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Read the full billRead the tax revenue score from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) Read the budget and tax score from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) PDF of this DocumentIndividual Mandate Tax (Page 324/Sec. 1501/$8 bil): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the following schedule (capped at 8 percent of income): ==============> Check out this important piece, at ATR.org...

One of the strongest factors promoting recovery from our 10 post-World War II recessions was an unshakable conviction that, regardless of the immediate trouble, the American economy is fundamentally strong. Based on this underlying confidence, recessions and recoveries roughly conformed to the principle of the bigger the bust, the bigger the boom, and vice versa. Thus real growth in the four quarters following postwar recessions averaged 6.6% and 4.3% over the following five years. As the chief economist for Barclays, Dean Maki, said in this newspaper on Aug. 19, "You can't find a single deep recession that has been followed...

Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman have been working overtime to craft a climate bill that can attract significant GOP support. But they aren’t exactly scoring points with their mutual best friend in the Senate, John McCain. “Their start has been horrendous,” McCain said Thursday. “Obviously, they’re going nowhere.” McCain has emerged as a vocal opponent of the climate bill — a major reversal for the self-proclaimed maverick who once made defying his party on global warming a signature issue of his career. (snip) Former aides are mystified by what they see as a retreat on the issue, given McCain’s...

WASHINGTON -- Mayors from four U.S. cities said they are facing a once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis and that federal stimulus funds have, so far, been largely unhelpful in helping them balance budgets hit by steep drops in nearly every source of municipal revenue. The comments, from mayors of Philadelphia, San Jose, Calif; Mesa, Ariz., and Bowling Green, Ky., at a panel discussion sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the National League of Cities, underscore how the recession for local government is far from over. Mesa's mayor, Scott Smith, said the steep drops in sales-tax revenue, the city's primary source of money,...

Reform: Only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement. But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill — said to cost only $849 billion over a decade — would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." We suspect Reid's...

A man owned a small ranch near Sheridan Wyoming. The Wyoming Labor Department got a tip that he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an investigator out to interview him. "I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them," demanded the investigator.. "Well," replied the rancher, "there's my ranch hand who's been with me for 3 years. I pay him $1200 a week plus free room and board. "The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $1000 per week plus free room and board. "Then there's the half-wit....

Yesterday Harry Reid Proudly announced CBO had scored the Senate’s bill and that claimed that the bill would save $109 Billion during the first ten years years of the plan's Today the CBO released a letter showing that Reid's information is wrong. The Majority leader "forgot to include the "doctor’s fix“, in his scoring. Once that is done the effect of the Senate Bill is to INCREASE the the deficit by $89 billion in the first 10 years.

Reid scrambles for 60 health votes With an assist from Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrambled Wednesday to pull together 60 votes for his health reform bill, awaiting all-important cost estimates in hopes of getting the bill to the floor by the weekend. At around 2:15 p.m., the three moderate Democratic holdouts - Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson - entered Reid's office for a briefing. "He is walking through the particulars with them," said Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley. "We need 60 votes to get this bill to the floor." Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the...

TAMPA - Business owners in Florida are about to get hit with a big tax hike: starting January 1st, all Florida businesses will have to pay skyrocketing unemployment compensation taxes to replenish the unemployment compensation trust fund.

About that health care package that EVERYONE wants? Yeah, not so freakin' much. As Ed points out at Hot Air, this is Quinnipiac, the pollsters my lefty friends love bringing up. No Rasmussen bogeyman in the house this time. There was, however, some news from Rasmussen that further indicates the great divide between what Americans actually want and what our alleged representatives keep forcing down our throats. As the policy debate has unfolded in Washington this year, voters have consistently believed that tax cuts would do more than increased government spending to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Now that...

American Voters have an idea about how to save jobs, especially Congressional Jobs. According to the latest report from Rasmussen voters believe that to create Jobs, cut taxes and stop spending. Lets face it, it worked when Reagan did it, it worked when JFK did it. 62% of all voters believe tax cuts will "save and create" Job. Only 21% believe that a new porkulus plan will be more effective. This number is exactly the same as it was when the first stimulus package was being debated in Congress, 62% of voters wanted the plan to have more tax cuts...

