Category: Taxation

Biden/Harris Financial Policies

Time to look at Biden and what are his financial policies and will they do any good for the American people…..

While Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is unlikely to prioritize a financial industry crackdown if he wins on Nov. 3, he is expected to take a much tougher line than Trump and his former boss President Barack Obama.

Banks and investors were preparing for a Biden victory over the weekend after Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, in a blow for his campaign.

Here are some of the key areas his administration and agency picks would likely focus on.

THE COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT
HOUSING FINANCE
CONSUMER PROTECTIONS, CREDIT REPORTING
CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS
BANKRUPTCY REFORM
POSTAL BANKING
 
All pretty good ideas….but knowing what our politics is like I d not think they will be nearly as all powerful as they pretend….after special interests get through they will be toothless tigers….as usual.
 
The tax policies of the Biden/Harris team is also good ideas…..

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have an opportunity to cut poverty in America in half. A new study finds that the Democratic ticket has put forward or endorsed a set of proposals that, taken together, could add up to the biggest anti-poverty plan in decades.

Three specific measures — Biden’s plan to make Section 8 housing vouchers universal; congressional Democrats’ plan for a $3,000-a-year child allowance ($3,600 for kids under 6), and Harris’s LIFT Act proposing new tax credits for low-income households — would have lowered the poverty rate from 12.7 percent to 6.5 percent if they had been adopted in 2018, according to researchers at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia. That’s 20.2 million fewer people living in poverty.

The reduction in child poverty would be larger still, from 13.7 percent to 3.6 percent. Only about a quarter as many children would remain in poverty after the policy package’s adoption.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21456242/joe-biden-poverty-checks-kamala-harris

Once again good plan…but it will probably not hold up to the brutal American political process….more promises that will go unfulfilled thanx to lobbyists and cash spread around.

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Tale Of The Taxes

This is for all those people that have been working tirelessly to get Trump’s tax returns to made public…..well sports fans your wait is over.

Praise be!

After 3+ years of bitching and whining we all get a chance to look into the taxes of our Dear Loving President…..the returns have been made public…..and now we can go to the tale of the taxes…

The most sought-after documents in America have finally surfaced: President Trump’s tax returns. And what they reveal is sobering. Trump, a self-described master of the deal, appears to be taking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year while suffering huge losses that he uses to pay little or nothing in taxes, the New York Times reports. His properties are struggling, he’s deeply in debt, and he’s facing a battle with the IRS could cost him over $100 million. The 20-plus years of documents “reveal the hollowness, but also the wizardry, behind the self-made-billionaire image,” says the Times. “Ultimately, Mr. Trump has been more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life.” Among the details:

  • Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years, $750 the year he won the election, and $750 the year after that.
  • He’s facing $421 million in loans and other debts for which he’s personally responsible—most of which will come due over the next four years. If he wins in November, lenders will face the unenviable decision of whether to foreclose on a sitting president. But Trump can use that debt to declare future losses and avoid paying taxes.
  • Beginning in 2010, he successfully claimed an income tax refund of $72.9 million due to his vast losses. That refund is at the heart of an IRS audit fight that could force Trump to repay the refund with interest—possibly more than $100 million.
  • Most of Trump’s key ventures, like his golf courses and Washington hotel, are losing millions of dollars annually. The properties are also magnets for foreign officials and lobbyists, which could represent a conflict of interest for a president who refused to divest himself from his enterprises while in office.
  • Trump’s revenue from licensing deals and The Apprentice—over $420 million in all—is running out, and years ago he sold off stocks that might help him shore up his properties.
  • Alan Garten, a Trump Organization lawyer, tells the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” in its report. He says Trump “has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes” over the past decade, but the Times suggests that Garten is confusing Trump’s income taxes with other federal taxes, like Medicare and Social Security. Garten said Trump paid some taxes with credits, which the Times calls “misleading.”
  • Trump called the Times report “fake news” on Sunday and said he has paid taxes, the AP reports. He didn’t give details but said it “will all be revealed.”

Our fascination even obsession over the Trump taxes has now been satisfied….may we please move on to more pressing issues?

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Screw Those Old Farts! (Again)

Closing Thought–10Aug20

This is for all those old farts that still support the president…that would be Trump in case you are not sure…..

Trump has liberally used the power of the Executive Order when he cannot get his way from Congress and he has a new idea for his next EO.

A cut in payroll taxes,,,,yes it will give the worker more money but at the same time will begin the gutting of Social Security…..

