Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
House Republicans are now offering to extend the Payroll Tax Cut without offsetting spending cuts or tax increases, which has been the issue holding up an extension since December: Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) — Congressional Republicans are offering to drop their demand to finance a 10-month extension of the payroll tax cut with spending reductions, three [...]
The latest projections from Congressional Budget Office are sobering to say the least.
The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman explains why: Billionaire Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett is once again thrilling the political class by volunteering other people to pay higher taxes. Long-time observers recall his opposition to former President George W. Bush’s efforts to reduce the tax rate on dividends. Since Berkshire pays no dividends, Mr. Buffett [...]
Could things possibly get worse on Capitol Hill? Grover Norquist seems to relish the possibility.
On it’s own, the so-called “Buffett Rule” is unlikely to do much to reduce the deficit.
Greg Sargent reports that some Senate Democrats are considering trying to force their Republican colleagues to take a vote on President Obama’s so-called “Buffett Rule,” which he described in his State Of The Union Address as a guarantee that no person earning more than a million dollars a year would pay taxes at a rate [...]
The reaction to the release of Mitt Romney’s tax returns is about what you’d expect.
Since I wrote my post this morning about the tightening race in South Carolina, we’ve gotten two new polls from the Palmetto State which show Newt Gingrich assuming the lead over Mitt Romney. First up, there’s a new Rasmussen Reports poll: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has now surged ahead of Mitt Romney in the [...]
There’s no law requiring Presidential candidates to release their tax returns. Should they be expected to do it anyway?
Steve Benen points to this interesting exchange from yesterday’s 60 Minutes profile of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (I’ve cued up the Youtube embed to start at the 10:09 mark, but you can watch the whole thing if you’d like): Given his upbringing and his marriage, Cantor says he’s nothing like the intractable obstructionist the [...]
As expected, the House quickly approved the two-month extension of the Payroll Tax Cut in a pro forma session this morning presided over by Speaker Boehner himself: The House on Friday morning approved a bill extending the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance for two months, and also prevents a planned cut to reimbursements for [...]
Thanks to their own ineptitude, House Republicans suffered a big defeat this week. They totally deserved it.
It looks as though the Payroll Tax Cut Debate is reaching its expected conclusion. At least two media outlests are reporting that Speaker Boehner has agreed to sign on to the two-month extension of the Payroll Tax Cut passed by the Senate, leaving the issue of the one year extension to be dealt with in [...]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has set the House GOP adrift.
Some Republicans are starting to realize just how badly the House GOP has messed up this time.
The ongoing standoff over the Payroll Tax Cut is presenting President Obama with a political dilemma regarding the Christmas holidays: President Obama faces a most difficult decision with the payroll tax extension up in the air, and it isn’t whether to compromise with Republicans. The toughest call for the president this holiday season may be [...]
The House GOP doesn’t seem to have any idea what it’s doing right now.
With no great surprise, the House of Representatives has formally rejected the Senate bill that would extend the Payroll Tax cut for two months: With a tax hike looming for 160 million Americans on New Year’s Day, House Republicans rejected a Senate plan to extend the payroll tax holiday for two months and instead called [...]
The trade association representing companies that process payrolls for American businesses are telling Congress that the Senate’s two-month payroll tax cut extension may be impossible for them to implement correctly: Officials from the policy-neutral National Payroll Reporting Consortium, Inc. have expressed concern to members of Congress that the two-month payroll tax holiday passed by the [...]
Apparently unable to reach a long term agreement, the Senate today passed an extension of the payroll tax cut that does nothing but kick this issue down the road about 45 days at the most: The Senate on Saturday morning approved a two-month extension of a payroll tax break and jobless benefits, easily passing a [...]
A shocking new polls shows that most Americans would like to receive Social Security and not pay for it.
Grover Norquist has become the target of blame for problems that are far more deep than just one man.
A not insignificant number of House Republicans are joining with a group of House Democrats to call for a deficit reduction deal that includes spending cuts and tax increases: Forty House Republicans signaled support for revenue increases, joining 60 Democrats yesterday to urge a congressional supercommittee seeking a $1.5 trillion debt-reduction deal to aim for [...]
