Tag: Taxes

Cracks In The Nordquist Wall?

In case there are still those who do not know who Grover Nordquist is let me assist……he is the guy that has the Tax Pledge that almost all Repubs sign promising to NEVER raise taxes….and there is where the rub is in the debt debate…..Repubs want nothing but cuts and Dems are calling for cuts and revenue sections to any bill…..up until about a year ago…cracks are starting to form in his wall of tax cuts only…….

One of the leaders of the hammer brigade is Sen. Coburn, a Repub, but it is more in the form of a technicality than an outright dismissal of the Pledge he signed when he came to Washington……

This from the Fiscal Times……

The Wall Street Journal reportedthat Coburn was among the members of a small bipartisan group of senators who are willing to consider taxes as part of a deficit reduction package. Norquist immediately went after the three Republicans named in the article: Coburn, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, and Mike Crapo of Idaho. (The Democrats are Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Richard Durbin of Illinois, and Mark Warner of Virginia.)The same day the Journal article appeared, Norquist fired off a letter to Chambliss, Coburn and Crapo, threatening them with retaliation for their apostasy:

I was disappointed this morning to read an article … in which you were implicated as parties to a bipartisan budget deal containing a net tax increase…. Needless to say, support for such a deal would most likely be a violation of your Taxpayer Protection Pledge. That pledge which you made to your constituents and the American people obligates you to “…oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar-for-dollar by further reducing tax rates.”

I urge you to reject this so-called “deal” which is little more than a transparent attempt to hike taxes and put off the spending restraint the country clearly called for in the 2010 elections.

Chambliss, Coburn and Crapo immediately wrote back to Norquist, rejecting his threat and the logic of his argument. They said there is a huge difference between a legislated tax increase and the natural rise in revenue that would accompany faster growth resulting from tax reform.

To Nordquist, the deficit is NOT important at all…….

Norquist is backed into a corner and forced to admit that he doesn’t really care about the deficit. He told the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein on March 9, “The goal is to reduce the size and scope of government spending, not to focus on the deficit.”When asked to explain how the size and scope of government is reduced by the tax pledge, Norquist fell back on a discredited doctrine called “starve the beast,” which says that tax cuts somehow or other automatically reduce spending and that the only thing to talk about is spending.

There must be revenue increases if there is to be a true recovery……cuts alone will do little to nothing….hopefully there are those that can do the math…….it is basic math not some exaggerated formula…….

So I ask again, is there cracks appearing in the Nordquist wall?

But wait!  There is an addendum……..this from yesterday’s Think Progress……

The Washington Post editorial board reported this morning that Norquist himself stated that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire in 2012 would not technically violate his pledgeas “not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase”:

Would allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled in 2012 violate this vow? We posed this question to Grover Norquist, its author and enforcer, and his answer was both surprising and encouraging: No.

In other words, according to Mr. Norquist’s interpretation of the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, lawmakers have the technical leeway to bring in as much as $4 trillion in new tax revenue — the cost of extending President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for another decade — without being accused of breaking their promise. “Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” Mr. Norquist told us. So it doesn’t violate the pledge? “We wouldn’t hold it that way,” he said.

Norquist is quickly trying to walk back that statement, declaring that “any failure to extend or make permanent the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, in whole or in part, would clearly increase taxes on the American people.” However, even while reaffirming this principle on MSNBC this morning, Norquist stated again that there are technical ways to allow the tax cuts to expire that “and not violate the pledge.”

Cracks are forming……’Mr. Nordquist…tear down this wall’………(sorry could not resist)………

When Did One Person Make Policy?

Washington is all a buzz with the negotiations between the Congress and the Prez on what to do about our spiraling debt….yet NO matter what they say, and they all want their couple of minutes in front of the media, they are being held hostage by ONE man……

I was under the impression that the Congress and the Prez made fiscal policy…….I thought the two houses and the Prez sat around and negotiated on all fiscal policy…….and with the help of special interests, of course…..but it seems that one person makes all the tax policy for the country…..especially when we are talking about what ti do with those tax policies……..who am I speaking of?……….Grover Nordquist!

