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House and Senate negotiators have released a conference committee report spelling out several of the provisions of the payroll tax cut extension legislation, which also extends unemployment benefits and the “doc fix” for Medicare reimbursements for physicians. The bill would extend the 2 percentage point cut in Social Security and Medicare withholding taxes to 4.2 percent through the end of the year. The payroll tax cut provision would put a full $1,000 in the pockets of the typical American family over the course of 2012, according to the office of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. Under current law,...

WASHINGTON — Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown was more than four months delinquent in paying taxes on his Washington, D.C., apartment and had to pay a penalty and interest last week. This was not the first time, records show. Brown also was delinquent in 2006 and 2007 and paid penalties and interest, according to tax records from the District of Columbia. "I was late," he said on a conference call with reporters when asked about the recent delinquency. "I misplaced the bill and I paid it as soon as I found out. I paid a penalty for being late,...

Yeah, I know I'm supposed to feel all warm and fuzzy about the fact that Democrats and Republicans didn't play this out to the 11th hour, like they do with every other dispute these days. We're supposed to cheer because the system worked and it produced a bipartisan result in a year that will see precious few of them. Too bad that it sucks money out of an already-ailing trust fund while delivering none of the economic impact promised when we tried it last year:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Congressional negotiators resolved all differences on an agreement to extend...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum released four years of federal income tax returns on Wednesday night, showing a sharp rise in his personal wealth spurred by his growing work as Washington-based corporate consultant and media commentator. Santorum's returns show that his federal income taxes rose from 2007, when he paid $167,000, to $310,000 in 2009, then dropped to $263,000 in 2010. During that same period, his annual income surged from nearly $660,000 in 2007 to $1.1 million in 2009 before slipping to $923,000 in 2010. That amounts to an effective tax rate of about 28.5 per cent for the latter...

In a pact early Thursday morning, congressional negotiators gave final approval to an economic plan worth more than $150 billion that would extend a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. A key roadblock was overcome when the lawmakers agreed to require new federal workers to contribute more to their pension plans, clearing the way around 12:30 a.m. for a majority of the House-Senate conference committee to begin signing the deal. The pension provision represented a concession to key Maryland Democrats who, even after prodding from President Obama, did not grant their support until current federal workers were shielded from the...

Gallup polled small-business owners (value under $20M) about their expansion plans in early January, which for some strange reason didn’t get reported until today. Among those who do not plan to hire — 85% of the entire sample — almost half of all such businesses cited expected costs from health care coverage and government regulation: U.S. small-business owners who aren’t hiring — 85% of those surveyed — are most likely to say the reasons they are not doing so include not needing additional employees; worries about weak business conditions, including revenues; cash flow; and the overall U.S. economy. Additionally, nearly...

While headlines yesterday crowed and complained of the small rise in the budget and the focus on taxing the wealthy - which admittedly given the peak polarization in political parties is unlikely to actually move into legislation anytime soon - JPMorgan's Michael Cembalest finds perhaps the most controversial part of the proposal hidden deep in the report. While the JPM CIO notes the CBO baseline and alternative scenarios, it is the difference between the $293bn benefit (CBO estimate from last year) and the Administration's new estimate of $584bn that caught his eye as buried on Page 73 of the...

Nearly half of U.S. households receive government benefits. We’ve reached record highs of those relying on government-paid benefits, which is to say, benefits paid for by taxpayers, which is another way of saying redistributed wealth. Which is another way of saying socialism....

President Obama released his FY 2013 budget [Monday] morning. By his own numbers, his budget raises net taxes over the next decade by $1.56 trillion (Table S-9, page 225). As a percentage of the economy, tax revenues would rise all the way to 20.1% of GDP in 2022, far higher than the historical tax revenue average of 18.3% of GDP (Table S-1, page 205). Here are some of the tax lowlights: All 20 of the new or higher taxes in Obamacare are assumed to take place. That means that there will be a 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income....

Rep. Scott Garrett (R., N.J.) had a nice gambit just now in a hearing with President Obama’s acting OMB director Jeffrey Zients. First he asked Zients if the Obama budget imposes any new taxes on Americans making less than $200,000. When Zients answered that it did not, Garrett followed up by asking if an individual making less than $200,000 a year opted not to carry health insurance, in contravention of the Affordable Care Act, is the fine associated with that decision a tax? After some hemming and hawing, Zients answered that the fine did not constitute an tax.