Transcript of remarks made by Leo Carrington (who doesn’t exist) to a mandatory meeting of all employees of Carrington Automotive Enterprises, Inc. (which doesn’t exist either) on August 17th, 2009 at the Royal Payne Hotel (a purely imaginary place) in Norfolk, Virginia (which does, in fact, exist). The Employee Meeting: I would like to start by thanking you for attending this meeting, though it's not like you had much of a choice. After all, attendance was mandatory. I'm also glad many of you accepted my invitation to your family members to be here as well. I have a few remarks...

There are, in public policies, these inconvenient things called the “secondary effects.” These are the unintended consequences of even the best intended laws. Critics of Obama’s national health care program have questioned its intentions from day one. Few doubt the program will lead to a serious rationing of health care (adding 40 million on the system and allegedly lowering spending will have that impact) and will lead to increase taxes for millions of Americans. According to public opinion surveys, the number one issue of most voters is unemployment. This sentiment is backed up by the hard fact that unemployment recently...

Senator Harry Reid’s health care bill included an array of new provisions that are being scrutinized on Wednesday night, but one particular tax proposal in particular already has attracted a buzz — a 5 percent levy on elective cosmetic procedures that was quickly dubbed the “botax.” Hold the guffaws. For all the instant punchlines about taxing nose jobs, breast enlargements and facelifts — cynics righteously demanded to know if members of Congress had written in an exemption for themselves (they did not) — the proposed tax is both serious and controversial policy. It would raise an estimated $5 billion over...

So it might be the cynic in me or call me crazy for not trusting the government, but I cannot believe that there was not more attention paid to the state’s latest accounting gimmick to save the state’s budget. Starting Sunday you may notice a few less dollars in each paycheck, 10 percent less to be specific. While the state says that the money will be returned in April, something does not sit right with me when the government helps itself to even more of my paycheck especially when so many people are already living paycheck to paycheck. Read the...

The bonus bonanza comes just a year after Goldman was ready to go under with the rest of the Wall Street risk-takers. And were it not for extraordinary measures to prop up entities like AIG, which insured Goldman's risky assets and designated Goldman a commercial bank (meaning it was protected by the Fed) on top of a $10 billion loan, Goldman would now be in Lehman Land. Yet it survived because of the government (translation: The American Taxpayer), and now as it maintains many of those same perks, Goldman has become immensely profitable and is building a war chest of...

She sounds off on Ron Paul, health care, and, of course, liberty. BY MATT SNYDERS Michele Bachmann is a regular fixture on the cable news circuit. When it comes to print, however, she takes a more measured approach; she declined a phone interview with the New York Times last month, insisting on a Q&A via email. She gave City Pages the same deal. Here's what she had to say: City Pages: Your appearance with Rep. Ron Paul surprised some folks. At first blush, it would seem the two of you might come down on very different sides on a lot...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's choice for a top job with the Treasury Department is having tax problems. A congressional report says Obama's nominee for undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs, Lael Brainard, was late in paying real estate taxes in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The report by the Senate Finance Committee staff also challenges the accuracy of a deduction Brainard claimed for running an office from her home. The challenge led Brainard to reduce the deduction on her 2008 return. The committee's top Republican is unhappy that the committee staff had to submit 10 sets of questions...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's choice for a top job with the Treasury Department is having tax problems. A congressional report says Obama's nominee for undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs, Lael Brainard, was late in paying real estate taxes in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The report by the Senate Finance Committee staff also challenges the accuracy of a deduction Brainard claimed for running an office from her home.

An interest observation courtesy of Mint: of the 307,868,280 Americans out there, which compose 151,485,000 tax units, 46.9% will have zero federal income tax liability in 2009. Brilliant plan to keep the country happy: the poor pay no taxes, the rich get a massive stock market bubble to sell into, and the disappearing middle class...well, they can pay $20 for a hotdog and beer combo in Prague on that once-every-five-years vacation. .

