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Delays to Tax Tables May Dent Paychecks (higher witholding for everyone in 2011)
Wall Street Journal ^ | October 7, 2010 | LAURA SAUNDERS

Posted on 10/07/2010 7:19:16 AM PDT by reaganaut1

Lack of congressional action on 2011 income taxes may force the Treasury Department to make unprecedented moves to prevent U.S. workers from seeing large tax increases in their January paychecks.

The issue: 2011 tax-withholding tables. Treasury officials usually release the tables, which determine the take-home pay of millions of wage-earners, by mid-November because it takes payroll processors weeks to adjust their systems before Jan. 1.

But congressional leaders recently postponed voting on taxes until after the election and lawmakers don't reconvene until Nov. 15. The Senate is scheduled to take up several nontax issues when it returns and is expected to leave for Thanksgiving soon after, possibly pushing a vote on taxes into December.

"Things get very dicey after the first of December" because of employers' need to know the 2011 rates, said Michael Graetz of Columbia University Law School, a former Treasury official.

Lawmakers' recent track record on dealing with tax matters doesn't inspire confidence that they will act with dispatch. Congress has yet to resolve the estate tax, which expired at the end of last year and is set to snap back to high rates come January. Nor has it tackled the alternative minimum tax for 2010, a levy that is set to hit 32 million taxpayers this year, compared with five million last year.

Some Capitol Hill tax staffers have suggested that the Treasury could set 2011 withholding at current levels for joint filers earning less than $250,000 ($200,000 for single filers), on the assumption that Congress seems likely to enact this change. Others have suggested that if Congress doesn't act in time, Treasury officials might consider a one- or two-month grace period in which it maintains current tables until Congress passes tax legislation.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: democrats; elections; fail; incometaxes; irs; obama; obamataxincrease; taxcheatparty; taxes; taxincreases
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The campaign ad almost writes itself. "Obama promised you a tax cut, but come this January, every working American will get a smaller paycheck because the Democrats have refused to extend tax cuts."

"Some Congressional staffers" think the Treasury Department is supposed to guess what Congress will do rather than implement the laws it has passed.

1 posted on 10/07/2010 7:19:17 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

unexpectedly.


2 posted on 10/07/2010 7:20:05 AM PDT by Doogle (IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN....PLEASE donate, because it's the RIGHT thing to do)
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To: reaganaut1
If they don't increase withholding, there will be a lot of very unhappy people on April 15, 2012 when they find out how much they are going to have to scrape up to pay their federal income taxes.

It's about time that people FELT the taxes they are paying.

3 posted on 10/07/2010 7:21:36 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The only stable state is one in which all men are equal before the law." -- Aristotle)
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To: reaganaut1
No, no, no ... it wasn't a tax cut ... pay cut ... he meant PAY cut.

See how easy that is?

Don't even need the kind'a cool, stroke o'the pen ... just do nothing.

All incumbents out.

4 posted on 10/07/2010 7:24:06 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The many new tens of millions that will pay AMT better save a chunk of money now, for the bill will be due in April on money they are earning NOW- no time for withholding to catch up


5 posted on 10/07/2010 7:24:50 AM PDT by silverleaf (The lesser of two evils is still evil.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
If people had to actually pay their taxes on April 15th instead of having them automatically withdrawn ... their would be no welfare.
6 posted on 10/07/2010 7:29:57 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama = Epic Fail)
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To: reaganaut1

Ads must go for our enemies jugular and expose their treason and arrogance against the American people. The enemies within must be exposed for what they are. RATs fear exposure more than anything else.


7 posted on 10/07/2010 7:33:50 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead (Take back our country on November 2, 2010. Let's Roll!!!)
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To: reaganaut1
Should be interesting. Congress didn't do their job this year but still collected their regular pay plus a pay raise; the rest of us didn't get a COLA (retirees) and those still working get more taxes taken out. This happens equally to the rats as well as the rest of us sane people yet 95 percent of the rats will still vote rat! Get these guys out of here!
8 posted on 10/07/2010 7:38:49 AM PDT by New Jersey Realist (Congress doesn't care a damn about "we the people")
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To: reaganaut1
"I have never seen withholding tables based on assumptions about the law," he said.

Obviously the correct answer.

9 posted on 10/07/2010 7:49:03 AM PDT by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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To: Doogle

UNfreakin’believable!


10 posted on 10/07/2010 7:49:31 AM PDT by WAW (Which enumerated power?)
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To: reaganaut1

This deserves a protest! A serious Pitchforks and Torches protest!

Before the new congress is seated, before the new year, I would love to see 100,000 Americans on the Capital Mall in a nighttime protest, where I’d love to see 100,000 angry tax-paying Americans light their torches and march up to the White House or the Capital and shake our pitchforks and torches at them. I would call it the “Fair Warning” march.

I would be willing to donate hay, pitch, labor in making torches, I would gladly pass them out and would absolutely delight in watching these torches be lit one by one...

I would be willing to donate pillows (or feathers) and I am sure I could find someone willing to donate at least one large bucket of cold tar.

After a few speaches and the lighting of the torches, march up to the Capital for a few chants, a few speaches, and then we can sing a few patriotic songs. The last words from some speaker/leader will be “You are duly warned.”

And then we can all leave in a deafening silence.

The point would be to let them know, we came to give them a warning, that we love America, and if they continue to ruin it, and fail to heed our warning, they need to leave.

