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For months economists have been warning that the President's economic policies could be driving the US into a "double-dip" recession. A "double-dip" recession, occurs when the economy has a recession, emerges from the recession for a short period of growth, and quickly falls back into recession. The recession of the early 1980s is an example of a W-shaped recession. The economy fell into recession from January 1980 to July 1980, shrinking at an 8 percent annual rate from April to June of 1980. The economy then entered a quick period of growth, and in the first three months of 1981...

constitutional guardian "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson Monday, September 28, 2009 The Kennedy Tax Cuts and Prosperity--Part II Here's one for you. In 1894which prominent newspaper opposed the imposition of an income tax describing it as "...a vicious, inequitable unpopular, impolitic and socialist act?" Hmmm. Another hint: In 1909 they wrote that taxing income would get the government in the habit of "helping themselves to the property of others" a habit they feared would not be easily cured. (From The...

Thursday, September 24, 2009 Kennedy--Tax Cut Champion-Part I Like an old man, history has a tendency to repeat itself. Let's hope it does again. Soon. Especially when it comes to taxes. Our Founder’s fretted over taxes. They rebelled against them. They fought over them, debated them and eventually wrote a Constitution that all but ignored them. In short, taxes worried them. James Madison wrote in Federalist 10: "The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and...

The Laffer Curve is a simple idea: a government can’t raise taxes forever and expect to increase revenue along the way. Eventually you’re taking so much in taxes that people don’t have any reason to earn income. The argument is simple (and correct): if you have zero tax rate you get zero tax revenue. If you raise taxes just a bit, nobody will be discouraged from working, and you will collect some amount of revenue; therefore, the curve of revenue versus tax rate starts at zero and initially rises. But if the tax rate is 100%, nobody has any reason...

JEFFERSON CITY | House Speaker Ron Richard said this afternoon that federal officials have already warned against a plan to use federal stimulus dollars for a tax cut. Richard, a Joplin Republican, made the remarks in an appearance on the Fox News program Your World. "We've got a message from the OMB, the vice president, they don't like it," Richard said in the TV interview. "They say it's illegal and we're going anyway."

Don’t be surprised when a reporter for the liberal mainstream media shoves a microphone in your face at your local April 15th Tea Party demonstration and smugly asks, “Are you aware that the Boston Tea Party was actually initiated over a tax cut, not a tax increase?” Smile politely and answer oh-so-sweetly, “Yes, a tax cut for the British.” Confused? That’s the point. The liberal left is out to embarrass you ignorant, backwoods, Bible-thumping, gun-toting, conservative rednecks. Rather than speaking their lies to power, they’re playing cat-and-mouse with the wretched truth this time: The Tea Act of 1773 was actually...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Gail in Lakeside, Arizona, you're on Open Line Friday. Hi. CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you for all you do for us. RUSH: Thank you very much. CALLER: I wanted to share quickly what I found out when I had my taxes prepared last week. The man that prepared my taxes for me cautioned me to watch out for my tax cut. He said, and you may want to adjust your withholding to take that back away, because the tax rate tables for next year when preparing taxes are not changing. So I could possibly owe my tax...

I heard on Laura Ingraham today that it's proposed that the "savings" involved in mortgage and charitable tax deductions would be eliminated. Any factual info on that? This is only my second vanity in 10 years (LOL)

President Obama plans to sign his landmark economic recovery package Tuesday, but lawmakers are increasingly concerned that one of the bill's central proposals -- the tax cut for individuals -- will be too small and too temporary to have much effect. The stimulus plan would give a $400 tax cut to individuals and an $800 cut to couples. That boils down to an extra $13 a week for most workers starting in June. It would fall to about $8 extra per week next January.

Sources close to the Democratic leadership today disclosed that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle was part of a previously undisclosed experimental program designed to evaluate new economic concepts. The program was testing the concept of the Individual Volunteer Tax Reduction Program, and initial indications have been promising, according to Washington insiders. "It's been a useful program so far," Tim Geithner stated on conditions of anonymity, "It's just a shame that the Republicans have made this program a partisan issue, by refusing to join. On the test committee, there was just Tom and I, and whatever other Democrats are, uh,...