(snip) There’s a list of issues being hammered out, but at the top is finding money for South Florida’s cash-strapped Tri-Rail. Republicans are targeting a $2 fee on rental cars as the source and discussing whether to let county commissions approve the charge or require a referendum.“That’s sort of one of the issues we’re dealing with,” Crist said. Florida’s Republican leaders believe they need to settle funding issues for Tri-Rail and a host of insurance and money issues for a proposed Central Florida line known as SunRail before the state has any chance at securing $2.5 billion in federal stimulus...

Did I just see a trail balloon launched? Over at a Wall Street Journal conference, Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers had this to say about deficit reduction: But the chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers admitted that health reform and a growing economy isn’t enough to bring down the deficit. She did mention one other place that revenue could come from: letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Me: Since Obama already wants to get rid of the income and capital gains tax cuts for wealthier Americans that expire at the end of 2010,...

Did I just see a trail balloon launched? Over at a Wall Street Journal conference, Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers had this to say about deficit reduction: But the chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers admitted that health reform and a growing economy isn’t enough to bring down the deficit. She did mention one other place that revenue could come from: letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Me: Since Obama already wants to get rid of the income and capital gains tax cuts for wealthier Americans that expire at the end of 2010,...

When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich. That finding from a new Associated Press poll will be welcome news for House Democrats, who proposed doing just that in their sweeping remake of the U.S. medical system, which passed earlier this month and would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. The poll found participants sour on other ways of paying for the health overhaul that is being considered in Congress, including taxing insurers on high-value coverage packages derided by President Barack Obama and Democrats as "Cadillac plans."...

Friday, the 13th. 2012. 200,000. You have five seconds. Connect them all. Here's the deal. It's the apocalypse. It's gotta be. The movie "2012," chronicling the end of the earth, debuts this Friday, the 13th. A date that those making at least 200,000 bucks a year might mistake for Groundhog Day, since, for them, everyday's kind of like Friday, the 13th. Because it seems everyday they're a target. Today, they just became a bigger one. See a trend here? Need to pay for stimulus? Hike their top rate five points? Need more money for health care? Hike it "another" five...

President Obama told the House Democratic Caucus before the roll-call vote on health care on Nov. 7 that they'd be better off politically if they passed the bill than if they let it fail. Bill Clinton, speaking to the Senate Democrats' lunch on Nov. 10, cited his party's big losses in 1994 after Congress failed to pass his health-care legislation as evidence that Democrats would suffer more from failure to pass a bill than from disaffection with a bill that was signed into law. These were closed meetings, but we can safely assume that the two Democratic presidents also assured...

With a simple marketing twist, tobacco companies are avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxes by exploiting a loophole in President Barack Obama's child health law. Obama and Congress increased taxes on tobacco products earlier this year to pay for expanded children's health insurance, but tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes saw a disproportionate leap, from $1.10 to $24.78 per pound. Some predicted the tax would kill the roll-your-own industry, which had offered a cheaper alternative to packaged cigarettes.

Buried in this Friday story on Obama's future plans is a curious statement, attributed to White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, which didn't get nearly enough attention: Orszag has said the spending blueprint, for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, 2010, would put the nation "back on a fiscally sustainable path" and suggested it would include a mix of spending cuts and new revenue-producing measures. "New revenue-producing measures." In other words, more tax increases -- increases beyond the dozen or so that are already planned in the health care reform package. President Obama's advisors understand that they have to...

President Barack Obama is expected to inform Asian leaders that they should not count on American consumers to supply the demand that will help pull the global economy out of its current recession. “The era of material greed must come to an end,” Obama declared. “I can’t directly affect the phenomenon of avarice in other countries, but I can try to set an example in my own.” The President acknowledged that the unemployment rate in the United States “has already taken a bite out of the consumer gluttony traditionally manifested in American life. But we must not lose what we...

Rosenberg: Class Warfare Coming Your Way Joe WeisenthalNov. 16, 2009, 11:28 AM With the Dow just a couple of good days away from hitting 11,000, David Rosenberg's message is as harsh as ever. ---- CLASS WARFARE COMING YOUR WAY We have to admit that we cannot recall a time when the potential returns in Canada looked so attractive compared to the U.S. while the risks are so much lower — fiscal, economic, financial and political. Now we see that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning a slate of tax rate hikes on the upper class (defined to mean anyone...

