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Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like thisÂ… The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing The fifth would pay $1 The sixth would pay $3 The seventh would pay $7 The eighth would pay $12 The ninth would pay $18 The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59 So, thatÂ’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the...

The 10 lowest ranked, or worst, states in this year’s Index are: 41.Maryland 42.Iowa 43.Wisconsin 44.North Carolina 45.Minnesota 46.Rhode Island 47.Vermont 48.California 49.New Jersey 50.New York

Today a letter was sent to the President and members of Congress by 15 CEOs from some of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. The 15 CEOs who signed the letter represent the Financial Services Forum, a non-partisan organization that deals specifically with financial and economic policy. In the letter, they urge for the avoidance of the coming Taxmageddon and warn of the dire effects that inaction would have on the economy: “The consequences of inaction—for stability in global financial markets, for economic growth, for millions of Americans still without work, and for the financial circumstances of American businesses...

President Obama has declined to outline a second term agenda. He doesn't say what he would do about the fiscal cliff that looms in just a couple of months. He hasn't addressed the glaring challenge of an aging population and entitlement spending that is careening toward insolvency. (On the contrary, he has significantly hastened the emergency by piling on new entitlement spending.) He hasn't proposed policies to improve the economy. He promises nothing more on Iran than to maintain ineffective sanctions. We can glean this much: He'd like to hire 100,000 new teachers and he wants to raise taxes on...

This morning the Financial Services Forum -- a group of the nation's top bankers -- sent a letter to the White House and Congress warning that our country is facing grave consequences if nothing is done to address the fiscal cliff that's set to inflict over a trillion dollars of automatic budget cuts and tax increases on January 1st. 15 bank CEO signatories along with the group's president & CEO are not only calling on Washington to "negotiate a bi-partisan agreement as quickly as possible" to address the cliff, but are also urging lawmakers to ''restore the nation's long-term fiscal...

LEESBURG, Va. — On immigration, taxes and women’s issues, Mitt Romney is abandoning his “severely conservative” talk of the Republican primary season and moving sharply to the political center as he looks to sway on-the-fence voters in the campaign’s final three weeks. At the same time, the GOP presidential nominee’s advisers and the Republican National Committee are looking to give Romney more routes to reaching the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory. They are weighing whether to shift resources from North Carolina, where Republicans express confidence of winning, into states long considered safe territory for President Barack Obama, including...

1. Obama: “Four years ago, I told the American people I would cut taxes for middle class families. And I did.” Reality: Obama has clearly broken his 2008 “firm pledge” not to sign “any form of tax increase” on families making less than $250,000. Of the twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare, no fewer than seven of the taxes fall directly on middle class families, and many more will raise costs indirectly for these families. Of recent note, Obama has altered his tax pledge: In a second term, he only promises not to raise income taxes on those making...

PARIS — France’s Socialist government is proposing a slew of taxes — on art, on businesses, on the rich — that are drawing criticism for stifling entrepreneurship and scaring off the wealthy. “Unfortunately, I think the politics we are leading in France will turn out to be catastrophic for the economy, which is already in bad shape,” said French economist Marc Touati, author of “When the Eurozone Explodes.” “This is a serious mistake, something you learn in [Economy 101] — it will aggravate the recession and therefore shrink the tax base.” Led by President Francois Hollande, the French government proposed...

President Obama is prepared to veto legislation to block year-end tax hikes and spending cuts, collectively known as the “fiscal cliff,” unless Republicans bow to his demand to raise tax rates for the wealthy, administration officials said. Freed from the political and economic constraints that have tied his hands in the past, Obama is ready to play hardball with Republicans, who have so far successfully resisted a deal to tame the debt that includes higher taxes, Obama’s allies say. In the days after the November election, the tables will be turned: Taxes are scheduled to rise dramatically in January for...

Our economy is lousy, the labor force participation rate is the lowest in 31 years, we’ve had 43 consecutive months with unemployment over 8 percent, and a record 47 million people are on food stamps, so one might expect President Obama would welcome as much help as he could get. Surely he would want private sector job creators – investors and entrepreneurs – to have the strongest possible incentives for turning around this Obama “recovery” where household incomes are falling faster than they fell in the Bush recession. But Obama’s priority is class warfare. That’s why he relentlessly denounces job...

