Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Governance Taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Governance Taxes. Show all posts

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Wall Street Journal: On the Editorial Page: Voters Want State Government Reform

The Wall Street Journal Online - On Opinion Journal Email
  Online Journal E-Mail Center   

September 19, 2011 -- 5:00 a.m. EDT
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, video interviews and commentary on Opinion Journal.



DOUGLAS E. SCHOEN 
Voters Want State Government Reform
Polling in 10 states shows that Americans want politicians to cut spending and reduce public employee benefits before they raise taxes.


*  *  *

SETH LIPSKY 

Seth Lipsky: Let's Have a Televised Debate on the Constitution
What guidance do the GOP candidates draw from the document they revere?


*  *  *

Social Engineering in Suburbia

Federal regulators try to integrate counties by housing fiat.

 

REVIEW & OUTLOOK


The Palestinian Statehood Gambit
The U.S. should respond by cutting funds for the U.N.

 
'High School Physics'

Another Nobel laureate breaks from the climate change pack.

 

TODAY'S COLUMNIST
MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY 
O'Grady: Big Labor's Yanqui Imperialism
The U.S. trade representative is trying to deny due process to Guatemala in defiance of free-trade agreement rules.

 
L. GORDON CROVITZ 

Crovitz: AT&T and the Economics of Monopoly
For a century the company was proof the only real monopolies are granted by government.

 

JAMES TARANTO 
Best of the Web Today: Red Penn
The GOP plan to split electoral votes is folly.

 

COMMENTARY


See all of today's editorials and op-eds, video interviews and commentary on Opinion Journal.



Follow WSJ on  Facebook and  Twitter.



advertisement
Advertisement

 Available to WSJ.com Subscribers

Paulson Bullish After Bare Year
John Paulson, the lionized hedge-fund manager, is going through the worst...
Obama Proposes New Plan to Cut Deficit
Obama will offer a new plan to reduce the federal deficit by about $3.6...
Fed Ponders Jobs, Inflation Targets
Fed officials, worried that a wobbly economy and their fractious debates are confusing the public, are examining whether to adopt more explicit economic targets to clarify their strategy for lowering unemployment without...
U.S. Weighs a Direct Line to Tehran
A series of "near-miss" encounters between American and Iranian forces in the...

Video Thumbnail
WSJ columnist Mary O'Grady and OpinionJournal.com columnist James Taranto on...
play
Video Thumbnail
WSJ columnist Mary O'Grady on the SEC's crackdown on crowd-funding and the...
play
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR: OPINION



The Wall Street Journal: On the Editorial Page: Voters Want State Government Reform
*****

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Washington Post Politics News Alert: Obama to propose $1.5 trillion in new taxes

----------------------------------------
Politics News Alert: Obama to propose $1.5 trillion in new taxes
September 18, 2011 9:23:59 PM
----------------------------------------

President Obama's plan to tame the nation’s rocketing federal debt by finding at least $3 trillion in new savings, to be released Monday, includes $1.5 trillion in new taxes, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Combined with his call earlier this month for $450 billion in new stimulus, the proposal represents a more populist approach to confronting the nation’s economic travails than the compromises he advocated this summer.

http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/7CWL7Z/PRB8UR/859M9E/Y92JGF/3T76F/MQ/h

For more information, visit PostPolitics.com.

Washington Post Politics News Alert: Obama to propose $1.5 trillion in new taxes
*****

Monday, May 23, 2011

MRC Alert: NBC's Andrea Mitchell Regrets Republicans Lack 'Courage' to Raise Taxes

Media Research Center
Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Monday May 23, 2011 @ 09:41 AM EDT

1. NBC's Andrea Mitchell Regrets Republicans Lack 'Courage' to Raise Taxes
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Sunday conceded “Paul Ryan has shown considerable guts” with his Medicare plan, but she declared liberal Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen is “correct that nobody on the Republican side is showing any courage on the tax front. And unless taxes are part of the mix,” NBC’s chief foreign correspondent insisted in repeating the standard media refrain, “every grown-up knows” a deficit solution cannot be achieved. The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson soon picked up the liberal agenda, regretting “Republicans will not talk about tax increases” while Democrats, supposedly, “talk about a lot of budget cuts.”

2. George Stephanopoulos Badgers GOP Candidate; Four Years Ago, ABC Was Gentle With Dems
Good Morning America co-anchor George Stephanopoulos conducted a confrontational interview with possible Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman on Friday, challenging the moderate governor from the right on spending and on the former Utah governor's praise of Barack Obama. Stephanopoulos highlighted Huntsman's work for the Obama administration as ambassador to China: "The President is also a person, a particular person, President Barack Obama. You wrote to him saying, calling him a 'remarkable leader.' Do you stand by that?" After the Republican dodged, Stephanopoulos even followed up: "Do you believe he's a remarkable leader and are you in sync with his foreign policy?"

3. ABC Mocks GOP Candidates as Making Comedians 'Happy'
On Sunday’s World News, ABC correspondent David Kerley mocked the current field of GOP presidential candidates as making comedians “happy” as he recounted that polls show many Republicans are not satisfied with the choices available so far.