The Sacramento Bee website is reporting that the number of top-income taxpayers in California has declined by a third. In an article in its Capitol Alert section, the Bee says that those Californians with $500,000 and up taxable incomes have declined from almost 150,000 in 2007 to slightly under 100,000 in 2009. The article also notes that the 100,000, representing just over a half percent of the 14.6 million returns, accounted for 18.8 percent of total income reported, but paid 32 percent of all income taxes in 2009. If Governor Jerry Brown wonders where a whole bunch of those making...

President Obama’s budget speech on Monday expanded on the theme of economic “fairness,” like his State of the Union speech in January. He lectured Americans that if critical steps are not taken, the rise of the middle class will be threatened and disparities between the rich and the rest will continue to grow. A general theme was that taxing the rich would get us a long way towards reducing income inequality. This may be why President Obama failed to extend the promise he made last year to fight for corporate tax reform. Why lower tax rates on “rich” corporations if...

Geithner: Tax hikes must be part of budgetBy Peter Schroeder - 02/14/12 01:18 PM ET Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told skeptical Republican senators Tuesday that it is simply not possible to correct the nation’s fiscal problems without raising taxes. Geithner defended President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal before the Senate Finance Committee and said the plan is the only option he sees for helping the economy and addressing the deficit without hurting the middle class. "I do not see how you get there if you are unable ... to contemplate and to embrace modest increases in revenue through tax reform," Geithner...

...........Mr.Obama's insincerity on tax reform has been a giant missed opportunity. Mr. Romney is the get-it-done candidate. He could not only point to Mr. Obama's failure to act, but explain why—because it would conflict with the campaign of class resentment that he and his surrogates are so busy denying they intend to run on in the fall. Mr.Romney needs to do something. Mr.Santorum's rise is a telling rebuke—a "conservative" who hails from a blue state and yet who succeeded because he found a natural way to bridge the gap, thanks to his affiliation with unions and hard-hat workers. Yes, his...

President Obama's proposed 2013 budget contains a decade-long surge of tax hikes that, if approved, would affect everything from income to investment to inheritance. The budget blueprint contains roughly $2 trillion in new taxes and fees. When other tax cuts and credits are counted, the net impact from the proposals is still about $1.5 trillion. Though Republicans already are mounting a vigorous campaign against the proposal, many of the tax provisions still could become law unless Congress takes action to stop them. ,,,, But the budget also imposes various fees, such as a hike in the airline "security fee," as...

Illinois state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston) has endorsed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to create a statewide gun registry in order to decrease gun violence, according to a news release issued Friday. Emanuel proposed requiring gun owners to register each handgun in their possession at a fee of $65 per gun. Currently, Chicago's gun control laws ban weapon sales in the city and prohibit people from taking guns out of their homes. For 28 years Chicago banned gun ownership entirely, until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that policy in June 2010. Prospective Illinois gun owners must obtain a firearm owner's...

A decision was made during the Bradley County Commission work session Monday afternoon to place a resolution to call for a referendum on the question of whether a countywide motor vehicle tax (wheel tax) of $32 should be levied. Commissioner and Education Committee Chairman Jeff Yarber proposed the wheel tax resolution several weeks ago as a solution to funding requests for capital projects by the county school system. The county school system needs an estimated $25.5 million for a new elementary school, improvements and expansion for Walker Valley High School and Lake Forest Middle School and land for a third...

Announcing his budget plans for fiscal year 2013 in an address at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., President Barack Obama characterized the current income tax rates--signed into law by President Bush a decade ago--as a form of government spending. Essentially, the president said that the federal government "spends" when it does not raise taxes. “Right now, we’re scheduled to spend more than $1 trillion more on what was intended to be a temporary tax cut for the wealthiest two percent of Americans,” Obama said. “We’ve already spent about that much. Now we’re expected to spend another $1 trillion....

Obama Energy Tax Proposals The President’s FY 2013 budget contains billions in tax increase on energy production and consumption. These taxes will result in higher prices at the pump, increased utility bills, and fewer American jobs as companies flee the U.S. and companies cannot recover their investments. Below is a breakdown of energy taxes Obama put forth in his 2013-2022 budget: [HTML Chart was over 300 words so I could not carry it over.] ATR Recommendations Congress should reject these new tax increases and move to rapidly increase access to domestic energy resources in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, part...

