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Romney, In Shift, Says Obama Has Not Raised Taxes By Seema Mehta September 25 VANDALIA, Ohio — Mitt Romney said Tuesday that President Obama did not raise taxes during his first term, contradicting a constant attack he has leveled on Obama — that his healthcare plan was a tax increase. “I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years — he’s said he’s going to do in the next four years — which is to raise taxes. And is there anyone who thinks raising taxes will help grow the economy? No!” Romney told...

Now that the Supreme Court has given its narrow blessing to the Affordable Care Act, the big question is whether it will deliver the benefits that its proponents promise. Unfortunately, as it is now constructed, the plan will backfire causing fewer healthy people to buy insurance, raise premiums for those who do, destroy employment opportunities, cripple the health insurance industry, and weaken the economy. In order to guarantee insurance to all, regardless of age, health or pre-existing conditions, the framers of the plan concede that it is essential that the young and healthy (who are less likely to be heavy...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her Monday evening keynote speech at a Clinton Global Initiative event to push for a new global initiative: a tax on the world’s rich. “One of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner, especially from the elites in every country,” Clinton said at the annual meeting of her husband’s global public policy organization. “It is a fact that around the world the elites of every country are making money,” Clinton continued. “There are rich people everywhere. And yet they do not contribute to...

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...

Most mainstream media outlets aide in the proliferation of myths about our tax system and our economy. Here are 5 myths about the US tax system that you probably thought were true. 1. Once A Millionaire, Always A Millionaire As you can see by the graph below, this shows how many consecutive years millionaires file their taxes as millionaires. Half of the people who become millionaires are only at that status for one year.​ 2. Tax Credits Only Help The Rich This graph shows the effective tax rates since 1980. As you can see, because of tax credits and deductions,...

Everyone's getting their knickers in a twist about the 47 percent that Mitt Romney figures are going to vote for Barack Obama, no matter what. But do you know why they will vote for Barack? Wyatt Emmerich did the math back in 2010 for The Clevelend Current in Mississippi. It's been written up at ZeroHedge and by Kathy Shaidle. The message is simple. Earn $3,600 per year as head of a family of three, and your net earnings (after taxes and government benefits) will amount to $31,630. But if you earn $60,000 a year, your net earnings will be $34,366....

Obama’s pre-election story is that taxing the rich is the key to funding the government and reducing the debt. Even his greatly expanded government will be financed by the rich paying their fair share. This story is for people who do not understand anything at all about current government spending and the staggering size of our debt. Obama’s story is for uninformed voters. The question is, do the uninformed represent a majority yet? Read more here: http://www.realitybatslast.com/2012/09/23/demagogues-debt-and-atlas-shrugging/

It’s difficult to say definitively which tax is the most destructive. The corporate income tax is a leading candidate for causing higher prices to consumers, lower wages to workers and lower returns to investors. It misallocates capital, resulting in higher levels of unemployment and lower levels of economic growth and opportunity, and it taxes income that has already been taxed as least once before. The 2012 annual rankings of “Corporate Tax Competitiveness” was published in Canada by University of Calgary and in the United States by Cato Institute. In the study, authors Duanjie Chen and Jack Mintz of the school...

A whopping tax increase is scheduled for 2013 on the working poor. Those making $36,200 will see their Federal taxes increase from 10 percent to 15. That's a whooping 50 percent tax increase on the working poor. Under Obama, the US Senate adjourned, leaving this increased tax on the working poor. Nevermind, they failed to make their required budget (X times in a row), but they left an immoral tax increase on the working poor. Beyond that, the Democratic Senate left in place a 2% Social Security tax increase upon them as well. Obama promised their would not be a...

Think because your a middle class worker your Federal taxes won't increase next year - think again. That 70% increase on taxes for the working poor hits you, just not as hard. Yes, you still stay at 15% but the poor tax hits you for $870 or about $72 dollars a month. Not only this, but the Social Security tax reduction expires this year as well. So you will get socked with an additional 2% as well. That's a minimum of $348 or $29 more dollars a month. That's $101 dollars a month less for you or your family. Put...

