Obama Makes The Case For Eliminating The
Death Tax
Chris Field
says Barack Obama and his party have never advocated getting rid of
the Death Tax. They despise the rich in America -- except the rich
who populate their Congressional Caucus and donate to their campaigns.
They want to punish the children and families of extremely
successful Americans who happen to do the unthinkable (and apparently
highly lucrative in the eyes of the IRS and Democratic Party) -- die.
But in tonight's State of the Union Address, Obama made the
Right's case for eliminating the Death Tax:
We measure progress by the success of our
people. By the jobs they can find and the quality of life
those jobs offer. By the prospects of a small business owner
who dreams of turning a good idea into a thriving enterprise.
By the opportunities for a better life that we pass on to our
children.
Americans want the chance to be highly successful
and pass it on our our kids. Thanks for making our point, Obama.
$3.73 Trillion Budget Includes $367 Billion
In Tax Hikes
Jim Hoft
says Obama will propose a $3.73 trillion budget today. The
administration also said they expect the Obama deficit to grow to a
record $1.65 trillion this year.
Barack Obama tripled the
national deficit in one year. Last year it was at $1.29 Trillion
dollars. This year it will be even higher.
And next year the deficit is also expected to be
over $1 trillion dollars for the fourth straight year in a row.
From an AP report:
Barack Obama is sending Congress a $3.73
trillion spending blueprint that pledges $1.1 trillion in deficit
savings over the next decade through spending cuts and tax
increases.
Obama’s new budget projects that the deficit for
the current year will surge to an all-time high of $1.65 trillion.
That reflects a sizable tax-cut agreement reached with Republicans
in December. For 2012, the administration sees the imbalance
declining to $1.1 trillion, giving the country a record four
straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits.
Even before
Obama’s new budget for 2012 was unveiled on Monday, Republicans were
complaining that it did not go far enough. They branded
Obama’s budget solutions as far too timid for a country facing an
unprecedented flood of red ink that has pushed annual deficits to
all-time highs above $1 trillion.
"We’re broke," House
Speaker John Boehner said Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press." He
was defending a Republican effort not only to squeeze more savings
out of Obama’s 2012 budget, but also to seek $61 billion in cuts for
the current budget year.
The Obama Administration say they
intend to get two-thirds of the $1.1 trillion in savings from
spending cuts and one-third from tax revenues.
That comes to $367
billion in tax hikes.
Record Number Of Americans Paying No Taxes
Jim Meyers
says that amid all the talk that
recent tax cuts have benefited only the rich, a new report reveals that
they've actually aided lower-income Americans to the point that the
number of filers paying no taxes at all has reached a record high.
"Despite the charges of critics that the tax cuts enacted in 2001,
2003 and 2004 favored the 'rich,' these cuts reduced the tax burden of
low- and middle-income taxpayers and shifted the tax burden onto
wealthier taxpayers," states a report by the Tax Foundation, a
nonpartisan research organization founded in 1937.
Tax
Foundation economists estimate that for the 2004 tax year, a record 42.5
million tax returns -- one third of those filed -- resulted in no tax
liability after filers took advantage of credits and deductions.
The number of zero-tax filers has increased 42 percent in just four
years.
Another 15 million individuals and families didn't earn
enough income last year -- $7,950 for individuals under 65 and $15,900
for couples -- to be required to file a tax return.
A tax return
often represents several people in a family. So when all the dependents
of a filer are counted, about 120 million Americans -- 40 percent of the
population -- are outside the income tax system, according to the Tax
Foundation.
The 2003 tax cuts raised the value of the child tax
credit to $1,000 and made it easier for filers with children to not only
avoid paying taxes, but get a refund as well.
For instance, a
married couple with three children and $40,000 in income can take a
$9,700 standard deduction and $15,500 in personal exemptions, bringing
their taxable income down to $14,800. They would owe $1,505 in taxes.
But with three children, they would get $3,000 in child credits,
leaving them with no taxes owed -- and a $1,495 refund check.
In
2004, the U.S. paid out about $33 billion in refund checks to low-income
individuals and families who qualified for the Earned Income Credit, and
$9 billion to those eligible for the child credit.
The Tax
Foundation concluded: "These findings raise serious questions about the
future of the U.S. income tax system. Are any future tax cuts, or even
tax reforms, possible when the lion's share of the tax burden is
increasingly borne by a shrinking pool of taxpayers who -- at least on
paper -- appear to be 'upper-income'?"
Obama Floats Plan To Tax Cars By The Mile
Pete Kasperowicz
is reporting that the Obama administration has floated a
transportation authorization bill that would require the study and
implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many
miles they drive.
The plan is a part of the administration's
"Transportation Opportunities Act," an undated draft of which was
obtained this week by Transportation Weekly, and follows a March
Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing
drivers based on miles driven. Among other things, CBO suggested
that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing
electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were
driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations.
The CBO report was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman
Kent Conrad (D-ND), who has proposed taxing cars by the mile as a way to
increase federal highway revenues.
Obama's proposal seems to
follow up on that idea in section 2218 of the draft bill. That
section would create, within the Federal Highway Administration, a
Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office. It would be
tasked with creating a "study framework that defines the functionality
of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems."
The
administration seems to be aware of the need to prepare the public for
what would likely be a controversial change to the way highway funds are
collected. For example, the office is called on to serve a public
relations function, as the draft says it should "increase public
awareness regarding the need for an alternative funding source for
surface transportation programs and provide information on possible
approaches."
The draft bill says the "study framework" for the
project and a public awareness communications plan should be established
within two years of creating the office, and that field tests should
begin within four years. The office would be required to consider
four factors in field trials: the capability of states to enforce
payment, the reliability of technology, administrative costs, and "user
acceptance." The draft does not specify where field trials should
begin. The new office would be funded a total of $200 million
through FY 2017 for the project.
