Free Republic

During the Oct. 3, 2008 vice-presidential debate, in front of 70 million viewers, then-candidate Joe Biden made a promise to the American people: “No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama’s plan will see one single penny of their tax raised whether it’s their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment tax, any tax.” [Transcript] Biden’s promise echoed that of then-candidate Barack Obama. Speaking in Dover, New Hampshire on Sept. 12, 2008, Obama said: “I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not...

The looming Taxmageddon could affect how taxpayers look at their taxes. In a post by Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center, Williams presents the increasing importance of marginal tax rates (MRTs) relative to average tax rates. Williams states that “MTRs matter more than usual this year because of the impending [Taxmageddon].” Taxmageddon contains numerous tax hikes scheduled to increase MTRs, including increases on earned and investment income. In addition to the Taxmageddon tax hikes, the Obamacare law will also raise taxes on investment income. The effects of Taxmageddon and Obamacare will be devastating to taxpayers as the top MTR...

During the course of California Gov. Jerry Brown’s campaign for Proposition 30, the estimated $6 billion income and sales tax hike on the November ballot, school officials throughout the state have been warning students through letters, emails, rallies, and word of mouth that the passage of this ballot measure is essential and necessary for the continuation of the California educational system as it currently stands. While school officials are allowed to voice their personal opinion on an issue outside of their professional role, they are not allowed to lobby students or their parents on ballot measures using educational funds, as...

Today’s unemployment report resembled Obama’s debate performance: poor and misleading. Wednesday, the President tried to convince the American people that they are better off than they were 4 years ago, but Americans are not buying it. When the numbers are all against you, it is hard to disguise failure. Today’s job report reflects that failure. The report showed the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent, with the economy adding only 114,000 more jobs in the month of September. This is being hailed as good news by the President and the media. It speaks to how bad the economy is if...

The following are the top five tax increases on the middle class signed into law by the Obama-Biden administration: 1. The Obamacare Individual Mandate Non-Compliance Tax: Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services -- must pay an income surtax to the IRS. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that six million American families will be liable for the tax, and as pointed out by the Associated Press: “Most would be in the middle class.” In addition, 100 percent of Americans filing a tax return (140 million...

Internet freedom and intellectual property rights are often considered to be in conflict with each other, with a win for one cause generally seen as a loss for the other. However the newly formed Internet Association, a lobbying group whose powerful members include Google, Facebook, and Amazon, seems to differ with this notion. Michael Beckerman, the President of the group, who advocate for the protection of internet freedom and promotion of experiment and innovation, gave an interview two weeks ago in which he noted that, “I would say that no-one has done more to protect intellectual property than these Internet...

When politicians claim that they will save money by “in-sourcing” federal functions from contractors, or will respond to some new need by expanding the federal workforce, that has a cost to taxpayers. How much is that cost? In order to determine the cost of hiring a new federal bureaucrat, ATR has calculated the “all-in” cost of hiring a new federal employee. We include salary as well as benefits, pension contributions, training and other expenses, and payroll taxes. We assume a 40-year federal career. The numbers presented are both nominal and inflation-adjusted. Here are the results for a low-cost, medium-cost, and...

The Tax Policy Center (TPC) released a report in March of 2012 detailing the effects of the Romney tax reform plan on taxpayers. The conclusion reached by the Tax Policy Center stated that the Romney tax reform plan would cut taxes for high-income taxpayers and raise them for middle and lower-income earners. Since the report was released, President Obama and his team have ran with it and used it to undermine the credibility of Romney’s plan. Senior Analyst in Tax Policy at the Heritage Foundation, Curtis Dubay, released his rebuttal of the TPC report yesterday which revealed many of the...

Throughout Maryland, county governments have begun to push back against the reckless fiscal policies of Governor Martin O’Malley. During Maryland’s first special session, this past summer, Marylanders saw their taxes once again increased and witnessed the state government passing the buck on teacher pension liabilities to the county governments. In addition, Gov. O’Malley has put into action a whole slew of new regulations on vehicles, rainwater run-off, and septic systems. With continuously diminishing authority over local government specific issues and even higher taxes, county officials are hoping to posture themselves in order to curb not only the authority of the...

As we hit the home stretch in the North Carolina governor’s race — one of the most hotly contested gubernatorial races in the country this year — Democratic nominee Walter Dalton is going into desperation mode and getting sloppy with his remarks in the process. Earlier this week Americans for Tax Reform noted how Dalton unintentionally complimented his opponent, former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, by comparing him to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. In the same speech where Dalton made those remarks last week, the Democratic nominee also criticized Pat McCrory for saying nice things about Tennessee’s lack of an income...