I just received a newsletter from the water company that informed me that "fringe" enviros (yes they used the word "fringe" are behind this and if the court rules with them, my water bill will go up aproximately 70 percent. They also said this doesn't cover Cap and Trade reguluations, which will run up the bill even more. This is only in Florida. All Floridian's visit www.DontTaxFlorida.com for more info.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - An energy advocacy group is launching another television ad in South Carolina taking aim at Sen. Lindsey Graham for his support of energy legislation that would include a cap-and-trade program. The 30-second spot is the latest salvo in an ongoing campaign against the Republican by the American Energy Alliance, a group funded in part by oil and gas companies that has spent roughly $375,000 over the last month knocking Graham on South Carolina's radio and TV airwaves. The newest ad comes one week after Graham was censured by the Charleston County Republican Party for supporting the legislation,...

More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit. Taxpayers are at risk if they have more than one job, are married and both spouses work, or receive Social Security benefits while also earning taxable wages, according to a report Monday by the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration. The tax credit, which is supposed to pay individuals up to $400 and couples up to $800, was President Barack Obama's signature tax break in the massive stimulus...

A friend emailed this to me. It is one of the most eloquently put descriptions of what small business is about that I have ever read. It describes the reality of the world in which we live and work today. It also describes the future we may have to deal with as it relates to taxes, healthcare, etc.

White voters led defeat of bond issue Mayor-President Kip Holden’s proposed $901 million capital improvement tax package failed Saturday because of a lopsided “no” vote in suburban, predominantly white areas of East Baton Rouge Parish, according to an analysis of precinct vote totals. Voter turnout was substantially higher in predominantly white precincts, and the votes tended to be a reverse of those cast in predominantly African-American precincts, where the tax package enjoyed its strongest support. “The suburban vote was really strong, and really lopsided,” said Wayne Parent, an LSU political science professor. The tax package failed with 64 percent of...

British Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has come out in favour of a global financial transactions tax. Speaking Saturday in Edinburgh (his home base) to a G20 Finance Ministers meeting on the subject of bank bailouts Brown said "it cannot be acceptable that the benefits of success in this sector are reaped by the few but the costs of its failure are borne by all of us." France, under both the former and current presidents, has supported the adoption of a "Tobin tax" on financial transaction. Earlier this year the British Financial regulator came out for such a tax. The...

On the Constitution Things get a little contentious here, and this is why I like to listen to Beckmann. He rightly points out that no where in the Constitution does it allow for the government to take over the health care industry. Bart insists it does say so in Article I, Section 8 with the words the left have been using to bring the country to point it is today with rampant socialism and welfare programs that have done nothing but create a dependent society-”The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to…provide for…..general...

Challenging CharlieLast Updated: 5:02 AM, November 14, 2009 Speaking of ethically sketchy members of Congress, what has Rep. Charlie Rangel been up to lately? Well, the Ways & Means Committee chairman -- whose various indiscretions have been before the House Ethics Committee for more than a year now -- introduced legislation last month to curtail the use of off-shore tax havens. Gee, how ironic. Back in 2007, after meeting with Eugene Isenberg of oil-drilling Nabors Industries, Rangel was all for the use of just such a haven -- one that, by sheer coincidence, saved Nabors and three other firms with...

A giant combination of sales and property taxes -almost a billion dollars - is going down in flames tonight in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Our friends at the Baton Rouge Tea Party led the charge to defeat this boondoggle. Congratulations are due. Here is their website. http://www.batonrougeteaparty.net/Default.aspx Here is today's news story about the vote. http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/70085962.html

On Nov. 1, the government of the state of California began withholding from workers' paychecks 10 percent more than what it had been withholding. The Los Angeles Times described this move -- prompted by California's fiscal calamity -- as "a forced, interest-free loan" from taxpayers to the government. The Times explained to its California readers that "You'll be repaid any extra withholding in April. Those who would receive a refund anyway will receive a larger one, and those who owe taxes will owe less." The ostensible purpose of withholding is to better ensure that taxpayers actually pay the taxes they...

