least Mr. Sanders is honest about what his political angle.

All in all, the negotiations should be a hoot since they start with budgets that only have a difference of about $1 trillion. But one thing we know for sure: new “revenues” will be off the table for Republicans and should be for the Democrats too. Sorry, we can’t help being wishful thinkers.

[nomad]

That would work only IF: The unions are kept off of anyone brave enough to try and the socialist monster of the Government is rolled back into it`s Constitutional cage.

The era of morons handling "widgets" on some assembly line is dead and gone so any REAL manufacturing has to be heavily automated, a simple fact of economics. New adage for the 21st century: "Get trained or get lost."

[wmfights]

China is rapidly building up a global military, and has approximately 5 TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE as America.

You are making a political argument to override an economic process. It won't happen. We are driven by profit. The USA is now driven by benefits at someone else's expense. Over the long term decline is inevitable. We will not turn this trend around because the nanny state will not force children to become adults. In order to do this the govt will keep taking more and more from the productive till we end up like Europe, static economies with very little movement between economic classes.

I'm sorry if I seem so negative, but I don't believe the American people are willing to be personally responsible for their lives.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Why is this news?

[wmfights]

Just saying, eventually the Chinese will control it, if it is being sent to China.

Not just China. The BRIC's are all operating with arrows pointing up. They all have problems, but their business environment is looking up.

Bring back American businesses.

How?

The American people are unwilling to pay for what they want. The American people are taxing the productive into extinction. When you see the trend and it comes down to patriotism vs. providing for your family it's a simple choice. There is a reason we prioritize GOD first, Family second, Country third.

I am a small businessman involved in real estate. Over the last 5 years I've had to eliminate most of our full time people and either work with them as independent contractors, or take on the work they did before with our remaining in house staff. My personal taxes keep going up. My business taxes keep going up. My property taxes, water bills, other utility bills all keep going up. The water, gas and electricity have not risen dramatically, but the local taxing bodies keep increasing their taxes.

So, I have sons coming into the business and I see the trend will make it impossible for us to grow and prosper. What do I do, just wait to be put out business? No! I've begun the process to move our profits and equity to another market where they are looking for the benefits that come with economic expansion.

[Yosemitest]

Only idiots and the evil voted for Obama, or ANY of the Democrats.
They've lied to us, constantly, and really are "Collapsing the System".
And now, these "Useful IDIOTS" who voted for them, are buying the lies that "Obamacare was designed to work." ?
It was designed to fail from the start.
THEN ... THEY GO TO THE "SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM".

Flashback: Obama's Campaign to Transition to Single Payer Health Care (VIDEO)


obama master plan on health careover the years in his own words--SINGLE PAYER!!! ( 3:38 )

They've been sucking our wallets dry for over four years now on the "Obamacare" LIE.
AND NOW THEY WANT MORE TAXES ?
Our Founding Fathers would have hung them already!

Lets review:

Who was it that cut future funding for Medicare by $575 billion?

...the president and the Democratic Party successfully bamboozle voters... The 2012 election could turn on this falsehood.
The truth is that the Obama health law reduces future funding for Medicare by $575 billion over the next 10 years ...

Mr. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius frequently make that false claim.
Indeed, even Medicare's mailings to seniors repeat the claim that reducing spending on Medicare will make it more financially secure for future years.
The fact is that Mr. Obama's law raids Medicare.

Who was it that moved Medicare Trust Funds out of the "trust box" and into the General Revenue, replacing them with Government I.O.U.s?
"In early 1968 President Lyndon Johnson [DEMOCRAT] made a change in the budget presentation by including Social Security and all other trust funds in a"unified budget." "

Who was it that expanded Medicare and Medicaid to cover many, many more people than it was originally designed to cover?