Total annual spending on federal means-tested welfare programs has hit $1 trillion. The Congressional Research Service is out with a new memorandum on spending on these programs. Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate budget committee who requested the memo, has crunched the numbers and come up with the astonishing figure of $1 trillion in annual total spending on these programs as of fiscal year 2011, nearly $750 billion in federal dollars and another roughly $250 billion in state funding. Senator Sessions explains: Ranking Member Sessions and the minority staff of the Senate Budget Committee requested from...

Two days before the last night’s presidential debate, the Washington Post’s frenetic blogger Ezra Klein wrote that “Romney’s tax cuts cost $5 trillion over 10 years before his (unnamed) offsets. Extending the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000 adds another $1 trillion. Then there’s the $2 trillion in new defense spending. So before Romney can cut the deficit by a dime, he has to come up with $8 trillion in offsets and savings for these plans.” Obama echoed Klein’s remarks quite closely in the second debate, but the figures are pure fiction. One part of the ruse, the $5...

Regardless of who the President is after this close election, the equity markets and the U.S. economy are in trouble. Debt has spread throughout the Western world. The fallout is political dissonance, growing economic hardship and, in some places, mob violence.Ground zero for the spreading fear and panic is Greece, which was once the worldÂ’s greatest civilization and the birthplace of democracy, poetry and philosophy.There is violent evidence of the contradiction from what the ancients taught and what is unraveling in Greece. It would all just be another boring story at the end of the news day, except there is...

The Blog Michelle Obama: 'On Nov. 7 We're Going to Party Hard' 2:00 PM, Oct 17, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER Single Page Print Larger Text Smaller Text Alerts At a fundraiser today in New York, First Lady Michelle Obama expressed confidence in her husband's chances for reelection. "On Nov. 7 we're going to party hard," she said. Election Day this year is November 6. From the pool report: "After hearing my husband talk about his values and his vision at the debate last night, I'm pretty fired up," she said. "Let me tell you, I am so glad last...

In my estimation, last night’s debate was a draw. Both men did what they needed to do for the debate, but neither had enough of a breakout performance to make much of a difference in the race. I’d expect to see very little impact to the Mitt-mentum that developed after the first debate, for reasons which I’ll address in a moment.That wasn’t the conclusion reached by Frank Luntz’ focus group of former Barack Obama voters, and now undecideds, in Nevada. That panel overwhelmingly chose Mitt Romney as the winner, with observations about Romney’s presidential mien and Obama’s defensiveness and lack...

Romney loves to say that lowering taxes on companies will create jobs. This is spoken like some gospel truth. I actually stopped to think this through tonight and came to a much different conclusion. I believe that higher taxes actually encourages increased hiring and investment. Why? Because, as a small biz employer (structured as an S Corp) all company profit flows through to my (and Joe Downey's) personal taxes. As both candidates regularly note, 90%+ of all businesses are structured this way. So if you reduce my tax rate then I'm more likely to take money out of the company...

New State Law Gets Tough on Illegal Speeders NEW ‘SUPER SPEEDER LAW’ STARTS NEW YEAR WITH NEW FINES (JANUARY 1, 2010) Georgia drivers should mark that date on their calendars and put a sticky note next to their keys.. January 1st, 2010. It’s the day the new state ‘Super Speeder Law’ goes into effect in Georgia. And any high-risk drivers who make a habit of ignoring posted speed limits will be the first to feel the pinch of higher state fines (called fees) on their wallets. How much higher? The new law titled HB160 tacks-on another two-hundred-dollar state-fee for any...

The Obama-Biden tax plan calls for a hike in the small business tax rate from 35 percent today to over 40 percent next year. President Obama and his supporters will often argue that “only” three percent of small business owners will be affected by his tax rate hike. While this is true, it masks the fact that this is a tax increase on one million successful small businesses (i.e. three percent of the 30 million small business tax returns filed annually). The Obama-Biden plan will raise taxes on a majority of small business profits and hit those companies which employ...

France is sliding into a grave economic crisis and risks a full-blown “hurricane” as investors flee rocketing tax rates, the country’s business federation has warned. Francois Hollande is tightening fiscal policy by 2pc of GDP next year to meet EU deficit targets “The situation is very serious. Some business leaders are in a state of quasi-panic,” said Laurence Parisot, head of employers’ group MEDEF. “The pace of bankruptcies has accelerated over the summer. We are seeing a general loss of confidence by investors. Large foreign investors are shunning France altogether. It’s becoming really dramatic.” MEDEF, France’s equivalent of the CBI,...