Yep, good old Grover is the single most productive person in our government….and he is NOT even elected….but just who is Grover Nordquist?

Mr. Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a taxpayer advocacy group he founded in 1985 at President Reagan’s request. ATR is a coalition of taxpayer groups, individuals and businesses opposed to higher taxes at the federal, state and local levels. ATR organizes the TAXPAYER PROTECTION PLEDGE,which asks all candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. In the 112th Congress, 236 House members and 41 Senators have taken the pledge. On the state level, 13 governors and 1249 state legislators have taken the pledge.

And that is the short form……now ask yourself just how can ONE person control so much power when making legislation?  It is that damn pledge!  If the Repubs break their word and vote for some sort of tax increase it will come back and bite them in the butt during their next election……even though the majority of people , that is regular people, in this country say that some sort of tax increase should be part of our debt solution…..but may not be considered because the GOP are spineless worms and ONLY care about their next campaign (not that Dems are any better)……..
I ask again….how can one person hold up a whole fiscal policy because of some ideological crap that does NOTHING to help the country and everything to with helping corporations?
When did our government allow one person to wield that much power?  What amendment gave a single civilian this much control?  If a single individual has that much power….what hope is there that your concerns will be heard?
ONE man controls the fate of the nation….ONE MAN!

A Boner Tax?

Sunday, a day of total relaxation and Zen…….this is how you keep from burning out of the crap we call….politics…….and NO!  I am not talking about the Speaker of the House….this post kinda goes along with yesterday’s post…….

Speaking of pole dancing!

We have many on the Right saying that we are taxed to death……we pay too much corporate tax or income tax or estate tax or…..well you get the idea…..we are taxed to death, so to speak……we pay taxes on everything…..now New York has another one….you know the state where they want to ban salt and tax soft drinks or ban cell phone use while walking…….they have a new tax to invoke…….a tax on a lap dance……

A state appeals court has dismissed a bid by an Albany-area strip club to wiggle out of paying $125,000 in back sales taxes on lap dances and admission fees charged to customers — and the ruling is arousing “exotic” dance clubs in the Big Apple.But the Appellate Division on Thursday unanimously ruled that Nite Moves was a typical jiggle joint subject to the sales tax — more bump-and-grind than art.

“In our view there can be no serious question that — at a bare minimum — petitioner failed to meet its burden of establishing that private dances offered at its club were choreographed performances,” Justice John Egan Jr. wrote in the Appellate Division, Third Department ruling.

So now NY wants to tax a boner….but is not sales tax charged on stuff that is tangible, like food or clothing or transportation?  Well, I guess one would get something tangible from a lap dance….but would not it be more of a service charge…..after all you are spending money for a service….you know kinda like hiring an architect or a lawyer?
All these political types want to cut taxes……but not if it is a sin tax……once again they are imposing their moral bullshit on me……or others, in this case……are other spectator sports taxed heavily?

No Taxation Without Representation

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  American Government

Do you remember from American history class the slogan or the rallying cry or the war chat or……”No Taxation Without Representation”?  What does it really mean?

A situation in which a government imposes taxes on a particular group of its citizens, despite the citizens not consenting or having an actual representative deliver their views when the taxation decision was made. This situation was one of the triggering events that spurred the original thirteen American colonies to revolt against the British Empire.

In the 1750 and 1760’s it was a cry against the British Empire by the American colonists….in essence the colones were pissed that they had to pay taxes to the realm and had NO representation in Parliament……that they were denied their rights under English law….well it pretty much lead to the American Revolution….and we all know how that ended……even is used today…most notably by the Tea Party when they were protesting taxes that they did not want to see raised…..even though those taxes were NEVER intended to go up……..