I support the kind of health care reform that will lower costs and increase accessibility to quality, affordable care. Unfortunately, what Speaker Pelosi rammed through the House today does nothing to curb rising costs. Instead, her bill seizes control of the health care industry and puts it in the hands of the federal government, introduces job killing taxes on individuals and small businesses, and accelerates deficit spending and the accumulation of national debt. Late Saturday night, I voted against Speaker Pelosi’s massive federal takeover of health care because I do not believe it is the right prescription for Oklahomans. After...

States hungry for revenue are turning to taxpayers to make up the shortfall as they deplete rainy-day and economic-stimulus funds. To avert a popular revolt, many are resorting to a so-called millionaire's tax, which puts the burden on a smaller group of the very well-heeled. A flurry of rate increases occurred this year, and tax analysts say the trend will accelerate in 2010. In response, some wealthy residents are rethinking their financial strategies, including where they reside. They may see some sense to moving before they sell a business, for example, or stop using certain kinds of trusts. Doug Stanley,...

Lawmakers lean on Pelosi and Rangel as controversy mounts over taxes on rumBy Susan Crabtree - 11/12/09 06:00 AM ET The tug-of-war between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands over rum taxes has grown more intense in the wake of House passage of the healthcare bill. Puerto Rico’s top supporters in the lower chamber this week fired off letters to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) imploring them to turn their attention to the dispute between the two island territories. The members who signed the letter to Rangel were Puerto Rico Resident...

Another trade show is leaving Chicago this time for Atlanta, Georgia. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society meeting which has been held in Chicago's McCormick Convention Center for quite some time is leaving the city due to the high costs that unions force upon its exhibitors. In October we posted that the Plastics Industry Trade Association is also contemplating fleeing Chicago for southern hospitality for the same reason. The HIMSS reports that 2009 attendance in Chicago's McCormick Center was down by 5 percent compared to 2008. Attendance also dropped from 29,100 in 2008...

Part of the story about who would feel the payroll tax on employers contained in the House-passed health care bill has gone missing. The media coverage I've seen and the Congressional rhetoric I've heard focuses on the small business lead by an entrepreneur who started the company. That's part of the story, but it isn't the whole story. The Joint Tax Committee's "technical explanation" makes clear that this is a tax on all employers, both for-profit and not-for-profit. (See the discussion that starts on page 31, under the opaque title "Responsibilities of Nonelecting Employers".) A lot of non-profits do not...

One of the best economic minds of our generation is Dr. Arthur Laffer of Laffer Curve fame. So when he talks, I listen. You should, too. In a report published yesterday entitled, Market Expectations and Causative Reasons For Inflation he argues that conditions are ripe for the CPI to move rapidly from deflation to "the 2.5% to 3% range" over the next three months. And higher from there. His argument is two-fold but is driven largely by the Federal Reserve's decision to increase the monetary base. "The current increase in the monetary base (Sept-08 to the present) is more than...

Not exactly sure what I can post since it is from Bloomberg but if you go the site one of the lead articles is the EPA threatening coal mining in Applachia over a insect. What the Spotted Owl did to the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest this bug will do to coal mining.

-snip- “Washington is doing everything in their manpower, capability, to destroy U.S. manufacturing,” Farr said at a Baird Industrial Outlook conference in Chicago, Bloomberg News reported. “Cap and trade, medical reform, labor rules … I’m not going to hire anybody in the United States. I’m moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs.” -snip-

Earlier today, Goldman came out with a harbinger piece on why a second stimulus announcement is essentially a formality. The administration has already promptly forgotten the lessons from the recent elections which were a failure for the Democrats, and a resounding vote against incremental deficit spending. The people spoke, and they will have no more of it. Alas, Obama is now stuck: any action he does to create jobs and to rope consumers back into the clearance sale stores, will be met with increased political disapproval and risk of a major failure at both the mid-term and next presidential elections....

As the fallout continues to settle from the 2009 elections, among the more overlooked results was a ballot issue in Boulder County, Colorado that would have extended an existing sales tax to fund the acquisition of additional “open space.” Obviously, this regional issue didn’t garner as much national interest as the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, or the mayoral races in New York, Atlanta and Houston, or a surprising near-win by an unknown third party challenger in a hotly-contested New York Congressional race. Nonetheless, it stands out as another compelling affirmation of the new direction America is taking...