An advocacy group representing more than four million American retirees warned Thursday that President Donald Trump took a dangerous step toward “single-handedly” dismantling Social Security by announcing he plans to sign an executive order suspending collection of the payroll tax as early as Friday afternoon.

With congressional negotiations over the next Covid-19 stimulus package still at an impasse, Trump told reporters Thursday that executive orders to suspend the payroll tax, extend boosted unemployment benefits, and reestablish an expired eviction moratorium are “being drawn now” despite questions over whether the president has the authority to unilaterally take any of those actions.

Trump said he expects to sign the orders “tomorrow afternoon or maybe the following morning” if White House negotiators and Democratic leaders don’t reach a deal. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have rejected the idea of cutting the payroll tax, the primary funding mechanism for Social Security.

Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a statement that “after learning that Democratic and Republican congressional leaders would not go along with his harebrained scheme to cut Social Security’s dedicated funding source, President Trump lashed out and announced he would begin dismantling the system single-handedly.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/06/retirees-vow-fight-attempt-gut-social-security-trump-announces-executive-order/

Once again the seniors will take a good screwing and yet they will continue to vote for the toads that are raping their benefits.

I am still working on where the logic in that sort of politics….

But I will admit I can see Trump’s point……his proposed EOs…..

The workweek came and went without a deal in Congress for pandemic relief, and that’s despite a two-hour meeting Friday with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Treasury’s Steven Mnuchin, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Afterward, the latter two said they would recommend that Trump issue executive orders, and the president pledged to do just that in a Friday evening press conference, reports USA Today. Details are scarce—including on where the money would come from—but Trump said he planned to tackle four main issues, per the Hill:

  • Pay enhanced unemployment benefits through the end of the year
  • Defer student loan payments and forgive interest for the near future
  • Reinstate a federal moratorium on evictions
  • Defer the payroll tax until year’s end

Gridlock brought this about……

Trump signed four executive orders to act where Congress hasn’t, contending Washington’s gridlock had compelled him to act as the pandemic undermined the country’s economy and imperiled his November reelection hopes. Perhaps most crucially, Trump moved to continue paying a supplemental federal unemployment benefit for millions of Americans out of work during the outbreak.

However, his order called for up to $400 payments, one-third less than the $600 people had been receiving. Congress allowed those higher payments to lapse on Aug. 1, and negotiations to extend them have been mired in partisan gridlock, with the White House and Democrats miles apart. Now, Trump, who has not spoken with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since last year, sought to play the role of election-year savior, with the $400 weekly assistance, as well as a deferral of payroll tax and federal student loan payments and the continuation of a freeze on some evictions during the crisis. “It’s $400 a week, and we’re doing it without the Democrats,” Trump said, asking states to cover 25% of the cost.

This according to the conservs of Lincoln Project……

This defunds Medicare.

This defunds Social Security.

Tax collection is just deferred.

You’ll still owe these taxes next year.

Stop calling it Washington gridlock…it is the Senate that does nothing and I mean NOTHING….

Image

I still think the payroll tax thing is the beginning of the assault on Social Security and Medicare……I give Trump his props for doing what the Congress could not….but I still question his motives.

Something to think about……

President Donald Trump on Saturday afternoon openly vowed to permanently “terminate” the funding mechanism for both Social Security and Medicare if reelected in November—an admission that was seized upon by defenders of the popular safety net programs who have been warning for months that the administration’s threat to suspend the payroll tax in the name of economic relief during the Covid-19 pandemic was really a backdoor sabotage effort.

Announcing and then signing a series of legally dubious executive orders, including an effort to slash the emergency federal unemployment boost by $200 from the $600 previously implemented by Democrats, Trump touted his order for a payroll tax “holiday”—which experts noted would later have to be paid back—but said if he won in November that such a cut would become permanent.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/08/trump-just-admitted-live-television-he-will-terminate-social-security-and-medicare

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Biden and Taxes

November is quickly approaching and some of us have not decided who will get the vote…..I will focus on Biden since most intelligent people already know what a tool Trump is…..

First let me state here for all to read so there is NO confusion…I am not a Biden supporter…..but that explanation is for a later post…..this one is about something Biden has stated recently on taxes….

Joe Biden wants a tax code that supports the everyday, salt-of-the-earth Americans who earn $400,000 a year.

In an interview with CNBC Friday morning, the Democratic nominee sounded some populist notes while defending his (quite progressive) ideas for raising taxes on capital gains, corporations, and the labor income of the superrich. “My tax policy is based on a simple proposition,” Biden explained, “which is, stop rewarding wealth and start rewarding work a little bit.”