The U.S. House this week will vote on H.R. 4013, a bill which will continue payroll tax relief for the remainder of 2012. In all of 2011 and through February of 2012, the Social Security payroll tax rate nominally paid by employees has been reduced by two percentage points, from 6.2% to 4.2%. For someone earning $50,000 annually, this has reduced their FICA tax by $1000 over the year. Americans for Tax Reform is supportive of this extension of payroll tax relief: Now is not the time for workers to see their take-home pay decline because their taxes went up....

TMZ reports that Whitney Houston‘s body was flown home to Newark, New Jersey on Tyler Perry’s private jet. The film-maker was reportedly in Los Angeles on a press junket for his upcoming film, Good Deeds. When he heard of Houston’s death, he immediately offered his jet as transportation.

Out on the campaign trail, Fed head Ben Bernanke is an unpopular guy. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have both said they would replace Bernanke, not reappoint him. Rep. Ron Paul would swap the whole Federal Reserve monetary system for a gold-linked dollar, making the yellow metal legal tender. And it was Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, before he dropped out of the race, who said more quantitative easing by the Fed would be "almost treasonous." Republicans in Washington are equally unimpressed by Bernanke. Rep. Paul Ryan recently criticized the Fed for bankrolling our huge budget deficits and thereby accommodating...

America’s most distinguished leaders get their hair cut at the Senate barbershop, but taxpayers are the ones really getting clipped. The barbershop ran almost $300,000 in the red last year but received an infusion from Senate coffers that is keeping it in business, the Senate sergeant at arms, Terrance Gainer, told The Daily. A federal bailout isn’t that unusual since the economic downturn, but some senators didn’t even know their salon was in hot water — and don’t think it should be, considering what they pay for a little off the ears. A shampoo, cut and blow dry is $27...

White House Economic Adviser: 'We Need a Global Minimum Tax' Daniel Halper February 13, 2012 2:41 PM Gene Sperling, director of the White House's national economic council, said today at an official meeting that "we need a global minimum tax": “He supports corporate tax reform that would reduce expenditures and loopholes, lower rates for people investing and creating jobs in the U.S., due so further for manufacturing, and that we need to, as we have the Buffett Rule and the individual tax reform, we need a global minimum tax so that people have the assurance that nobody is escaping doing...

(Reuters) - Airlines and their passengers would pay up to $32 billion in new air traffic and security fees over 10 years, and grants to big airports would fall sharply under White House budget proposals on Monday aimed at deficit reduction. The Obama administration wants major carriers, their passengers, business jets and airports to pick up more of the costs of air travel and airport improvements that for years have been borne by taxpayers. New fees are sure to trigger strong opposition from airlines and other aviation groups who argue that the industry is already over-taxed and over-regulated. Ideas quietly...

It is amazing how much legislators forget while they are in Richmond. While their constituents are home balancing their budget and making do with much less, the Senate of Virginia is supporting efforts to increase taxes. This week, the Virginia State Senate will consider a bill that will increase the gas tax (SB 631). The sponsor of the bill calls this an “inflation adjustment,” but AFP-VA is calling this a tax increase on hard working families of Virginia. Increasing the gas tax will drive up consumer costs; unfairly hurting the less fortunate and the unemployed. Tell your Legislators you oppose...

Did you see President Obama's new 2013 budget? It's filled with $1.5 trillion in tax increases for the rich. It appears that the president and his leftist cabal believe we are all stupid. They believe if you tell enough lies, the lies become fact. They spend all day, every day, trying to convince Americans that taxes on the rich are too low.

Taxpayers are unlucky in love this Valentine’s Day. Of an identified $17 billion in Valentine’s Day related spending on candy, flowers, dinner, jewelry, greetings cards, clothing, and hotels, government composes 33.14 percent of those costs—approximately $5.6 billion in revenues. But how does government love thee? Let us tax the ways…. This year’s average Valentine’s Day spending is estimated to be $126.03 a person, an 8 percent increase in spending since last year. Valentine’s Day spending is subject to income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, and other taxes on business activity. Government then includes additional fees, excise taxes, and international...