They need to fear us.

April 14 should be Tax REVOLT Day if they allow this to happen. Everyone files the forms, but sends in a check marked VOID. In the memo, I would put, “You no long have consent to govern.” Even if only 3% of returns are done this way, it would be enough to starve Leviathan.


11 posted on 10/07/2010 8:03:50 AM PDT by WAW (Which enumerated power?)
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To: WAW

” After a few speaches and the lighting of the torches, “

All of those open flames would bring out the EPA SWAT teams - especially if it’s a “no-burn” night.... ;)


12 posted on 10/07/2010 8:07:04 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: Uncle Ike

PITCFORKS, TORCHES, TAR & FEATHERS.

It needs to be symbolism they cannot ignore.

I will personally be willing to risk it. They bring out SWAT...Really? They want a Kent State incident on that scale on the Capital Mall?! Really?

My life is worth it! My country is worth it!


13 posted on 10/07/2010 8:10:12 AM PDT by WAW (Which enumerated power?)
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To: WAW

The patriots of old did not wave torches and pitchforks like political signs. They literally threatened to use them. I think a symbolic use of them would read like a cheap political ploy at the very least and a violent mob at the worst. I reject this idea, because real police or military force would flood the streets in response. Do you want that to happen?


14 posted on 10/07/2010 8:34:40 AM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife (Utopia is being foisted on Americans for their own good.-- J. Robert Smith)
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To: All

Note the switcheroo where they mention singles earning less than $200,000. Originally it was $250,000 that Obama’s promised would not see tax hikes. Did he specify joint filers? I don’t think so. As it is, I only make 18K so no matter what happens, I am screwed no matter who is in office.


15 posted on 10/07/2010 8:56:07 AM PDT by PghBaldy (Like the Ft Hood Killer, James Earl Ray was just stressed when he killed MLK Jr.)
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To: reaganaut1
The campaign ad almost writes itself. "Obama promised you a tax cut, but come this January, every working American will get a smaller paycheck because the Democrats have refused to extend tax cuts."

They're NOT tax cuts! Either our taxes stay the same or they are raised.

"Obama promised not to raise taxes, but come this January, every working American will get a smaller paycheck because the Democrats have raised your taxes beginning this new year."

16 posted on 10/07/2010 9:02:55 AM PDT by avacado
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To: Pan_Yans Wife

I don’t see it as a ploy...

And what do you imagine happens if they use force on a peaceful crowd?

I am talking about a “Fair Warning.” If they decide to initiate force, then they have given their answer...

The original true patriots pledged their lives for this country. That is a very serious and personal decision. I do not take it lightly.

My country is worth it. The country I love is worth my life.

If it’s ‘cheap’ and they respond with bullets as you contend, then how ‘cheap’ is it really? It’s hard to call it cheap, if you really do feel lives are at stake.


17 posted on 10/07/2010 9:30:33 AM PDT by WAW (Which enumerated power?)
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To: WAW

I wish you luck then with your pitchfork in front of police bullets or a tank.

I do not believe most Americans think that the time is ripe for armed revolution. And if they did, I don’t think they would use pitchfork and torches. The Second Amendment stands in defiance of such limited force from the citizens.


18 posted on 10/07/2010 9:34:42 AM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife (Utopia is being foisted on Americans for their own good.-- J. Robert Smith)
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To: silverleaf

true, that.

“23 Million Americans Hit by a Tax Hike, But They May Not Know It Yet”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/millions-middle-class-americans-may-soon


19 posted on 10/07/2010 9:45:18 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: Pan_Yans Wife

Imagine the scene just described...

100,000 pitchfork and torch bearing Americans at night surrounded by police or other armed units.

If we yell, chant, sing...What do they do? If we are peaceful - even if we are demonstrably ‘angry’ - but take no action that can that initiates the use of force...What do they do?

I can easily imagine they stand by until the protest is over.

If a riot breaks out -God forbid - the symbolism is very dangerous all the way around, but it will be noted by both sides that the time for action has arrived and that ‘fair warning’ will have been answered.

After that...After that decision is made to initiate the use of force has been made by the authorities, then you can more concretely assess which side you are on, what action you will take...

I am not advocating a mob like the lefty anarchist types who destoyed shops, cars and all that and rioted...

They know that the patriots of old didn’t show up to just wave their torches and pitchforks, but we can announce this as an angry but peaceable protest...We can announce it as a “Fair Warning.” Let our actions speak louder than our words.

But let me be clear...They symbolism - regardless of the method used - should be unmistakable.

The government that takes such action against it’s people should indeed fear the reaction of those people. They should fear us. They need to take note before the new congress is seated, so they can have the proper debate and take action to address matters....

Right here, right now, it is not apparent to me we are being heard, because they persist in the direction of tyranny.

I think a statement like that - or similar - I am certainly open to suggestions - but a bold statement needs to be made to get their attention.

I want to hear President Obama or Speaker Reid or Speaker Pelosi say, “OK. We hear you. We’ve gone too far...”

Or...

I equally want to hear them say to the American public, “You can’t do this...You have to obey your leaders...We have to do this because...”

We take our stand, so they have to take their stand.

Let the lines be drawn boldly so American - each an every one of us - knows on which side they have chosen.


20 posted on 10/07/2010 9:46:58 AM PDT by WAW (Which enumerated power?)
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