But while blue America’s standard-bearer evinced enthusiasm for soaking the superrich, he vowed to preserve the (historically low) tax rates that America’s merely rich currently pay: Under a Biden administration, “Nobody making under 400,000 bucks would have their taxes raised. Period. Bingo,” the candidate declared.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/biden-cnbc-interview-tax-policy-400000.html

This is nothing but a campaign promise that is soon forgotten….but he and they keep making them and the voter keeps buying the crap spread…..and then they sit around the kitchen table looking at their lives a wonders what went all wrong.

Ignorance, gullibility and laziness is what went wrong….and this election will be NO different.

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Shay’s Rebellion–Revisited

These days with the mental midgets showing up at state capitals and demanding the right to infect themselves and others with the Covid-19 I thought back to the young days of our republic…..

The year was 1786 and the memories of the Revolutionary War were still fresh in most minds…..the country tried to raise revenue by some taxes and of course then as now people were outraged that they should have to pay for anything…..

But for those that have a hard time remembering what they were taught in school…..this is important for it was the first time that the new American government had to flex its muscle….

A note here that most used statement by Jefferson about the tree of liberty came about because of this incident.

Shays’ Rebellion was a series of violent protests staged during 1786 and 1787 by a group of American farmers who objected to the way state and local tax collections were being enforced. While skirmishes broke out from New Hampshire to South Carolina, the most serious acts of the rebellion occurred in rural Massachusetts, where years of poor harvests, depressed commodity prices, and high taxes had left farmers facing the loss of their farms or even imprisonment. The rebellion is named for its leader, Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays of Massachusetts.

Although it never posed a serious threat to the still loosely organized post-war United States federal government, Shays’ Rebellion drew lawmakers’ attention to serious weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and was frequently cited in the debates leading to the framing and ratification of the Constitution.

The threat posed by Shays’ Rebellion helped persuade retired General George Washington to reenter public service, leading to his two terms as the first President of the United States.

In a letter regarding Shays’ Rebellion to U.S. Representative William Stephens Smith dated November 13, 1787, Founding Father Thomas Jefferson famously argued that an occasional rebellion is an essential part of liberty:

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

https://www.thoughtco.com/shays-rebellion-causes-effects-4158282

I believe that this incident and few others were the reason for the inclusion of the 2nd amendment to the Bill of Rights…..

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More Important Than The Trial

Closing Thought–21Jan20

The country is laser focused on the Senate impeachment trial but there are events that should be more important…why?

The trial will be a silly exercise in the absurd.

One of the “Rights” we have is the right to vote for who we like or better yet as a citizen I have the right to vote without worry…..

Back in the old Jim Crow days in the South Blacks had to pay a “poll tax” to vote….or they we not allowed to exercise a right……but thankfully those days are gone…..not so FAST!

Florida’s state Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of denying convicted felons the right to vote if they do not pay fines and fees associated with their incarceration, a decision that was immediately assailed by rights activists as an unconstitutional and immoral poll tax.

In a statement condemning the ruling (pdf), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Florida, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund said the ruling “does not—indeed, cannot—alter what the U.S. Constitution requires.”

“A federal court has already held that the state cannot deny people the right to vote because of their inability to pay financial obligations,” the groups said in their statement. 

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/16/its-2020-and-floridas-supreme-court-just-ruled-favor-poll-tax

This is sick!

Trying to eliminate people from voting……

This will probably go to the US Supreme Court…as it should,,,,but I have NO confidence that this will be struck down by a mostly conservative court.

If not then this idea will spread throughout the South especially…..and the areas the the GOP has successfully purged voters from the rolls.

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“lego ergo scribo”

2020–Are You Sick Of These F*ckers Yet?

Warren and Sanders have started the billionaires to shake in their tidy whities……it is the tax thing.

Warren has said she would pay for Medicare For All with a tax on billionaires…..by “taxes on big corporations, Wall Street, and the top 1%…… Her plan, posted online

The plan sent a quiver through the wealthy old boys club……Gates, Cooperman and Bloomberg are thinking they know best simply because they have money to burn……I for one am not buying their crap….

Gates started whining….

Bill Gates to her list of critics. At a forum Wednesday, Gates didn’t sound thrilled about Warren’s idea to increase taxes on billionaires, and his criticism caught her attention. The details:

What he said: “I’ve paid over $10 billion in taxes,” Gates said at the New York Times DealBook conference, per the Guardian. “If I had to pay $20 billion, it’s fine. But when you say I should pay $100 billion, then I’m starting to do a little math over what I have left over.” He eventually added, “Sorry, I’m just kidding.”