Less than a year ago, Herman Cain was denouncing a tax plan that is remarkably similar to the one he now advocates.
Just before last night’s debate, an analysis of Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan was released that was, in a word, devastating: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Under Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax reform plan, 84% of U.S. households would pay more than they do under current tax policies, according to a report released Tuesday by a nonpartisan [...]
One of the economists who apparently helped Herman Cain put together the 9-9-9 plan is saying that the plan needs to be revamped: Economist Stephen Moore, one of the architect’s of Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan, said Cain needs to rework a critical component of the plan. Cain’s plan would replace the current tax structure [...]
Perhaps not surprisingly since a few of their writers have already written critical pieces, National Review is out this afternoon with a rather blistering editorial against Herman Cain’s tax plan: Herman Cain deserves credit for proposing a tax-reform plan that is specific, promotes economic growth, and has captured the imagination of conservatives nationwide. His 9-9-9 [...]
One of the men who worked on Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan isn’t a fan of the candidate’s own tax plan and considers it little more than a theoretical construct: Herman Cain expressed confidence at Tuesday’s debate that his much-touted “9-9-9″ plan to revamp the tax code would pass Congress, but the paid campaign consultant who [...]
Now that he’s a top tier candidate, it’s hard to see how Herman Cain’s tax plan can withstand serious scrutiny.
South Dakota Senator John Thune hinted today that the much-feared ATR tax pledge may be more vulnerable than thought: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Wednesday that members of Congress shouldn’t be “bound by” taxpayer pledges, and suggested that such vows would need to be broken in order to achieve broad-based tax reform. Thune told MSNBC’s [...]
The public supports the Presidents tax plans, but will that matter on Election Day?
The Atlantic’s Daniel Indiviglio tries to figure out how much money this “Buffett rule” would bring in to Federal coffers. As Indiviglio notes, it’s not easy to figure out because the Administration has been, perhaps deliberately, vague about what they mean by this rule. Nonetheless, as he notes, the President did say it would create [...]
As a supplement to my post from yesterday, the Associated Press is out with some fact checking on the premise of the so-called “Buffett Rule,” and found no support for the idea that secretaries are paying a higher tax rate than the mega-rich bosses: In his White House address Monday, Obama called on Congress to [...]
Bill O’Reilly makes a convincing argument for raising taxes on the wealthy.
Over at Carpe Diem, University of Michigan Economics Professor Mark Perry put together this chart: All that comes from IRS data, and Perry reaches several important questions: 1. The U.S. federal income tax system is highly progressive (as it’s intended to be, and not regressive as Buffett wants us to believe from his “analysis” of [...]
Let’s take a look at the spending cuts in the plan the President’s plan. First, from The New York Times: Mr. Obama is seeking $1.5 trillion in tax increases, primarily on the wealthy and corporations, through a combination of letting Bush-era income tax cuts expire on wealthier taxpayers, limiting the value of deductions taken by [...]
The second half of the President’s political strategy is in place. Don’t mistake it for a serious legislative effort.
We won’t solve our fiscal problems by soaking “the rich.”
The “how to pay for it” part of the President’s jobs plan seems destined to be rejected by the GOP. Which may be exactly what the President wants.
Karl Smith does the math and doesn’t see why the Federal government should be collecting ANY taxes right now.
Jon Huntsman is out with a tax and jobs plan that deserves a lot more attention than it’s likely to get.
Herbert Grubel pours some cold water on Warren Buffett’s idea of taxing people like him to pay down the national debt: Warren Buffett is known as the Sage of Omaha for a good reason: his outstanding ability to find profitable investments that took him from a small portfolio owner to one of the richest people [...]
Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist said yesterday that he doesn’t see any problem with extending the gas tax when it comes up for renewal in September: Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist says it’s fine with him if Congress extends the soon-to-expire gasoline tax for now — a statement that may allow room for lawmakers to [...]