France is sliding into a grave economic crisis and risks a full-blown “hurricane” as investors flee rocketing tax rates, the country’s business federation has warned. “The situation is very serious. Some business leaders are in a state of quasi-panic,” said Laurence Parisot, head of employers’ group MEDEF. “The pace of bankruptcies has accelerated over the summer. We are seeing a general loss of confidence by investors. Large foreign investors are shunning France altogether. It’s becoming really dramatic.” MEDEF, France’s equivalent of the CBI, said the threat has risen from “a storm warning to a hurricane warning”, adding that the Socialist...

25) Debate preparation, obviously. 24) Facts. 23) When he has to talk to Sasha and Malia about getting in trouble at school and his teleprompter is broken. 22) People who don't want to "spread (their) wealth around" to pay for Obama phones, Egyptian foreign aid, and free birth control for Sandra Fluke. 21) Chris Matthews for not being biased enough in his favor. 20) Women who have concerns that go beyond government-funded abortion and birth control, gay Americans who vote on issues other than gay marriage, Hispanic Americans who think illegal immigration isn't that big of an issue, and black...

This Nov. 6, Michigan voters will have the opportunity to decide on a number of proposals on the statewide ballot including Proposal 5, which is commonly referred to as the 2/3 Amendment. Michigan taxpayers should vote yes on Proposal 5 to make it more difficult for politicians in Lansing to take away their hard-earned money through tax increases. It is time for us to demand more accountability from our elected officials. The 2/3 Amendment does that. The 2/3 Amendment isn’t complicated. It requires a two-thirds vote of the Michigan House and Senate to increase or create new taxes. If legislators...

Dear Wavering Voter: No, abortion rights and access to contraception will not be jeopardized if Mitt Romney becomes president. Not remotely, not vaguely, not even close. No woman in America, including Sandra Fluke, will have war made upon her by a President Romney. Maybe you think the job of a president is to be our DJ-in-Chief and set the mood music for the country. In that case, the slow-jam Obama administration has everything to recommend it, while a Romney presidency may get on your nerves like a hokey country song. But it won't get in your way. How am I...

The Romney-Ryan tax plan gets a jumpstart on fundamental tax reform. To do this, the plan would lower all marginal income tax rates by 20 percent. To pay for this rate reduction, the Romney-Ryan tax plan would broaden the income tax base, but only for high earners. Below is how three typical middle-income households will fare under the Romney-Ryan tax plan (each household is assumed to use the standard deduction and personal exemptions/child tax credit): Family of Four earning the median income:Adjusted gross income: $70,000 Federal income tax under present rules: $3,581 Federal income tax under Romney-Ryan: $2,465 Annual Tax...

How Lower Top Marginal Rates Let The Economy Grow (or “The Monkey In Your Pocket”)Taxes are like a monkey in your pocket. Whenever you get paid, the monkey immediately grabs a cut. Whatever amount you think you need—whether just to meet obligations, or to reach your dreams—you have to earn more to feed the monkey first. And the monkey keeps tabs on your total for the year, grabbing a bigger piece as the total goes up. If you make enough, the monkey transmogrifies into a gorilla on your back, grabbing half of every dollar for federal taxes alone.* Why does...

All along the campaign trail President Obama has been asserting that Governor Romney’s tax plan would boost levies on middle income earners. He has been citing a study by Harvard economist Martin Feldstein and Princeton economist Harvey Rosen that he claims validates his case. The problem is, Professor Rosen has said the President is misconstruing his work. “The main conclusion of my study is that under plausible assumptions, a proposal along the lines suggested by Governor Romney can both be revenue neutral and that an increase in the tax burden on lower and middle income individuals is not required in...

Each year we produce the Index to enable business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states' tax systems compare. While total taxes paid is a relevant measure, another is how the elements of a state tax system enhance or harm the competitiveness of a state's business environment. The Index looks at over 100 variables in individual income tax, corporate income tax, sales tax, unemployment insurance tax, and property tax to reduce these many complex considerations to an easy-to-use ranking. The 10 best states in this year's 2013 Index are Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska, Florida, Washington, New...