Switzerland is in the unfortunate position of being bullied and harassed by the U.S. government. The crux of the problem is that the United States arguably has the world's worst tax system for international activity, and this creates conflict with other nations, particularly ones that have good tax laws that attract investment. This has resulted in a number of different attacks against Swiss sovereignty. On the multilateral front, the Obama Administration is actively supporting the anti-tax competition project of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. On the unilateral front, the United States is imposing onerous laws on the entire...

Drawing on $1 trillion in deficit reductions already negotiated in last summer's debt ceiling deal, President Obama's next fiscal year budget -- out Monday -- will call for an additional $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to go with $1.5 trillion in new taxes on corporations and high-income earners. The $4 trillion, 10-year spending plan -- the last Obama budget proposal before the presidential election -- uses savings from the Iraq and Afghanistan military withdrawals to drive down the deficit, pledges $476 billion over six years for infrastructure projects, $350 billion in short-term stimulus-style spending for job creation and $60 billion...

President Barack Obama will call for cutting the top 35 percent corporate tax rate as early as this month, according to two sources close to the administration. The president is likely to propose a rate closer to an average of that seen in peer nations, the sources said. This would jibe with remarks made last year by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who suggested the United States should be moving to a rate more in line with its major trading partners in the high 20-percent range. Obama outlined tax measures - including closing tax loopholes for companies that move facilities and...

According to a Jan. 31 Associated Press report, the notion of eliminating or dramatically reducing state income taxes is gathering steam. The AP reported that in Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina — all but one of which elected a Republican governor in 2010 — this idea is getting a serious look. Currently, only nine states lack an income tax. Until 1991, Connecticut was income-tax-free as well. Considering what has happened in the Constitution State since then, one really can't blame those considering repeal. In '91, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. and the legislature enacted Connecticut's first...

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, in her State of the State Address, outlined a bold plan for tax reform focused on reducing rates and consolidating Oklahoma’s seven tax brackets. The plan would end Oklahoma’s complicated seven bracket income tax structure that begins taxing on the first penny any Oklahoman earns, instead replacing the structure with three brackets – Oklahoman’s making below $15,000 a year would pay a 0-percent rate, those making under $35,000 would pay a 2.25-percent rate, and those making $35,000 and above would pay a 3.5-percent rate. The Tax Foundation ranks Oklahoma as 38th in the nation in terms...

Taxes are set to go up on 160 million Americans in a few weeks. But there’s little sign of urgency — let alone progress — coming out of Washington. House lawmakers dashed out of town Thursday for a four-day weekend, but not before engaging in another round of sniping. Meanwhile, the clock continued to tick toward the end-of-month expiration of the 2 percent payroll tax holiday. Democrats formally rejected two GOP measures to rework unemployment insurance – provisions that Republicans say are needed to gain their support to extend the tax credit. One tweak would force people who receive unemployment...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24nH03NccI&feature=player_embedded

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans are looking to deny child tax credits to illegal immigrants — refund checks averaging $1,800 a family — in an effort that has roused anger among Hispanics and some Democratic lawmakers. The proposal, which would require people who claim the federal credit to have Social Security numbers to prove they're legal workers, is being offered as a way to help pay for extending the Social Security tax cut for most American wage-earners. It would trim federal spending by about $10 billion over a decade. .... Says Leticia Miranda, senior policy adviser of the National Council of...

Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don't qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — With the city going broke you may be surprised to find out that Los Angeles is the proud owner of a million dollar yacht and it is about to undergo hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations at taxpayer expense. As the head of the Port of Los Angeles raced down the hall, they tried to block our camera and dodged our questions, not wanting to talk about a yacht owned by the port, which is a city agency. But the mayor said that it is not what we think. “It’s not a yacht. It’s a...

PEORIA -- Caterpillar Inc. will not be building its new North American plant anywhere in the state of Illinois, officials with the company told local leaders Tuesday, with part of the reason being continued concerns about the business climate in the state. The company will instead focus on a location closer to its division headquarters in Cary, N.C., Peoria County officials were told in an email sent to them shortly after the close of business and later obtained by the Journal Star. The plant stood to bring with it from Japan roughly 1,000 jobs manufacturing track-type tractors and mini hydraulic...