Gates did more than criticize Warren’s tax policy. “I’m not sure how open minded she is—or that she’d even be willing to sit down with somebody who has large amounts of money,” he said, per Mediaite. And when asked who he would support in a hypothetical matchup of Warren vs. President Trump, he declined to say. “Whoever I decide will have the more professional approach in the current situation, probably is the thing I will weigh the most,” he said. “And I hope that the more professional candidate is an electable candidate.”

More professional?  What the Hell does that meas?  Is it code?

Next up is a billionaire named Cooperman….

Warren is clashing with billionaire investor Leon Cooperman, who sent her a critical letter and called out her “vilification of the rich.” In harsh terms, he said to Politico, “This is the f—ing American dream she is s—-ing on.”

He sounds like a parasite that is afraid of losing his host.

Now the perennial candidate Mike Bloomberg is joining the whining by billionaires that would have to pay more taxes…..but as usual he is thinking about running for president…..

Bloomberg flirted with a presidential run earlier this year, visiting early voting states and conducting extensive polling. He ultimately decided against a run, citing in part the apparent strength of former Vice President Joe Biden, a fellow moderate. But Bloomberg is said to have become increasingly worried about the direction of the Democratic primary as more liberal candidates like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have gained in popularity. In a statement on Thursday, Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson said the former mayor is worried that the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates is “not well positioned” to defeat Trump.

Bloomberg has become a “media whore” he will do anything to try and get his mug on the tellie…..

When will the American people tire of the constant whinbing by the greedy class trying to fuck the country and horde their cash?

I think it is interesting that these billionaires think they have a better plan for governing this country….and if I am not mistaken there was a billionaire that felt the same way in 2016….and look how that has worked out.

These people said the same things about the taxes of the Obama years….

How sad that these people are so insecure that they feel that the government owes them something above the benefits they all get while raping the economy.

The MSM is helping the whiners above all else because the corporate owned news loves the center….

Politico, John F. Harris makes the case that the mainstream media is biased against Warren because “journalists love the center.” Republicans complain of a liberal bias, but Harris says they have it wrong. “The more pervasive force shaping coverage of Washington and elections is what might be thought of as centrist bias, flowing from reporters and sources alike … a conviction that politics should be a tidier and more rational process than it usually is.” What’s wrong about this view is when real change happens, it rarely comes from the center, he adds.

You want change?

It never comes from the “Center”.

Enough already!  Besides the Dems already have enough billionaires in this race.

Ask yourself one question…can a person living in the lap of luxury have any idea what the Middle class and poor go through daily?

Anything more pathetic than the uber-rich pretending that they want to save our democracy?

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Where Oh Where Has The Economy Gone?

If you get the Tweets from the GOP then you will be thumping your chest because Trump has made us mere mortal Americans richer with his lame ass economic policies.

The problem with that LIE is that reality pisses all over it.

Like the BS about how much us mere mortals would benefit from Trump tax cuts……well it is total crap….https://lobotero.com/2019/10/30/closing-thought-30oct19/

I recall when he was in the WH early in his rein he precdicted with his policies the American economy would grow 3. 4 5 % and possibly as much as 6%…..so far that was Bullshit as well….

The summer temps may have been record-setting hot, but the economy experienced some chills. Data out Wednesday via the Commerce Department shows GDP grew at a 1.9% rate from July through September, down from a growth rate of 2% in the second quarter. Why, what it means, and President Trump’s morning thoughts on the economy:

  • The Washington Post frames the slowdown as expected, as business investment was curtailed following the president’s decision to ratchet up the trade war with China at the start of August. Many expected much worse, reports the Hill, with some forecasts as low as a growth rate of 1.3%.
  • The Post notes the 3% drop in business investment in the third quarter is the largest since late 2015: “Still, the sustained pace suggests it is unlikely to dive into a recession anytime soon, unless there is a major shock or the trade war worsens significantly.”
  • Consumer spending makes up 70% of economic activity. It grew at a healthy 2.9% in the third quarter, down from 4.6% the quarter prior.
  • The AP points out Trump has set “3%-plus increases … as a benchmark to demonstrate that his policies are succeeding in lifting the economy above the modest 2.2% growth of the Obama years.” Growth for 2019 is expected to end up around 2.3%. NPR notes we’d need “an economic miracle” to end up at the 3.2% growth rate that appears in Trump’s 2019 budget.
  • Though the GDP report was better than expected, most investors doubt it will do anything to change the mind of the Federal Reserve, which is expected to announce a quarter-point rate cut at 2pm Wednesday, reports CNN. (Update: It did.)
  • About an hour prior to the report’s release, Trump tweeted, “The Greatest Economy in American History!” The Week contrasts that with a tweet Trump wrote in 2012 during Obama’s presidency: “Q1 GDP has just been revised down to 1.9% … The economy is in deep trouble.”
  • So is he right about the greatest part? The Post reports that if the annual pace of roughly 2.9% seen thus far is sustained for the remainder of his term, it would be the fastest term of growth since the Clinton years. But that still wouldn’t make it the greatest, as Clinton and Reagan both experienced growth in excess of 3% a year during their terms.