The Economist ominously reports: The struggle to digest the swollen generation of ageing baby-boomers threatens to strangle economic growth. As the nature and scale of the problem become clear, a showdown between the generations may be inevitable. The statistics are frightening: The average federal tax rate for a median American household, including income and payroll taxes, dropped from more than 18% in 1981 to just over 11% in 2011. Yet sensible tax reforms left less revenue for the generous benefits boomers have continued to vote themselves, such as a prescription-drug benefit paired with inadequate premiums. Deficits exploded. Erick Eschker, an...

If elected, Mitt Romney vows to “end” it. If re-elected, Barack Obama says he’s “open to amending” it. But regardless of who wins the presidency next month, conscientious voters need to know this: Obamacare is already costing taxpayers lots of money, and within the next few months it will cost millions of dollars more. It’s bad enough that President Obama’s “if you like your Doctor, you can keep your Doctor”promise has proven false. And it’s bad enough that his promise to “bend the healthcare cost curve downward” has proven to be fictitious, as well (according to MIT Economist Jonathan Gruber...

The housing market has been stagnant since the housing bubble and burst. One of the reasons for the stagnant housing recovery is that slowest economic recovery since 1882. According to Stanford economist John Taylor, the current economic recovery is the slowest since 1882. Economic growth is generally strong following recessions, but not this time around. According to Taylor, “Growth was nearly 4 times stronger on average in the past recoveries. The only recovery in this list in which growth was as weak as this one followed the 1990-91 recession, but that was from a very shallow recession with output declining...

U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer warned on Friday that a proposal to give a United Nations agency more control over the Internet is gaining momentum in other countries. Proposals to expand the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) authority over the Internet could come up at a treaty conference in Dubai in December. European telecommunications companies are pushing a plan that would create new rules that would allow them to charge more to carry international traffic. The proposal by the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association could force websites like Google, Facebook and Netflix to pay fees to network operators around the world.

U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer warned on Friday that a proposal to give a United Nations agency more control over the Internet is gaining momentum in other countries. Proposals to expand the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) authority over the Internet could come up at a treaty conference in Dubai in December. European telecommunications companies are pushing a plan that would create new rules that would allow them to charge more to carry international traffic. The proposal by the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association could force websites like Google, Facebook and Netflix to pay fees to network operators around the world....

In a way, it's probably good that Joe Wilson wasn't sitting up front at the Vice Presidential debate this week nor, more importantly, at the various political roundtables analyzing it ever since. Had he been, the congressman would probably have gone hoarse by now from all of the opportunities to stand up and shout, "You lie!" And that has certainly been the overriding theme since the opening moments of the battle between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden. Both sides are claiming that the candidates' performances were overshadowed by the "fact" that each of them were lying over and over and...

During Thursday’s debate, Vice-President Joe Biden engaged – in his words – in a fit of malarkey on the tax issue. Below are the details of what he claimed and what the real truth is: Biden: “97 percent of the small businesses in America pay less - make less than $250,000. Let me tell you who some of those other small businesses are: hedge funds that make $600 million, $800 million a year. That's – that's what they count as small businesses, because they're pass-through.” The Obama-Biden plan to raise the top two marginal income tax rates (from 33 and...

I'm sure I am not alone in wondering how anyone who lives his or her life in this cultural and economic depressing environment, has any doubt about who's policies have exacerbated the problem, and not improved them.. That really is the rub.. Those who live their lives in relative comfort with a good job, paying their bills, and minding their own business, view the intrusive Obama regime as an utter failure.. On the other hand, if it has never been your priority to strive to become something more in your life than a victim of some/any/all, circumstances beyond your perceived...

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...

While the national conversation is focused on the presidential race and the nation’s poor economic health, the states continue to serve as a robust laboratory for ideas and policies. Despite the stunning growth of the federal government and the consequent take-over of many aspects of state government, business, health care and our private, daily lives, the states continue to prove that leadership and innovation can deliver game-changing reforms. There is plenty of encouraging news from around the nation with bragging rights going to places like South Dakota, Texas, Kansas, Florida—even Pennsylvania and Michigan where governors and legislatures are working together...

Stopped at a local ezmart this morning noticed a sign offering a 10% discount if you pay by EBT. I asked the clerk if I get a discount if I pay with my own money or only if I pay using someone else's money.

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...