Two sweeping public employee pension reform measures won’t be placed on the November ballot, as their backers couldn’t raise the $2 million or so to mount petition drives for either, it was announced today. And if you think that’s bad, consider the fact that three huge tax increase measures are likely to be on the ballot, as our editorial today notes...

Union leaders are asking Democratic candidates for governor to veto the next state budget if it doesn't restore collective bargaining for public workers and at least one leading candidate - Kathleen Falk - has agreed, participants in the private meetings say.

The American public's dependence on the federal government shot up 23% in just two years under President Obama, with 67 million now relying on some federal program, according to a newly released study by the Heritage Foundation. The conservative think tank's annual Index of Dependence on Government tracks money spent on housing, health, welfare, education subsidies and other federal programs that were "traditionally provided to needy people by local organizations and families." The increase under Obama is the biggest two-year jump since Jimmy Carter was president, the data show. The rise was driven mainly by increases in housing subsidies, an...

SACRAMENTO, Calif- A new tax proposal could be the answer to our state's budget mess. The proposal? Tax illegal immigrants. The people behind the initiative said they can get illegal immigrants to pay income taxes, but first the Governor must get a promise from the federal government, it won't go after anyone here illegally and is part of the program. "Trying to get the federal government to not spend resources on those folks who are filing and paying I don't know why that would come about, I would suspect some sort of political motivation in Sacramento visa vie Washington." Attorney...

It's not good when people want to raise taxes. But, ironically, it may turn out to be good that so many different people want to raise taxes in California. It appears increasingly likely that three competing tax initiatives will appear on the November ballot, which could result in voters rejecting them all. We don't often agree with Gov. Jerry Brown, who is pushing one of the three tax increases. But we do agree with the governor that several initiatives on the same ballot could confuse voters and divide the pro-tax vote, resulting in none of them passing. The difference is...

When it spawns a new tax. Remember last December when our public "servants" in Washington "gave" working folk tax relief in the form of a payroll tax holiday? Yay! An early Christmas! Thank you Santa! Well, they needed to "pay" for this generosity somehow, so our dear Congresscritters and president devised a brand new tax--sorry, fee--on home mortgages originating from Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, or about 90% of all new mortgages. Let's look at some of the salient features of this political sleight-of-hand: •The fee is not broken out as a separate line item in the loan paperwork, it's...

Nowhere is the haughtiness of American politics better displayed than with our dueling former Speakers. The latest love spat between Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi illuminates America’s sorry political state. She keeps coyly insinuating she knows something and will time its release for maximum damage. It appears Mr. Gingrich is finished anyway, and I’m no fan. His infidelities trouble me. His overarching concern seems to be Newt Gingrich, a not uncommon trait in politicians, but hardly the attribute of a transcendent leader. His prior associations with Mrs. Pelosi promoting Cap and Trade and frequent policy flip-flops reveal an unscrupulous opportunist....

Taxes: The Senate hasn't passed a budget in over a thousand days, yet it has time to consider one member's bill to make the no-growth logic of the administration's favorite billionaire the law of the land. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from the state ranking among the highest in foreclosures and unemployment, would prefer leaving the ship of state to drift rudderlessly. "We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it's done, we don't need to do it," Reid told reporters Friday. Reid's idea of getting things done is punting to a supercommittee...

As a general matter, retroactive tax hikes are bad tax policy and even worse governance. There's a reason the Founding Fathers put a prohibition on "ex post facto" laws in the Constitution. When it comes to taxes, it's not fair for employers and families to comply with the tax code only to find that the rules then changed after the fact, and after it's too late to do anything about your original choice. It's "heads I win, tails you lose" government at its worst. Yet that is precisely what Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is proposing to do...

We're sure there will be those who read this post and blame the messenger, yours truly. But we’re just passing along a suggestion from a reader. Here goes: “…here is a fair idea for all us tax payers. In the investing world, shareholders get 1 vote for each share they own. . ."

President Obama is now campaigning all of the country in the name of “fairness” especially how it relates to the US Tax Code. According to President Obama, “fair” means a progressive tax (where as one makes more money, they pay a higher percentage in taxes). What he’s trying to do through his “fairness” campaign is make the progressive tax more progressive by increasing tax rates on those that have higher incomes. According to the Obama administration, it is more “fair,” to raise taxes on the rich. I’m here to tell you that this isn’t true. Of course all of that...