Free Republic

Back in July President Obama went on national television to deliver a lie filled speech on why we had to raise the debt ceiling. In that speech the president stated that the federal government needed to raise an additional $1.2 trillion in new revenue. First let’s dispel the myth that the government actually does anything to earn revenue. First of all, “revenue” is simply Madison Avenue speak for taxes. The only way the government can receive funds to the treasury is by taking money, by levying taxes, from hard working Americans. More recently the president has been championing his much...

Lost amid all the hoopla last week about President Obama’s latest stimulus bill and the Republican primary dustup over whether Social Security is a Ponzi scheme was the news that the bipartisan “supercommittee” has begun its work trying to find at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. Anyone who cares about low taxes, limited government, and economic growth should be paying close attention. That’s because the initial signs are not encouraging. The supercommittee is, of course, the bastard child of this summer’s deal to raise the debt ceiling. Equally divided between senators and congressmen, Democrats and Republicans, the supercommittee is...

President Obama unveiled part two of his American Jobs Act on Monday, and it turns out to be another permanent increase in taxes to pay for more spending and another temporary tax cut. No surprise there. What might surprise Americans, however, is how the President is setting up the U.S. economy for one of the biggest tax increases in history in 2013. Mr. Obama said last week that he wants $240 billion in new tax incentives for workers and small business, but the catch is that all of these tax breaks would expire at the end of next year. To...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday morning said President Obama’s plan to raise taxes to pay for a $447 billion jobs bill had no chance of passing the Senate. He called Obama’s jobs package — announced last week to a joint session of Congress — a political exercise, describing it as “disappointing.” McConnell’s forceful criticisms of the plan signal Obama will have a difficult time passing any of his proposal through Congress. There is also brewing Republican opposition to an extension of the payroll tax holiday, which GOP lawmakers have viewed skeptically as a temporary fix. McConnell said...

Republicans made significant progress towards a balanced-budget amendment (BBA) vote in the debt-ceiling debate. While Democratic leadership initially mocked the idea, polls showed that voters broadly support a constitutional bar on deficit spending — including wide majorities of Democrats and liberals. Some Democrats in Congress later expressed support for the concept of a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, and a vote on some form of BBA is expected later this year.But what form will get a vote? Brent Bozell worries that Republicans might give away the key to controlling tax rates: The version attached to the House Republicans’ Cut, Cap...

It was sometimes rowdy, sometimes fractious, but in the end leaders of communities throughout Metro Atlanta did something they've never done before. They agreed on a regional transportation plan. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed called it a trying process – attempting to whittle away $300-million from a region-wide transportation wish list that included projects ranging from the Beltline to the Northwest Corridor Rail project along US 41. “Although a couple of times, we walked up to the edge in terms of offending one another,” Reed said after the meeting of the Transportation Roundtable Executive Board, “at the end of the day,...

A week later and we are still amazed at how the Republicans in Congress pulled it off. They held the economy hostage, won some cheap political points, and all of us will spend the next decade paying the ransom as government programs — $900 billion over 10 years in the first round — are slashed and the recovery is put at risk. The only glimmer of hope is that the battle is not completely over — if President Obama is finally willing to fight. Under the terms of the ill-conceived debt agreement, Congress has to propose another $1.5 trillion in...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will introduce a bill on Friday to allow states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes. The measure has the support of online giant Amazon. Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Jack Reed (D- R.I.) will co-sponsor the bill, titled the Main Street Fairness Act. Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) will introduce a companion bill in the House. Supporters of the bill argue it will close a loophole that allows online purchases to go untaxed, giving an advantage to online retailers over traditional, brick-and-mortar stores. “Our bill levels the playing field to give...

The most important principle taught in the graduate business economics course I took at the University of Kansas is: "There is no free lunch." Many wealthy Republicans either don't understand that "you can't get something for nothing" or don't understand how the value of their assets depends upon the federal government providing them with a safe and financially stable environment in which to make their fortunes. The term "free lunch" comes from the practice of some nineteenth century bars placing a "free lunch" on the bar for those who purchased drinks that might have a higher price than at other...