Obama Eyes $310 Billion in Tax Cuts" the headline blares. The Obama team comes to town to start the new year, and the run-up to his inauguration, with this announcement. How sly. This Obama tax cut package is to be part of the broader stimulus package now estimated to cost $775 billion. The problem is that there are tax cuts and there are tax cuts, and there are other things Obama calls tax cuts that are not even tax cuts. The "tax cuts" Obama is proposing for his stimulus package, like the rest of his stimulus package, are not going...

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama, commencing face to face consultations with congressional leaders Monday, is embracing an unexpectedly large tax cut of up to $300 billion. Obama said the country faces an "extraordinary economic challenge." Besides $500 tax cuts for most workers and $1,000 for couples, the Obama proposal includes more than $100 billion for businesses, an Obama transition official said. The total value of the tax cuts would be significantly higher than had been signaled earlier.

Bailing out a leaky boat may be the only way to prevent it from sinking, but bailing out sinking banks with taxpayer dollars is no way to keep our economy from sinking. I was one of the House conservatives who opposed the massive bank bailout last October because I didn’t believe that government was smarter than the stock market. And now that about $350 billion in taxpayers’ money has been spent without much success, I think it should stop right now. That’s why when Congress reconvenes -- presumably Monday -- I’ll introduce legislation to give all Americans a two-month income...

Good conservative congressman http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=20211048&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=638428&rfi=6

Why call it a tax “cut,” when your plan is to just dial back the tax law 9 years? Why, spin, of course. Truth is negligible to a presidential candidate, and downright blasphemy to a president (slash president-elect).

Depends on what the meaning of tax cut "is" By McCainiac Obama has a tax cut calculator on his web site in a not so veiled attempt to buy the votes of everyone making less than $250,000. I actually saw an ad for it on Drudge (see below).  Remember Bill Clinton's tax cut for the middle class? The tax cut he promised the middle class on the campaign trail in 1992? The tax cut that I and everyone else in the middle class never received during Clinton's eight years as President? Remember this... George W. Bush cut taxes for ALL...

$700 Taxpayer Bailout Gives Hollywood $470 Million Tax Cut Tuesday, October 21, 2008 By Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) – A tax break for movie and television producers who agree to film their shows in the United States – a part of the $700 billion economic stabilization package signed into law by President Bush on Oct. 3 – will cost taxpayers $470 million over the next 10 years, according to an Oct. 1 report published by the Joint Committee on Taxation. The tax cut, designed to entice Hollywood and TV producers to shoot their films domestically, will cost taxpayers $358...

Let’s be clear – and this is directed almost entirely at those who refuse to accept the fact that Senator Obama is promulgating a tax plan that incontrovertibly translates into welfare payments for those who absolutely do not deserve them – 40% of the American population do not – repeat do not – pay income tax. Period. You can spit up all the leftist harangues you like. You can refute what is unassailable to your heart’s content, but the reality is (I’ll say it again) that 40% of the American population (give or take a fraction or two) do not...

It's like déjà vu all over again." As John McCain heads into the second round of presidential debates tonight, Yogi Berra's words come to mind. Mr. McCain could do worse than remind the middle class what happened to them the last time a charismatic Democratic candidate promised them a tax cut. While he's at it, he might also remind them how much more expensive it will be to send Barack Obama to the White House at a time when his fellow Democrats will have a majority in both houses of Congress.

AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. John Baldacci said Monday he would propose lowering Maine's personal income taxes in the January session of the Maine Legislature, but how much depends on the state budget now being developed. "We are going to be doing more budget cutting, more budget restructuring, more efficiencies," he said Monday in an interview. "We have only just begun that process with jails and school administrative districts. More needs to be done, and we are going to do more of that and reduce the income tax on earned income."

BATON ROUGE -- An income-tax break that could be worth up to $1,000 a year for married couples is on its way to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk for a signature after receiving final, unanimous passage in the Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 87 by Sen. B.L. "Buddy" Shaw, R-Shreveport, would roll back income-tax rates to 2002 levels starting Jan. 1 by repealing the Stelly Plan increase that voters approved that year as part of a swap that also removed the sales tax on food and residential utilities. The upper chamber voted 38-0 to accept changes made by the House that...