Before I get into all the gobbledy-gook of this post, I need to first say that I don't think Romney (or Obama) should have to release even ONE year of tax returns. It's not a requirement to hold the nation's highest elected office and, therefore, shouldn't even be a debate. With that said... Libs are finding themselves in a precarious situation - how to attack Romney for being part of "the 1%"d while donating to programs that help "the 99%." On Friday, Romney released his taxes from last year just as he had promised. The Obama campaign - and...

Today has been incredibly disturbing for anyone who understands on a basic level how taxes work. The NY Post, Marketwatch, The NY Times, and even the Wall-Street Journal have posted news stories about how Romney the evil robber baron has only paid “14%” in taxes. This is leading to outrage in the middle class, as people realize that’s a “lower number” than what they pay. It’s also misleading. Romney’s overall tax rate is over 50%. The lower-sounding number is being used because it makes a great story — even if it only tells part of it. It’s surreal. Fine. If...

PARIS (Reuters)- Germany's Roman Catholic bishops have decreed that people who opt out of a "church tax" should not be given sacraments and religious burials, getting tougher on worshippers who choose not to pay. Alarmed by a wave of dissenting Catholics quitting the faith, the bishops issued a decree on Thursday declaring such defection "a serious lapse" and listed a wide range of church activities from which they must be excluded.

Prop 30: Your Wallet or Your Kids. NO Either approve $36 billion in higher sales and income taxes or else Gov. Brown threatens to shoot the schools. Don't worry, the income taxes are only on the "very wealthy," but it turns out the "very wealthy" include many small businesses filing under sub-chapter S, meaning lower wages, higher prices and fewer jobs. California already has one of the highest overall tax burdens in the country and yet has just approved a budget to spend $8 billion dollars more than it's taking in. Moral of the story: it's the spending stupid. Prop...

National Association for Business Economics recently surveyed say the country needs more fiscal stimulus through 2013, but by 2014 it should be time to throttle back. The reason for the delay: the sluggish nature of the country's economic recovery. A majority of the economists favor extending payroll tax cuts, current marginal income tax rates and current tax rates for dividends and capital gains for most or all taxpayers through 2013. Deep tax cuts that were passed under President George W. Bush expire at the end of December unless Congress takes action. At the center of debate: extending the cuts for...

...Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants foreign countries to make elite citizens pay their fair share of taxes. ...Clinton on Monday addressed participants in her husband's Clinton Global Initiative. *** Clinton says the U.S. will help struggling nations become self-sufficient rather than offering traditional aid.... ...says she's now out of politics....

There has been numerous headwinds to a housing (and commercial real estate) recovery. One is doggedly slow economic growth. Another is doggedly high unemployment rates. But there is another headwind that is not talked about for housing and real estate in general: taxmageddon or the upcoming single largest tax increase in American history. Simply put, housing consumption will be reduced in Federal taxes increase. But this is occurring just as housing is beginning to stabilize in many parts of the country. Americans for Tax Reform provide a nice summary of the tax tsunami that is about to hit (unless Congress...

Almost every state in the U.S. has made cuts to its public-employee pensions, seeking to dig out from the economic downturn, but so far the measures have fallen well short of bridging a nearly $1 trillion funding gap. Since 2009, 45 states have rolled back pension benefits for teachers, police, firefighters and other public workers, including cuts by Michigan and California this month. Next week, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign legislation requiring, for example, that certain teachers work longer and pay more toward their pensions.

Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod slammed Mitt Romney over the GOP challenger’s recently released 2011 tax return. Axelrod charged Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the return was manipulated to give a false impression of the Romney family’s finances and “boost” the amount Romney paid to the federal government. “Two months ago, on your own air, he said that anybody who didn’t take the deductions they were owed wasn’t qualified to be president,” Axelrod told host George Stephanopoulos. “Well, I guess he’s not qualified, because that’s exactly what he did last week to try and get his number up...

The release of over two decades of Mitt Romney's tax information on Friday must have been so anticlimactic for Team Obama --- not only does it turn out that Romney contributed a boatload of money towards the federal coffers, but he's also an almost wildly generous and charitable individual to boot. After the monumentally huge deal Team O made out of the tax returns, with dodgy "secrecy" ads and unsubtle fat-cat jabs out the wazoo, they don't seem to be seizing on the information with quite the fervor you would've expected.Yes, Romney is hugely wealthy, and hey, maybe some of...