State officials say they have found more than 1,100 inmates who they believe improperly collected unemployment benefits totaling more than $2 million while jailed in Illinois sometime in about the last year. One Cook County inmate collected almost $43,000, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, though most were paid far less. Nearly all of the fraud occurred in mid-2012 from county jails across the state.

Obama extended the Bush tax rate cuts for 2012 and cut Social Security (FICA) taxes for this year, but he now owns the tax rate increases starting January 1 2013. Starting January 1st, the working poor in the lowest federal tax bracket will see their tax rates rise 50% (from 10% to 15%) and not only this but their Social Security (FICA) taxes will also rise 30% (from 4.2% to 6.2%). Many of these will see their Healthcare Premiums rise because of the increase rules under Obamacare. Obama and the Democrats all signed on for these increases. In the case...

A 21-year-old man who’s charged with killing three people in Broward including a 2-month-old boy is facing new federal charges. U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer told CBS4’s Peter D’Oench that Balizaire was one of 40 defendants charged with trying to bilk the federal government of millions of dollars through identity theft and filing false tax claims. “What we’re seeing is more and more gangs getting involved with such activity because it is lucrative, easy and less dangerous,” said Ferrer.

To All My Valued Employees, As most of you know our company, Westgate Resorts, has continued to succeed in spite of a very dismal economy. There is no question that the economy has changed for the worse and we have not seen any improvement over the past four years. In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can't tell you whom to...

"Now Governor Romney believes that with even bigger tax cuts for the wealthy, and fewer regulations on Wall Street, all of us will prosper. In other words, he'd double down on the same trickle-down policies that led to the crisis in the first place."--- President Obama in an ad released September 27. This is Obama’s core message. In one way or another, he says it all the time. It's his kicker on the stump. You cannot watch an interview with the president or one of his subalterns without hearing it.And yet, I don't think I've ever heard a TV...

President Obama hopes there will be no change in the White House on Nov. 6. His campaign offers platitudes such as "investments" in education and green energy. But there has been very little attention on what Obama would actually do with four more years. Second terms tend to be lackluster. The intellectual and political energy wanes, and scandals are common. But Obama's re-election would mean sweeping policy changes, simply by his being in the Oval Office through 2016.

Why should the federal government bother to impose taxes when it can use the Federal Reserve to “print” all the money it needs to pay its bills? Last year, the Fed bought 77 percent of all of the government’s new debt, which is the equivalent of printing money. The government borrowed almost 40 cents for each dollar it spent, with the Fed printing 30 cents of each dollar spent through its bond purchases (creating new money) — an amount equal to about 7 percent of gross domestic product. What would happen if the Fed printed enough money each year to...

It should come as no surprise that President Obama will raise taxes if he is re-elected. But here’s the shocker: He will invite the United Nations to tax Americans directly. And the proceeds would go directly to the Third World. In this way, Barack Obama will, indeed, realize the dreams of his father. In our new book, "Here Come the Black Helicopters: UN Global Governance and the Loss of Freedom," Eileen and I describe how there is now pending in the U.N. all kinds of plans to tax Americans and redistribute their wealth – not to other Americans – but...

After Obama extended the Bush tax cuts for 2012, he now owns the Federal tax increase in 2013. But not only that, but he lowered the Social Security taxes for 2012, but has not for 2013, so he owns that increase as well. Beyond even that, he added costly rules to America health insurance, that of free surgery (Sterilizations) increasing Health Insurance Premiums even further. So President Obama (and the Senate Democrats) own the 50% Federal tax increase on the working poor and the 30% Social Security tax increase upon all Americans. It goes without saying that he owns the...

You walk into a shoe store. The salesman runs up to you. “Great news!” he beams. “We’ve just slashed our prices 20 percent!” “Yikes!” you say. “I can’t afford a price cut like that! I’m outta here.” “No, no — maybe you didn’t hear me,” the clerk says. “We’re cutting our prices 20 percent. Cutting, not raising.” “I heard you just fine,” you say. “I’m not paying an outrageous increase like that!” And you storm out the door. The preceding scenario makes no sense — except in the bizarro world of government finance. For that is precisely how many people...

To All My Valued Employees, As most of you know our company, Westgate Resorts, has continued to succeed in spite of a very dismal economy. There is no question that the economy has changed for the worse and we have not seen any improvement over the past four years. In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can't tell you whom to...