BATON ROUGE - Income tax bracket changes under the Stelly Plan approved by voters in 2002 would go away in 2009 under a bill pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal and some state lawmakers. Today, Jindal was joined by Senate President Joel Chaisson, Speaker of the House Jim Tucker, Rep. Hunter Greene and Sens. Rob Marionneaux and Buddy Shaw in calling for the elimination of the bracket changes, a move they said will give taxpayers savings in their paychecks at the first of next year. “This is another historic day for Louisiana," Jindal said. "For years, taxpayers all over our state...

The Minnesota Tax Cut Coalition held its annual rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, drawing a crowd of about 1,000 people demanding that legislators stop "wasteful'' spending and allow Minnesotans to keep more of their paychecks. Government funding to support light rail transit, the social safety net and the Twins ballpark were among the targets of complaints among the crowd, which spilled across the Capitol lawn.

What we need is more production -- real production. And what encourages that is permanent tax reduction. In any economy, growth is a function of people and productivity. An increase of labor or capital will always result in higher levels of output. Unfortunately, the stimulus package being fast-tracked by Washington these days provides little incentive for increasing either. One would have thought by now that the mere escalation of government transfer payments -- whether in the form of rebates (the key element of a tentative agreement announced Thursday) or larger food-stamp and unemployment checks (a Democratic idea that's out of...

About a year ago, newly minted Vice President-elect Dick Cheney described the U.S. economy as being "on the front end of a recession." The veep's statement was made during the bitter recount period, and he was viciously attacked by outgoing Clinton officials as bad-mouthing the economy, merely improving the chances for George W. Bush's across-the-board tax-cut pledge. A year later, it turns out that the indispensible Mr. Cheney was a prescient economic forecaster. It's well known that third-quarter gross domestic product contracted by 0.4% and that virtually all measures of business investment, production, construction, jobs, and profits are heading downward....

...Wall Street's argument is that the housing recession and credit crisis threaten a larger downturn. The 30-day T-bill rate (under 2.9%) has sunk far below the fed funds rate of 4.25% after yesterday, so the Fed is said to be "behind the curve." We're told the banks caught up in the mortgage problems also need more "liquidity" if they're going to lend. Thus pesky details like $90 oil and the flagging greenback can be reckoned with later. Life would be grand if central banking were that simple. The Fed's main obligation is to protect the value of the currency, especially...

Former Department of Labor Secretary during the Clinton Administration and and current University of California at Berkeley Public Policy professor, Robert Reich, is calling for a tax cut: With the economy heading for recession, all eyes are on Ben Bernanke and the Fed, and the question everyone is asking is how much the Fed will cut short-term interest rates to stimulate the economy. But a Fed rate cut won't stimulate the economy. That's because lending institutions, fearing their portfolios are far riskier than they assumed several months ago, won't lend lots more just because the Fed lowers interest rates...So if...

The OECD has strongly advised Austria not to go ahead with plans to abolish inheritance and gift taxes because it would incease the structural imbalances in the country's tax system, where labour is taxed far more heavily than capital. "These steps should be reconsidered," said the Paris-based organisation in its latest country report released yesterday. Instead, Austria, which has one of the world's lowest tax rates on capital, should strive towards a higher taxation of real estate and increase excise and environmental taxes, the OECD advised. Earlier this year, the constitutional court ruled the existing inheritance and gift levies illegal....

Bush has NOT cut taxes By Mark Brandly tell others, or Digg this story.] While the occupation of Iraq is the major topic of debate in the 2008 presidential race, the candidates have also taken positions on George Bush's fiscal policies. We see Republican candidates supporting Bush's tax "cuts" and being asked to sign a pledge, a pledge they will all, except for Ron Paul, violate, promising not to raise taxes, while Democrats decry Bush's tax "cuts" and promise to at least consider rolling back the tax cuts should one of them take power. In short, there is general agreement...