The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) recently surveyed 236 business economists on fiscal policy issues, including the looming Taxmageddon and Obamacare. The results of the survey reflect a clear divide on taxes between economists and Democrats in Congress. According to the survey, a majority of respondents support the extension of “payroll tax cuts, current marginal income tax rates, and current tax rates for dividends and capital gains for most or all taxpayers through 2013.” Furthermore, between 35 and 45 percent favor the permanent extension of income, dividends, and capital gains at their current rate. On the issue of tax...

With the Chicago Teachers Union ending their seven school day strike earlier this week, the focus should now turn to the details of the new, tentatively, accepted deal: the CTU must vote to approve the deal on Oct. 2. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had a chance to truly reform the education system of Chicago and curb the over-indulgent greed of unions, beginning with the CTU. Instead, Mayor Emanuel is going to have to raise taxes to pay for the agreed upon demands of the CTU while trying to balance a city budget that is already $369 million in the red....

The pilots are at it again. While American Airlines languishes in bankruptcy court, they have taken the difficult steps of instituting cuts to wages, benefits, vacation time and flights. As a result, airline pilots are none-too-pleased, and could create countless problems for the millions of passengers the airline serves each year. According to a Wall Street Journal article: Airlines workers periodically perform badly or walkout to get the attention of management and gain leverage in negotiations. It’s a messy battle that leaves passengers as collateral damage. Late flights means families with small children get stranded at airports when they miss...

A recent survey conducted by BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager reflects growing pessimism over the looming 2013 fiscal cliff. A total of 253 panelists with $681 billion in managed assets participated in the September survey. For the month of September, 35 percent of investors surveyed listed the fiscal cliff as their biggest concern in contrast to the EU debt Crisis at 33 percent. The EU debt crisis had previously been listed as the biggest concern for investors at 48 percent for August. But as concern over the debt crisis in the EU subsides, investor focus has shifted to Congress' budget...

The Omaha City Council is currently pushing for the passage of a new ordinance that would add an occupation tax of 35 cents per pack of cigarettes purchased within the city of Omaha, Nebraska: this increase will be in addition to the 64 cents in state taxes. The annual revenue generated from this proposed ordinance is estimated at $35 million over ten years, and will go towards funding the construction of the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medical Center campus. The total cost of the project is estimated at $370 million. The state of Nebraska has already agreed...

Walter Dalton, North Carolina’s current Lt. Governor and Democratic nominee to be the state’s next governor, has been stepping up his attacks on Republican nominee Pat McCrory lately. On the campaign trail in Raleigh last Thursday, Dalton sought to tie McCrory to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. But a review of Walker’s record makes one wonder why Dalton finds this comparison to be a negative. Chief Executive magazine’s annual survey of CEOs on the best and worst states for business had Wisconsin making the biggest improvement of any state following Walker’s regulatory and labor law reforms in 2011, rising to 24th...

Simpson-Bowles targets permanently higher taxes. According to the Simpson-Bowles co-chair report, the revenue target of their proposal is to “cap revenue at or below 21 percent of GDP.” The Simspon-Bowles revenue target is much higher than the historical average. Using historical data either from CBO or OMB, it’s clear that the historical tax revenue burden is closer to 18.5 percent of GDP. Simspon-Bowles is a $5 trillion net tax hike relative to historical tax levels. If Simpson-Bowles’ revenue target was in place for the whole next decade, it would raise $5 trillion more in tax revenue than if historical revenue...

New York City has sealed the deal: The New York City Board of Health voted to approve Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on large-size sodas. Starting March 12th, 2013, New Yorkers will have to look outside the Big Apple of get many soft drinks that are larger than 16 ounces. This ban is the first of its kind in the country and is another wrong-headed crusade in the war against obesity. A Cry for Freedom by Houston Food Trucks: An owner of a Houston Food truck has petitioned the city council to be able to park his food truck downtown after learning...

The House Committee on Ways and Means has compiled an estimate of the total amount of hours it will take to comply with the taxes contained in Obamacare. Based on IRS estimates, it will take nearly 80 million hours for families and businesses to comply with Obamacare taxes. To put this in perspective, according to Ways and Means, it is the equivalent of the Empire State Building being constructed 11 times, a building which took 7 million man-hours to build. To make matters worse, Ways and Means has concluded that over half of the burden of tax compliance for Obamacare...

Gas prices are on the rise again in Ohio, squeezing family budgets even tighter as the economy fights headwinds from D.C. in its attempt to recover. It’s time to take a hard look at Sen. Sherrod Brown’s long record of opposing energy policies that promote job creation and affordable energy across the country. Here’s a breakdown of Sherrod Brown’s votes for the radical environmental lobby, and against American families and job creators: Keystone Pipeline: Not only did Brown vote against approval of the Keystone XL pipeline; he voted for an amendment that would have prohibited the export of crude oil...