The History of Medicare

In 1965, the Social Security Act established both Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare was a responsibility of the Social Security Administration (SSA), while Federal assistance to the State Medicaid programs was administered by the Social and Rehabilitation Service (SRS). SSA and SRS were agencies in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). In 1977, the Health Care Financing Administration was created under HEW to effectively coordinate Medicare and Medicaid. In 1980 HEW was divided into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The first U.S. President to propose a prepaid health insurance plan was Harry S. Truman [DEMOCRAT]. On November 19, 1945, in a special message to Congress, President Truman outlined a comprehensive, prepaid medical insurance plan for all people through the Social Security system. The plan included doctors and hospitals, and nursing, laboratory, and dental services; it was dubbed "National Health Insurance." Furthermore, medical insurance benefits for needy people were to be financed from Federal revenues.

Over the years, lawmakers narrowed the field of health insurance recipients largely to social security beneficiaries. A national survey found that only 56 percent of those 65 years of age or older had health insurance. President John F. Kennedy [DEMOCRAT] pressed legislators for health insurance for the aged. However, it wasn't until 1965 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed H.R. 6675 (The Social Security Act of 1965; PL 89-97) to provide health insurance for the elderly and the poor.

On July 30, 1965, President Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Bill (Title XVIII and Title XIX of the Social Security Act) in Independence, Missouri in the presence of former President Truman, who received the first Medicare card at the ceremony; Lady Bird Johnson, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, and Mrs. Truman also were present. President Johnson remarked: "We marvel not simply at the passage of this Bill but that it took so many years to pass it."

Medicare extended health coverage to almost all Americans aged 65 or older. About 19 million beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare in the first year of the program. Medicaid provided access to health care services for certain low-income persons and expanded the existing Federal-State welfare structure that assisted the poor.

The 1972 Social Security Amendments expanded Medicare to provide coverage to two additional high risk groups disabled persons receiving cash benefits for 24 months under the social security program and persons suffering from end-stage renal disease.

...(continued at link)

So Democrats,

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE
FOR INSURING THE FAILURE
OF THE MEDICARE/MEDICAID PROGRAM,
and now YOU DEMOCRATS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INTENTIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE U.S.A. ECONOMY!!!

So DEMOCRATS ... SHUT UP!!!

You have no integrity!!!

Sen Mark Kirk's statement Thursday, Dec 1, 2011 ...

"There are 55 million Social Security beneficiaries that will see little or no extra cash from this 2012 tax holiday; instead, the dedicated payroll contributions meant to pay for future benefits are being diverted from the Trust Fund
and replaced with Treasury debt that does not even have a AAA credit rating.
Social Security was designed to be independent and free from the danger of Congressional manipulation,
and maintaining the firewall between the Social Security Trust Fund and general government funding is the best way to maintain the solvency of this important program.
Neither bill protects the Social Security Trust Fund
so I voted no. "

It's not our fault that DEMOCRATS raided the Social Security Trust Fund.
Let's remember ...

Not ALL are to blame for the empty lock box.

It's the Democrats Communists.

Let's take a deeper look.

Obama: "I Don't Want the Folks who Created the Mess to do a lot of Talking" "

Okay, then the DEMOCRATS need to shut up!!!

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Well I think you’ll find your destination market, will eventually be closed to you.

America needs to wake up, and enact some serious protection for American workers.

Or we will simply eventually collapse.

And I don’t at all believe it will be the sort of collapse which will bring conservatives to power, either.

It will be ugly. And probably bring about Chinese supremacy.

America needs to get with it, work together and build back our own economy.

For an entire generation we have done everything else.

We need to look out for America now.

Bring back American jobs. But protect America also. We are the only country in the world, which has our markets wide open.

The result is, we are losing everything.

Start by enacting a 10% tax on everything (everything) imported.

Then we’ll take it from there.

What we are doing now, is simply collapsing.

[skinkinthegrass]

thanks, for the post.

[Sacajaweau]

jobs are there...approve the pipeline...more fracking...keep coal as a viable source....Use windmills...not in a row...but for low development areas.

Here in Upstate NY...most of our stoves are electric....time to frack and insist on gas stoves.

[Hotlanta Mike]

And how will the rats make this happen? They and their leader have been proven liars to the American public, and their are now awakened to the lies.