At 12:00PM on Saturday April 14th, there will be a large and noisy Tax Cut rally on the steps of the State Capitol in St Paul Mn. This rally is being put together by Jason Lewis, a popular talk show host on KTLK-FM (100.3) and is also being sponsored by the Minnesota state Republican Party. This is YOUR premier chance to tell the DFL politicians to get their hands off YOUR money! A large and noisy turn-out may convince some of these DFL politicians (who won last fall in marginal districts) that voting for high taxes will be the political...

President Bush's tax cuts provide a convenient scapegoat for the nation's budget and economic challenges. Demagogued as "tax cuts for the rich," they've been blamed for everything from "runaway" deficits to "drastic" cuts in anti-poverty programs. Fortunately, virtually all of the conventional wisdom on this subject is wrong. Here are 10 widely held myths about the tax cuts -- and the facts that debunk them: Myth 1: Tax revenues are too low. Fact: Revenues in 2006 were 18.4 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), which is actually above the postwar historical average. Myth 2: The tax cuts substantially...

Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution By Michael D. Tanner Cato Institute, $22.95 In "Leviathan on the Right," Michael D. Tanner tells how Republicans have helped increase the federal government's power. One is tempted to compare the Republicans to preachers who denounce sin in the pulpit and then practice it at the no-tell motel. But Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, shows that such an analogy would be off point. Instead of hiding their support for big government, he writes, many conservatives openly embrace it. It would be...

The recent passage of a federal minimum wage act is expected to have little, if any, impact on San Diego employers. But rumored amendments in the Senate may prove otherwise. The House of Representatives passed HR 2, also known as the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, on Jan. 10. The act raises the minimum dollar amount an employee anywhere in the country may receive from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour within two years. Tina Fryar, an employment law attorney at the San Diego office of Littler Mendelson, said there’s no cause for any immediate concern locally because...

House Approves Changes to Budget Rules By ANDREW TAYLOR (Associated Press Writer) From Associated Press January 05, 2007 7:15 PM EST WASHINGTON - Resurgent House Democrats voted Friday, their second day back in control, to block future tax cuts or benefit increases from being financed with dollars that swell the national deficit. Republicans protested the change would imperil GOP-sponsored tax cuts that expire in four years. The new rule also could make it more difficult for the Democrats to fulfill campaign promises to cut student loan rates and extend tax cuts for the middle class. The drive to restore the...

Democrats have long attacked President Bush for the historic tax cuts he ushered through Congress during his first term and have promised to reverse at least some of them. But among their top priorities when they take over Congress next month is passing a permanent tax cut of their own. Included in their "Six for '06" platform that they say helped them win majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats promised to: "Make college tuition deductible from taxes, permanently." Their tax cut promise is neither an election-year gimmick, Democrats say, nor a reversal in their long-standing opposition to Mr. Bush's...

The Dallas City Council agreed in a straw vote on Monday to reduce the city’s property tax rate by 1.25 cents per $100 in assessed property value. That rate is far lower than originally proposed by City Manager Mary Suhm in her 2006-07 budget recommendation - the result of better-than-anticipated sales tax receipts and revenues expected from the city’s new red-light running camera program.

A rollback of the Massachusetts income tax rate to 5 percent -- something voters mandated in 2000 by decisively approving Question 4 on the state ballot -- is said to be a key issue in the Bay State's campaign for governor. But that's not quite accurate. To be sure, the candidates have had plenty to say on the subject, especially since an August poll showed that a solid majority of likely Democratic voters want the tax reduced from the current 5.3 percent. The real question at the heart of the candidates' differing positions, though, is not "Should the income tax...

... CBO informed lawmakers in May 2003 that the tax cuts would cost the treasury $94 billion in 2006. But it now appears that the cuts generated so much “unexpected” economic activity that the original CBO projection for 2006 was off by an astounding $124 billion! Add in last year’s underestimation of $89 billion, and the $25 billion oversight in 2004, and you have a cumulative CBO mistake that now totals $238 billion.

One budget watchdog says business groups and their legislative allies are hoping to exploit the favorable revenue climate to seek tax credits that could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, forcing even bigger budget cuts next year. Legislative leaders signed a letter last month agreeing to discuss the tax credit in August, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has stated his support for it. Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said he will work hard to get the film-credit bill passed this summer. ``If we don't provide tax relief, Hollywood production companies will leave California and we'll be without huge resources for our coffers,''...