House Speaker John Boehner is insisting tax increases are "off the table" in negotiations with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats on extending the federal debt limit. The Ohio Republican tells NBC's "Today" show "everything else is on the table." Boehner (BAY'-nur) appeared a day after telling the Economic Club of New York he wants trillions of dollars in spending cuts as part of legislation allowing the government to continue borrowing beyond the current $14.3 trillion cap.

Last Thursday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law the "Mainstreet Fairness Bill" and immediately imposed new taxes on all online retailers with business partners in the state. For the Democrats in charge, passing the largest tax hike in the Prairie State's history this past January, adding the equivalent of $1,600 per year to the average personal income tax bill, was apparently not enough of an assault on those of us who still - albeit foolishly - live in financially and politically bankrupt Illinois.  Rather than place the burden for cleaning up the state's budgetary mess only on physical...

The founder of Jimmy John’s sandwich shops says he’s considering moving his company’s headquarters from Champaign to Florida because of Illinois’ new tax increase. Gov. Pat Quinn signed the income tax increase last week to help address billions of dollars in state budget shortfalls. The corporate tax rate increased from 4.8 to 7 percent.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn gave a nearly $86,000 state job to a former lame-duck lawmaker who supplied one of the votes needed to pass his major income tax increase, but the governor's office and former state Rep. Careen Gordon both said Friday that there was no connection between the actions.

The poll finds that 53 percent of Americans want the Bush-era tax cuts extended only for households earning less than $250,000 per year. That roughly matches the proposal put forth by the White House, which wants to extend the cuts only for incomes less than $250,000 for families and $200,000 for individuals. The poll finds that 53 percent of Americans want the Bush-era tax cuts extended only for households earning less than $250,000 per year. That roughly matches the proposal put forth by the White House, which wants to extend the cuts only for incomes less than $250,000 for families...

There is a critical debate in Congress right now about the looming expiration of the "Bush tax cuts" and whether those cuts should be extended. The proposal that most Americans seem to favor includes keeping the tax cuts for all family income under $250,000. Other discussion revolves around what to do with income above that level. Many Americans don't realize that our income tax system looks at income pretty much as you would look at a layer cake. The base layer is taxed at a certain level, the middle layer is taxed at a higher rate, and the percentage on...

President Obama declared Friday that his "No. 1 priority" is preserving tax cuts for the middle class, and sharply denied that comments by his senior adviser David Axelrod suggest that his administration is about to cave in to Republicans who also want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. "That is the wrong interpretation because I haven't had a conversation with Democratic and Republican leaders," Obama said of a Huffington Post article suggesting that in advance of negotiations with lawmakers next week, the White House has calculated that giving in on tax cuts for the rich is the...

Critics say that this amounts to increasing taxes at a time of high unemployment, and that instead the tax cuts should be extended as a stimulus measure. This overlooks the fact that tax cuts are an inefficient form of stimulus, because many people choose to save their additional income instead of spending it. If the goal is to encourage growth and employment immediately, it would be better to let the tax cuts expire and dedicate some of the increased revenue to real stimulus programs. Alternatively, if some tax cuts are extended -- as it seems likely that at least those...

Laurence Kotlikoff’s Bloomberg article, “U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Didn’t Even Know It” is not accurate. (see article) Just after 4 months in office president Barry Hussein Soetoro interviewed with C-SPAN’s Steve Scully and told Scully that the United States of America was running in deficit. In Soetoro’s words, “…we are out of money now.” That was is May 23, 2009. (see 3:02min video) According to Mr. Kotlikoff what the Obama administration and the Democrat controlled Congress have been doing is not only wrong, Democrat policies are worsening America’s present and future. Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither...

Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement after Speaker Pelosi announced the House of Representatives would halt its scheduled August recess and return for legislative business next week. Prior to adjourning for recess, Chairman Price offered a privileged resolution on the floor of the House calling on Congress not to hold a lame duck session after Election Day for the purpose of passing hugely unpopular legislation like a national energy tax, enormous deficit spending bills, and the kickback to Big Labor known as “Card Check.” The House is expected to consider the Price Resolution next week......

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......