We could make the same argument today…places like Puerto Rico, Guam and others are basically colonies of the US, but we had rather call them “territories”….they pay taxes and have NO representation in Congress….oh, they have observers but NO power to vote for laws and such…..that is disgusting in itself (that may well be another post….later)

But I want to talk about another miscarriage of justice, if you will……Washington D.C…..the capital of the US….the people living within the confines of the Federal district…..do NOT have representation in the Congress…..oh, they also have an observer but they have NO right to vote on legislation even when it applies the them directly……

The US Constitution grants congressional voting representation to the states, which the District is not. The District is a federal territory ultimately under the complete authority of Congress. The lack of voting representation in Congress for residents of the U.S. capital has been an issue since the foundation of the federal district. Numerous proposals have been introduced to change this situation including legislation and constitutional amendments to grant D.C. residents voting representation, returning the district to the state of Maryland, and making the District of Columbia into a new state. All proposals have been met with political or constitutional challenges; therefore, there has been no change in the District’s representation in the Congress.

Basically, it is that American citizens, who pay their taxes that support the state, have NO representation, voting representation, in the legislative body of the country……so it is easy……give them representation or let them be tax exempt…..an easy solution, well, two solutions…..there should be NO American citizen without voting representation in Congress…these citizens do not have the same rights as you do….and that is a travesty!

Taxes Not Collected

Daily Agitator

I know we all have had a WTF moment and find ourselves scratching our heads…..one of mine came this morning watching a talk show……there is a conversation between a couple of people and one of them was obviously pro-business…..Gov. Rendell brought that Exxon paid NO taxes in the US in 2010….but paid $56 billion (I believe) in taxes to other countries…..there was my WTF!

You are telling me that a company that is protected by the US does not have to pay its way in the country?  And then this pro-corporate dude said that they keep taxes low in this country so that business will create jobs and that would mean more people would be paying taxes and the nation’s income will go up…..WAIT!  Another WTF moment!

You are telling me that that is the plan?  Hire more people and get massive taxes breaks and the revenue will go up?  In other words it is still on the backs of working stiffs to keep the country going. right?  So it is all about the working class, middle class, whatever you would like to call it to pay all the bills?  And business gets the usual free ride?

Let’s keep with that line of thinking……corporations have just gotten a massive tax break thanx to Obama and the Repubs….we all know this…..then where has the rush to create jobs been?  It is NOT the tax code that is preventing the creation of jobs……it is greed!

People keep trying the old tired and lame theory of trickle down economics….they only re-package it every decade or so to fool the voter with unbelievable promises of prosperity…..and they BUY IT!

You guys really want an idea?….here is one……everybody, personal and corporations,  pays 10%…no breaks, cuts or deductions….working stiffs will have more on their checks…corporations will be paying the lowest corporate tax rate…and the country will once again have a revenue…..ya like it?!

Oh yeah…..and stop making plans that will go economic NOWHERE!  The truth is the best this country can ever do is a 2 year plan that coincides with elections….that is REALITY!

Then Who Pays Taxes?

Daily Agitator

I recently wrote a post about companies that do not pay taxes at all or at a reduced rate….and post got me to thinking about just who pays the taxes that are the income of the country?

When we talk about taxes, the Right has this tag line that X% of Americans pay NO taxes at all…..for them sometimes this is a good thing and when needed it is a travesty that more people do not pay taxes….so far I have NOT seen this in any form but if we take their words for it…..then there is more……this from Paul Bechhuit of Buzz Flash.com……

— General Electric made $10.3 billion in 2009, but received a $1.1 billion tax rebate.

— Forbes said about Bank of America in 2010: “How did they not pay any taxes on $4.4 billion in income?”

— Oil giant Exxon made a $45 billion profit in 2009, but paid no taxes in the United States.

— Citigroup had 4 quarters of billion-dollar profits in 2010, but paid no taxes.

— Wells Fargo made $12 billion but purchased Wachovia Bank to claim a $19 billion tax credit.

— Hewlett Packard’s U.S. income tax rate was 4.3% in 2008 and 2.3% in 2009.

— Verizon’s 10.5% tax rate, according to Forbes, is due to its partnership with Vodafone, the primary target in UK Uncut’s protests against tax evaders.