WASHINGTON - In Jack Abramoff's world, prominent Washington tax-cut advocate Grover Norquist was a godsend. Moving money from a casino-operating Indian tribe to Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition founder and professed gambling opponent, was a problem. Lobbyist Abramoff turned to his longtime friend Norquist, apparently to provide a buffer for Reed. The result, according to evidence gathered by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, was that Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform became a conduit for more than a million dollars from the Mississippi Choctaw to Reed's operation, while Norquist, a close White House ally, took a cut. Without citing any specific...

Rain, Rain, didn't Go Away but We Dropped Literature Anyway... Despite the rain the campaign managed a total literature drop over the weekend of over 4000 pieces. It’s not what we hoped for but it was a Herculean effort and it made a great difference. Rain blocked some of our efforts and will stymie us all this week. We do hope to get literature out Friday afternoon and Saturday. I hope anyone reading this will join us for a great time! (Call the campaign (281)332-2899 or me (281)948-6103) “Special thanks” goes to my wife, Niki, and our kids, Sarah, Christopher,...

I don't DO many vanity type posts, but this subject requires input from folks all over the nation. My wife and I were discussing the HUGE proposed hike of storm insurance rates for us here in Florida due to increased hurricane activity. My genius wife had the BRILLIANT idea that legislation should be passed at the Federal level that would allow such insurance to be tax deductible. Not just the hurricane prone states (which this year runs from Maine to Mexico -- very unusual predictions) but also areas subject to earthquake, forest fire, tornado, etc. Pretty much everywhere in this...

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ABC radio reported that Congressional Republicans have agreed to an extension of G.W.'s tax cut proposal. 15 million taxpayers would have been a victim of the alternative minimum tax. The agreement also extends exiting low rate for capitol investment.

WACO, Texas – President Bush used the upcoming income tax-filing deadline and his weekly radio address to promote tax-cut proposals and set up an election-year debate with Democrats over the issue. In the broadcast Saturday, Bush urged Congress to permanently extend tax cuts that he pushed into law during his first term, which are set to expire in coming years. “Some Democrats in Washington are insisting that we let that happen, or even repeal the tax cuts now,” Bush said as he spent the weekend at his Texas ranch. “In either case, that would weaken our economy and would leave...

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush recommended slashing taxes by $1.5 billion Tuesday, punctuating his final year in office with a move that would let average homeowners pocket $155 while helping the state's biggest landowners save millions. The Republican governor's proposal is the largest one-time cut in state history and comes on the eve of his budget blueprint, which he plans to release today. Coming at the start of a pivotal election year, Bush's plan drew surprising support from some leading Democrats, who have long criticized his tax policies for steering $14.2 billion from the state treasury toward mostly wealthier Floridians...

Last year was a record for the nation's home building industry . The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of single-family homes and apartments totaled 2.065 million units last year. The increase of 5.6 percent over 2004 pushed overall residential construction to the second highest level on record, exceeded only by 2.357 million units built in 1972. Meanwhile, single-family home construction hit an all-time high for the third straight year, rising to 1.714 million units, up 6.4 percent from the previous record of 1.611 million homes built in 2004. The record-setting performance came despite the fact that housing activity dropped...

The House is scheduled to vote today on legislation that would extend a tax cut that has been crucial to the economic rebound of the past two years. The bill provides for a two-year extension of the current 15% tax rate on capital gains and dividends, due to expire in 2008. Pay attention, for this may be the most important vote on the economy the House has taken all year.[snip] The stock market has risen by about $4 trillion in value, and an estimated 40% of that gain is directly attributable to increases in the after-tax return on equities, thanks...

HARRISBURG -- The state Senate gave final approval last night to legislation that would make a small reduction in the personal income tax rate and provide some tax relief for businesses, but that Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell has vowed to veto.

The final budget numbers got very little attention. .... And it turns out that these numbers paint a fairly encouraging picture. ... Perhaps that’s why they didn’t get much coverage