Jump to content

Tax Increases on the Horizon


Geee

Recommended Posts

tax_increases_on_the_horizon
TownHall:

Tax Increases on the Horizon
JILLIAN BANDES

Democrats in Congress haven’t made any moves to extend the Bush tax cuts of 2006, so workers of all income levels can expect to see a 5% increase in their income taxes, and additional tax increases from a number of other areas.

The taxes affected include the capital gains tax, the alternative minimum tax, education deductions, sales tax exemptions. They also include small tax increases, like a rollback in tax breaks for tuition expenses and donations of books to public schools.

"If you believe the current consensus, we could potentially see the top income tax rate hiked back up to 39.6%, an attempt to reinstate the death tax at something like 45%, and the end of the lower 15% rate on capital gains and dividends,” said Andrew Moylan, director of government affairs at the National Taxpayers Union. “That's on top of a string of other tax hike proposals pushed by Democrats, like a cap-and-trade national energy tax or a financial transactions tax."

It’s unlikely that Democrats will stop the tax cuts from expiring, but if they do, they won’t make a move until after the November elections. That allows them to punt on the issue when votes are at stake, and maintain high spending while appearing to be fiscally responsible.

Some Democrats are still making motions to fulfill President Obama’s promise that tax rates would not be raised on those making under than $250,000 – a promise long since broken after Obamacare – by cooking up ways for lower-income earners to be exempt from those tax increases. Like most other Democratic policy proposals, no clear plan is on the table.

If allowed to expire unconditionally, the Bush tax cuts would bring in a new $4 trillion over the next 10 years, providing a ready source of funding for President Obama’s ever-extending federal programs, but also taking a significant chunk out of the national debt. That’s one reason Democrats are giving to as a reason behind their push to let these tax cuts expire; they believe that it’s hypocritical to want to lower taxes if one is legitimately concerned about higher deficits. Donald Marron at the Brookings Institution explains.

“It’s hard to imagine that spending restraint alone can solve America’s long-run fiscal woes. Facing an aging population and rising health care costs, the federal government will continue to expand even if policymakers take serious steps to trim spending,” wrote Marron in an analysis this week. “Cutting back on loopholes and other tax expenditures, taxing carbon emissions, introducing a value-added tax – all of these deserve attention in case America decides that it wants to finance a substantially larger federal government.”snip
Link to comment
Share on other sites

President Barack Obama — State of the Union Speech – Tuesday February 24, 2009:

 

In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.

It's quite poetic that we've got FDR on the dime with his New Deal and Barry again giving America a Raw Deal.

 

us_dime_front.png?w=298&h=300

Link to comment
Share on other sites

President Barack Obama — State of the Union Speech – Tuesday February 24, 2009:

 

In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.

 

us_dime_front.png?w=298&h=300

 

Instead, we get:

 

4237614386_87fee55c76.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you will not see your taxes increased a single dime

Argyle!

You make a good point. The Liar in Chief was truthful in fact. Not a "single" dime but bunches and bunches of dimes!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • 1711689704
×
×
  • Create New...