— Chevron’s tax rate was 1% in 2008.

— Boeing, which just won a $30 billion contract to build 179 airborne tankers, got $124 million back from the taxpayers in 2010.

— Over the past 5 years Amazon made $3.5 billion and paid taxes at the rate of 4.3%.

— Carnival Cruise Lines paid 1% in taxes on its $11.5 billion profit over the past 5 years.

— Koch Industries is not publicly traded, but their many tax-free benefits have been documented by the New York Observer and the Institute for Public Accuracy.

— In 2008 CorporateWatch said Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp paid “astoundingly low taxes” because of tax havens.

— Google “cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years by shifting its money around foreign countries.

— Merck, the second-largest drugmaker in the U.S., last year brought more than $9 billion from abroad without paying any U.S. tax.

— Pfizer, the largest drugmaker in the U.S., erased $10 billion in taxes with an “accounting treatment.”

If the people pay little or NO taxes and corporations do the same thing….just who is paying taxes?  It has got to be the small businesses……if it is then there needs to be a change in the tax codes….small business get a lower rate and corporations pay their share with NO deductions or help from the government……now you know why the country is in monetary trouble….NO one is paying their taxes!

What percentage do you pay?

We know that idea will not fly!  Corporations have friends in high places…like YOUR representative!

Happy Birthday, Ronnie!

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Presidents

NOTE:  I apologize for the delay of this post…it was meant to be done on 06 Feb on Reagan’s actual birthday……a cold and a fever have been more than my fingers could take……

We are in the midst of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the US, that god-like hero of the Right….conservs bow and pray (or should that be prey)  at the feet of the giant in American conservatism…..

Let us be real for just a damn moment!  The Left (if you will) has its deified leaders……FDR, Kennedy and Clinton….you know those past presidents that did some things right and the country seem to respond well to them….and thus they become rallying calls for subsequent elections…..and what has the Right had to use?  Goldwater? Hoover?  Nope!  The only thing that they have had in the past 70+ years is …..Reagan.  And they have used it for all it is worth…….every recent GOP nominee has tried to use the mantle of the heir to Reaganism.

I will give Reagan his props…..I believe that he was instrumental in the ending of the Cold War (a debatable premise)  and the demise of the USSR….he helped redefine the conservatism as we know it today and he changed economics ………not that I consider anything good…..the trickle down theory that is still used today and still does NOT work……

If the very name makes you wish for better days then you need to go back and try again….Reagan supposedly stood for lower taxes, deficit reduction and smaller government….you know all the crap that Repubs still cling to but still cannot seem to find the right handle to open that door.

In reality, Reagan could not find the handle either….for all his bolster and vocalization….he could NOT keep the three simple rules of the GOP…..he increased taxes 6 out of the 8 years he was president……he increased the deficit at least two fold and he grew the size of government….

Does lower taxes, smaller government or deficit reduction sound at all familiar?  Well it should!  You have been promised that by every GOP president for the last many years….Bush I, Bush II, and every candidate for as many years…..and whenever they control Congress they have been unable to keep the promises and in most cases did the opposite….and yet YOU keep voting for the idea that cannot be upheld…..at least NOT in our way of governing…..

The GOP cannot keep their promises and have seldom kept the promises of smaller government, lower taxes or deficit reduction and yet they cling to the past and the crap of the past……Repubs need to find a new tune….this song remains the same…..

People!  Stop deifying these people…they do NOT deserve such an honor!  Every president is a special person, in their own right, but NOT one needs to be deified…….when the electorate finds that person that can solve the problems and still treat the people, all the people, with respect to their needs, then, only then…..should deification be considered!

Was The Recent Tax Deal Good News?

With the passage of the extension on the Bush tax cuts (now and forever, to be called the Obama tax cuts) has revved up the calls for extensive tax reforms….from the Prez and his minions and even from some in the Tea Party….but what are the chances?

From the WSJ…..

