Free Republic

A soon-to-be released media study documents how ABC, NBC and CBS repeatedly have portrayed President Obama as a leader who is cutting taxes while ignoring the potential $4.2 trillion in taxes – that about $14,000 apiece or $56,000 for a family of four – that could start hitting Americans as early as January 1. "Those potential tax increases are almost 20 times the size of the $214 billion temporary tax cuts Obama included in the stimulus bill. Tax cutter? Hardly," said a summary of the new report by the Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute. The study looked at...

President Obama got an earful at home this week when his economic-recov ery advisory board came for a visit. The message: It's the tax cuts, stupid. Obama convened his panel to discuss job training -- but without any teleprompters to keep folks on message, the topic quickly shifted. The big issue: Obama's dangerous plan to let the Bush tax cuts die for top earners -- meaning that any household pulling in more than $250,000 faces a massive tax hike come Jan. 1. The tax hike will hit small businesses especially hard. And it also spells wage stagnation for the middle...

Low-income workers stand to lose the most if lawmakers fail to reach a consensus on the Bush-era tax cuts, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation. The report states that on Jan. 1 the doubling of the child tax credit, increased standard deductions and income credits and the creation of the 10 percent tax bracket — all of which primarily aimed at non-wealthy taxpayers — will vanish if gridlock persists in Washington. While wealthier taxpayers pay more in taxes and stand to lose more money if the tax cuts expire, the impact on low-income taxpayers will be far...

From Andrew Romano's great new profile of a Mitch Daniels he portrays as pragmatic and principled (kind of oxymoronic, but one of Daniels' principles appears to be pragmatism). To wit, his suggestions: Let’s raise the retirement age, he says. Let’s reduce Social Security for the rich. And let’s reconsider our military commitments, too. When I ask about taxes—in 2005 Daniels proposed a hike on the $100,000-plus crowd, which his own party promptly torpedoed—he refuses to revert to Republican talking points. “At some stage there could well be a tax increase,” he says with a sigh. “They say we can’t have...

Even though they failed to create jobs, stimulate the economy or make health care affordable, President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi want a raise. A $3.8 trillion raise. That's how much new money Washington will take from American workers and families over the next decade if the Obama tax hikes are enacted next year. Rather than admit they want to give the government a raise, the Democrats claim the government "can't afford" to keep taxes low. The truth is, Americans can't afford the European-style, socialist government the Democrats want to create. Most people get...

With the economy sliding during Wreckovery Summer and jobs growth falling behind the number of new workers with each new jobless report, one might think that Democrats would have figured out that they need capital to get back in the game. One way to entice wealth back into economy-expanding service would be to extend the tax cuts that expire at the end of the year, especially those at the top end of the spectrum, in order to keep potential investors from sheltering it instead. The Wall Street Journal reports that Democrats and the White House have decided to mischaracterize the...

They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011: First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief... Personal income tax rates will rise...Higher taxes on marriage and family. Second Wave: Obamacare There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011... Third Wave: The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise—the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired....

Steve Schwarzman, billionaire head of buyout giant The Blackstone Group, shocki , shockingly likened President Obama's threat to impose higher taxes on private equity firms to Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland. "It's a war," declared Schwarzman, speaking at a private board meeting of a nonprofit organization. "It's like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939." Schwarzman's over-the-top comments reportedly stunned those in attendance. Yesterday, Schwarzman said he was sorry about his choice of words, but he wasn't backing away from the issue. "I apologize for what was an inappropriate analogy," he said. "However, the fundamental issue of the administration's need to...

Come Jan. 1, Democrats will officially end their romance with John May nard Keynes. That's the day they hope to sock America with the largest tax hike in years, all in the name of their supposed new love: deficit-cutting. But don't expect that fling to last long, either; if you want to know who's really won their heart, ring Joe the Plumber. Or Robin Hood. They'd know. Ever since President Obama took office, and Dems took Congress, they've insisted the right medicine for our ailing economy was deficit spending. Last year's nearly $1 trillion stimulus was all borrowed money --...

Just wait until this hits the fan on December 31st -less than 6 mos from now: huge tax increases that will not only crush our frail economy, but go-against hours of hopenchangey hogwash and unambiguous prior Obama pledges to not increase taxes "one dime" on the middle-class (some would call them "lies"). In reality, the working-poor, families, and investors in our economy will actually be getting soaked he worst: -Obama Tax Increases- Personal Income Taxes: 10% bracket goes to... 15% Increase: +50% 25% bracket goes to... 28% Increase: +12% 28% bracket goes to... 31% Increase: +11% 33% bracket goes to......