Yes Irene….the economy is NOT preforming well under the leadership of Trump…..

The ‘Trump economy’ isn’t living up to his promises

AS the election approaches….now is the time to start looking at all the promises that Trump made in 2016……if his leadership has been a sham then maybe it is time to remove this person and install a new liar  to lead the economy.

In a closing note…where have all the fiscal conservs gone?

The Federal deficit has reached $23 trillion……and NO ONE cares!

The federal government’s outstanding public debt has surpassed $23 trillion for the first time in history, according to data from the Treasury Department released on Friday.

Growing budget deficits have added to the nation’s debt at a speedy rate since President Trump took office. The debt has grown some 16 percent since Trump’s inauguration, when it stood at $19.9 trillion. It passed $22 trillion for the first time just 10 months ago.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/468600-us-debt-surpasses-23-trillion-for-first-time

Where oh where did the deficit hawks go?

Gone to knee pads everyone.

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Closing Thought–30Oct19

Tax Cuts!

Every time we have a cut in taxes we are told that they will pay for themselves and that all the benefits for the wealthy will trickle down to the rest of us peasants….both are lies that the people believe every time and every time we , the average person, gets the shaft.

That said what about the tax cuts of two years ago the Speaker Ryan helped pass and screw us people….

After two years, President Trump’s tax cuts are not on track to pay for themselves, the latest Treasury data released Friday suggest.

Total federal government revenues ended up lower in 2019 than was projected before the passage of the GOP tax overhaul in 2017.

Then, in 2017, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that fiscal 2019 revenues, without the tax cuts, would be $3.69 trillion. Instead, revenues with the tax cuts were only $3.46 trillion.

To be certain, the difference, $225 billion, cannot be attributed solely to the tax cuts. Other economic factors have influenced economic growth over the past two years. For example, the tariffs put in place as part of Trump’s trade wars likely counteracted the stimulative effect of the tax cuts.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/two-years-in-trump-tax-cuts-not-on-course-to-pay-for-themselves

THat was a con job…..but what about all the bravado that Trump thumps his chest about….like” this is the best economy in our history”

More con….more lies…..look at the stats for yourself…..

It’s true the economy has been doing well – but there have been periods when it was even stronger.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-45827430

The truth is that the economy is the best in decades but only if you are already wealthy and are getting wealthier…..the rest of us continue to struggle….day to day……

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That ‘Marvelous’ Tax Cut

This will be the first resurrection of the VOMITORIUM…..

About two years ago the Trump tax cut went into effect and we were promised so much to sell them to the public by Trump, Mnuchin and Kudlow the dude that played an economist on TV…….and yet NOTHING they promised to the public has occurred…..corporations are smiling with the windfall of profits because of the cuts….

But the biggest bullsh*t promise was that these tax cuts would slash the federal deficit…..so far after two years that is NOT happening….

“A treasury secretary who can’t count needs to be held accountable.”

That was the message progressive advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness (AFT) directed at Steve Mnuchin Friday, marking the two-year anniversary of the treasury secretary’s claim that the GOP’s 2017 tax cuts would slash the U.S. budget deficit “by a trillion dollars.”

AFT pointed out in a statement that the deficit has soared in the two years since passage of the tax legislation. CNN reported earlier this month that the deficit topped a trillion dollars during the first 11 months of fiscal year 2019.

“Mnuchin’s empty promise shows just how much the 2017 tax cuts for the rich were a scam on the American people,” said AFT executive director Frank Clemente. “Mnuchin’s prediction was off by $1 trillion.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/27/1-trillion-say-progressives-two-year-anniversary-mnuchin-claim-trump-tax-cuts-would

Another economic lie from Trump and his Boyz that has NOT materialized……manufacturing is NOT returning…..factories are NOT re-opening…..and those millions of jobs have yet to appear…….Mexico is NOT paying for the Wall our military families are…..all in all this is just bullshit with a capital “B”.

What more will it take for the American people to wake up and vote these corrupt toads out of office?

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