This week’s great debate over the fate of the Bush-era tax cuts is doing something more important than determining tax levels for a couple of years: It’s helping set the table for a fundamental reform of the tax system.

That may be a blessing in disguise. Today’s tax compromise is laying the groundwork for tomorrow’s badly needed national debate over how to perform a much more fundamental makeover of the tax code, most likely after the next presidential election.

Actually, this week’s tax debate is merely the second big recent event pushing the country closer toward this rendezvous with real tax reform. The first came in the form of the report issued by the bipartisan deficit-reduction commission Mr. Obama created to deal with Washington’s tide of red ink.

A real conversation on tax reform is needed but will it ever come?

Ezra Klein makes a very astute observation in the WaPo……..

I doubt it. If you could agree on what the words “revenue neutral” meant, you really could redesign the tax code to feature lower rates, simpler forms and less economic drag. But given the coming expiration of the Bush tax cuts, you can’t agree on what revenue-neutral means, as Democrats will say it means revenue after the cuts expire, and Republicans will say it means revenue if the cuts were extended. Until that question is resolved, every tax reform conversation will break down when Republicans realize Democrats are trying to lock in the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and Democrats realize Republicans will only reform the tax code if it means the Bush cuts live forever and ever, amen.

Conservatives want lower taxes, particularly on the rich. They want a larger percentage of Americans to pay federal income taxes, as they believe that paying federal income taxes makes you less likely to support federal spending (Question: Is there any evidence for this view?). They want major cuts in existing government programs and a high bar to creating new programs, which means total revenues have to remain below current spending and far below projected spending.

Liberals have their own concerns: They want more revenues, as they know that their programs can’t survive forever unless taxes rise to meet spending. They want the tax code to be more progressive, and they want to see inequality fall. They want taxes on wealth-income brought into line with taxes on work-income. They want the social spending that runs through the tax code, like the Earned Income Tax Credit or the breaks for clean energy development, to survive, and even be expanded.

All this back and forth….only proves ONE thing….there will be little change in the tax code and structure in the near future……the working class will pay and the wealthy will get the benefits of their station in life…………

Why Not Tax And Spend?

I hate to break it to all you conservs and TPers….that is what governments do…they tax and then spend their revenues to benefit society….well that is the plan, but unfortunately does not always work out that way….the politicians find creative ways to waste the revenue….like un-winnable wars, for one….

But there needs to be a better way of tax and spend…and it could possibly be a shot to the arm of the deficit….

This a proposal from the Center For American Progress……

  • Thus the need for revenue. In this report we offer revenue-generating plans that will hit four deficit-reduction targets: 33 percent of the way to primary balance in 2015, then 50 percent, 67 percent, and 100 percent. The most far-reaching of the revenue plans, the 100 percent tax revenue option, relies on seven distinct tax increases. This plan would generate $255 billion in new revenue by: Implementing a graduated surtax on adjusted gross income for households making more than half a million dollars per year
  • Imposing a $10 per barrel fee on imported oil
  • Returning the estate tax to pre-Bush tax cut levels—a $1 million exemption and a 55-percent rate
  • Removing the cap on the employer side of the Social Security payroll tax
  • Indexing the entire tax code to a better measure of inflation
  • Increasing the top rate on capital gains and dividends
  • Increasing the ordinary income tax rates on tax brackets between $140,000 and $380,000

Any deficit reduction plan is a balancing act between spending cuts, tax increases, the needs of the nation, and the wide range of views on which of these are most important. This report offers five different balances for getting to the 2015 target of primary balance. We believe the 50-50 plan, accompanied by a crusade to deliver government services more efficiently and effectively, offers the best option.

So tax and spend may be dirty words to conservs, but it is the way of government…like it or not…..

Okay, let us look at the states…..conserv commentators say that the reason industry left this area was because taxes are too high…..places like New York, Connecticut, etc….if that is the case why is not the South more industrial…you cannot find lower business taxes than in Mississippi and Alabama?  Answer us this!