The so-called Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Although some of the cuts retain bipartisan support in Congress and may yet be extended, as of now, Washington has some severe changes in store for you and your family. Higher Tax Rates for All You may have been led to believe that only individuals in the top two brackets will face higher federal income taxes when the Bush cuts go bye-bye. Not true! Unless Congress takes action and President Obama goes along, rates will go up for everyone -- not just a sliver of...

This whole debate about government stimulus versus austerity, and the impact of these policies on economic growth, misses a key point: It is business, not government, that creates jobs. The economic power of business is the missing link in the faux debate that is now raging over spending and deficit policies. A brief look at the recent jobs report for June tells this story. After spending more than $1 trillion through so-called government stimulus, we are at best experiencing a grinding and anemic jobs recovery. Private payrolls are growing slowly. The workweek is again shrinking. And average hourly earnings have...

Americans for Tax Reform is reporting that we have six months to go until the biggest tax hikes in American history hits us and hits us hard! The first wave begins by: The Bush tax cuts will expire and personal income tax will rise, marriage penalty will return, the return of the death tax, and higher tax rates on investors. The second wave continues with: TWENTY NEW taxes just in Obamacare, the medicine cabinet tax, the special needs kids tax, and the HSA withdrawal tax hike. The third wave: The AMT (affecting over 28 million familes), the employer tax hikes,...

Despite The President’s Promises That He Wouldn’t Raise Taxes On The Middle Class, House Leader Suggests Middle Class Tax Hikes May Be On The Way OBAMA PROMISED NO MIDDLE CLASS TAX INCREASES SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “If You Make Under $250,000, You Will Not See Your Taxes Increased By A Single Dime. Not Your Income Tax. Not Your Payroll Tax. Not Your Capital Gains Tax. No Tax.” (“White House Steadfast On Pledge Of No Middle-Class Tax Increase,” CNN, 8/3/09) ROBERT GIBBS: “The President Was Clear During The Campaign About His Commitment On Not Raising Taxes On Middle-Class Families … I...

Policy matters--especially tax rates. Over time few things affect economic activity more than absolute and relative tax rates. In addition, changes in tax rates, particularly when they can be anticipated ahead of time, can also result in shifts in the timing of economic activity. Recently, Arthur Laffer--prominent economist and inventor of the Laffer Curve--fretted about the economic impact of the expiring (2003) Bush tax cuts. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece he wrote that the tax hikes would lift growth in 2010 but cause a double-dip recession in 2011 when the rates actually went up. Laffer cites the early...

In less than six months, taxes for many Americans are going up. Tax cuts originally signed into law by former President Bush are set to expire at the end of 2010 unless Congress makes a change in the Tax Code... If the law stays the same, on January 1, 2011, you can expect that the highest federal income tax rate for individuals will increase to 39.6% from 35%; capital gains tax rates will rise to 20% and dividends will lose their tax favorable status and retreat back to ordinary income status. Even worse, state and local governments are struggling to...

I have had a very interesting week so far. I had an individual who lives in Europe unload a truck full of grievances regarding the laws and politics of his country. Just keep in mind. What this person shared with me, President Obama and the liberals in Congress are actively pursuing. I had a waitress at one of my favorite restaurants lose her focus, and tell me how burned out she is, and I had an individual who works as a custodian for a local school tell me how not only are they cutting back, but how 4,000 people applied...

The president's Bipartisan Commission on Fiscal Responsibility plans to take taxpayers to the cleaners. The timing of the commission is ironic. It met for the first time April 23, some 33 days after the president signed his health law -- which created $910 billion in entitlements through 2019 and possibly twice that cost in the second decade. The new law nearly doubles the size of Medicaid, adding 18 million people to the rolls. It's welfare reform in reverse. The law also creates an entitlement for moderate-income households (those earning up to $88,000 a year) to get taxpayer-funded subsidies for private...

DeVore Slams Backroom Deals, Only Republican To Oppose Maldonado Confirmation FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- (SACRAMENTO) – California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, (R-70-Irvine), today spoke out against the backroom deals involved in the effort to confirm state Senator Abel Maldonado as California’s Lieutenant Governor. He then voted against the motion to confirm Maldonado and urged other lawmakers to do the same. DeVore cited Maldonado’s vote for the higher taxes included in 2009’s Proposition 1A in exchange for an agreement by the Governor and Democrat leaders to place Proposition 14, the open primary measure that infringes upon the rights of partisan voters...

Like a drunken captain of a sinking ship who celebrates the fact that the crew was saved at the expense of the passengers, including the women and children, Nancy Pelosi hailed the approval of the final version of ObamaCare. The bill slaps heavy taxes on medical devices and prosthetics used by veterans, the elderly, the disabled, and even children. But it all was worth it, you know. It was most important that Barack Obama and the neo-Marxists in Congress get 'a win' under their belts. Republicans sought to delete these taxes but the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected that proposal, allowing the...