We all want and need services provided by the government, like police, fire, education, homeland security, etc, but in this atmosphere of “smaller” government how do we find the cash to fund these services?  The answer!  VAT!

A VAT is like a sales tax in that ultimately only the end consumer is taxed. It differs from the sales tax in that, with the latter, the tax is collected and remitted to the government only once, at the point of purchase by the end consumer. With the VAT, collections, remittances to the government, and credits for taxes already paid occur each time a business in the supply chain purchases products from another business.

This could be sold to the corporations and businesses…..why?  They could recoup some of their taxes while the ultimate consumer, you and me, are screwed on getting any of the taxes back…this should make the conservs happy…this is a better plan than some of the others offered out there…..why not try….we might find the cash to actually have a country that lives within its means…….

More Than Meets The Eye

It is now official…..we will take the Bush tax cuts in place and yes the wealthy will get wealthier thanx to our president and the Congress…..you have heard all the scuttle-butt…..about the jobs or about the need or about…well whatever the kings of power want you to hear…..but as usual there is more to the story than some would like you to know…..

For instance, the GOP has been yelling about the run away spending of the Obama administration….how he is some sort of drunken sailor when it comes to the government…..and the soon to be speaker of the House called the taxation of the rich as some sort of pile of “chicken crap” (pretty good summation from a real statesman) (sarcasm, BTW)…..

But with all the speeches and all the promises and all the crap….what will it cost to continue  the Bush tax cuts……thanx to CNNMoney for the breakdown…..

Unemployment benefits: $57 billion. The package would also leave in place for 13 months the option to file for extended federal unemployment benefits — which go as high as 99 weeks in states hit hardest by job loss. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that a year-long extension would cost $57 billion.

Social Security tax break: $120 billion. The package would also offer workers a 2% payroll tax holiday next year, so that instead of paying 6.2% on their first $106,800 of wages, they will only have to pay 4.2%. The White House estimates the measure would cost $120 billion.

Individual tax credits: $40 billion. The compromise framework would also extend for two years the increased value of a number of tax credits that benefit low- and middle-income tax filers, such as the earned income tax credit, the child credit and a revamped tax credit for college costs. The measure would cost $40 billion, the administration said.

Business tax breaks: Cost unclear. It is still not clear how many business tax breaks are in the package. Some, like an extension of the research and development credit, has drawn bipartisan support and is typically renewed annually. But also included is a new temporary option for businesses to write off 100% of their expenses in 2011. A cost estimate was not immediately available.

Estate tax: $88 billion. The compromise framework also includes a lower estate tax, which barring any changes would return in 2011 with a $1 million exemption level and a top rate of 55%. Instead, under the proposal, the exemption level would be raised to $5 million and the top rate lowered to 35%. The administration said it didn’t have a cost estimate yet, but a review of an estate tax proposal with similar parameters by the Tax Policy Center suggests the cost could be roughly $88 billion over 2 years.

Yep…sports fans they will be expensive!  But I thought we were on this kick of deficit reduction….is that not what the last election showed all the analysts?

The one part that I am suspicious of is the part about the social security payroll taxes decreased by 2%…yes it will give people a bit more money in their pockets…..but it will decrease the amount of money in the fund…..which will make it weaker and will help it go bust sooner….the GOP will most likely get their way on some of their moronic SS proposals…..

This is a win-win for the GOP…..not only do their base, the rich, get lots of cash to play with…but they also will weaken an already weakened SS fund….which will mean that something may have to be done sooner than later….and that is their plan and their desire…..I can hear the yells for cuts in entitlements as I type…..

And one last thing…thgis is now Obama’s tax cuts, no longer will it be laid at the feet of Bush……anything that goes wrong will be the sole possession of Obama and the Dems….makes for a great election season…..

To my friends on the Right…..do you recall all the whining, screaming and crying about a government take over?  This bill had NO committee, had NO CBO score and NO real debate and yet it has become law….now you may start screaming about the government takeover that you were so worried about in the recent past……(insert sound of a cricket here)……