4. CNN's Costello Dedicates Whole Segment to Defending Obama from the Left
While President Obama has been hit by black leftists for failing to help unemployed African-Americans, CNN anchor Carol Costello offered an impassioned defense of the president Friday morning, framing most every question to cast Obama in the best light possible. Hosting the liberal Columbia University professor Mark Lamont Hill, a self-proclaimed "leading hip-hop generation intellectual," Costello repeatedly sought to generate pity for the president. "Aren't we expecting a little too much of him?" Costello pouted during the 10 a.m. EDT hour.

5. Media Slammed 'Bitch' Angle's Ad, Now Silent When Ryan Shown Throwing Granny Off Cliff
Anyone who was watching certain news outlets on Thursday probably heard almost nothing about one of the most offensive political advertisements in recent memory. That's because most major networks have largely failed to cover a video portraying Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan as literally throwing grandma off a cliff. While ABC, MSNBC, and CNN continue to ignore the left-wing attack ad, these same outlets wasted no time excoriating Sharron Angle's controversial immigration ad during the 2010 cycle.

*****

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Adam Bednar – Patch: City Lawmakers Debate Bottle Tax After Pepsi Job Loss

Patch: City Lawmakers Debate Bottle Tax After Pepsi Job Loss

Pepsi Beverages Company said the controversial tax played a part in halting manufacturing in Hampden.  http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/city-lawmakers-debate-bottle-tax-after-pepsi-job-loss

By Adam Bednar | Email the author | January 11, 2011

Add a comment (3 comments ) Email | Start Following | Print |  View full size

City lawmakers who represent North Baltimore are still split on whether approving a 2-cent bottle tax was the correct move after Pepsi Beverages Company announced it was halting manufacturing at its Hampden plant partly because of the tax.

Kristine Hinck, a Pepsi spokeswoman, acknowledged the tax played a role in the company’s decision to eliminate 77 jobs at the plant on Union Avenue.

“We look at factors we control internally, and also the external environment where we manufacture. Baltimore's beverage tax certainly hasn't helped the situation,” Hinck wrote in an e-mail to North Baltimore Patch.  “At the end of the day, we have to look at where our costs are. When there's a beverage tax in place, it impacts our retailers' ability to sell product.”

The company announced Monday that it was halting manufacturing at the plant, but other functions will continue at the site and 318 people will continue to be employed there.

[…]


20110111 Bednar Patch Lawmakers Debate Tx After Pepsi Loss  

*****

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Party of No: Dems Ignore Concerns of Small Business Owners Pleading to Stop the Job-Killing Tax Hikes

Party of No: Dems Ignore Concerns of Small Business Owners Pleading to Stop the Job-Killing Tax Hikes 
GOP Is Listening to the American People and Pressing to Stop All the Tax Hikes & Help Small Businesses Create Jobs 
Washington (Dec 10)
“The House Democratic Caucus threw a bit of a tantrum behind closed doors” yesterday, according to today’s POLITICO Huddle, breaking out into chants of “no we can’t” during a debate on stopping the tax hikes scheduled to take effect on January 1st.  The unruly caucus meeting capped off a week of discord and discontent amongst House Democrats intent on blocking a proposed framework to stop the job-killing tax hikes on American families and small businesses.  While Democrats vow to keep up the fight to ensure that their job-killing tax hikes take effect, small businesses are left in the lurch – unable to grow or hire new workers amid all the economic uncertainty caused by Democrats’ revolt against stopping all the tax hikes.  Here’s what America’s most important job creators are saying about the Democrats’ job-killing agenda:
  • “If the tax cuts went away, [W. Shane] Reeves [co-owner of Reeves Sain drugstores] would have had to pay more in personal income taxes on his company’s profits. That would’ve affected plans to invest in information technology, add more space and expand the company’s delivery fleet.  ‘Overall, the environment we’re all in right now has got everybody nervous,’ Reeves said. ‘But with (expiration of) the tax cuts looming, it just felt like it was going to get worse.’” (The Tennessean, 12/9/10)
  • “For small business owners, the uncertainty and stakes are even greater.  … It takes capital to run a business, said Tom Mercier, owner of BOPI, a 60-employee printing and marketing logistics company in Bloomington.  …  With printing industry margins only in the 2 to 3 percent range, higher taxes complicate decisions on whether to give pay raises, and how to cover rising health care costs, he said. … The tax cuts are a hot topic for business and individual clients at Henning, Strouse, Jordan and Stephens, a tax and accounting firm in Bloomington, said managing member Mark Nicholas.  He said months of uncertainty -- a bipartisan agreement was roughed out Monday -- have delayed important decisions by businesses: Can we expand? Can we buy new equipment? Can we hire?  ‘People are definitely holding off on the answers to those questions,’ Nicholas said…‘The uncertainty -- that’s the real problem.’” (The Pantagraph, 12/8/10)
  • “In Fort Myers, Rustin ‘Rusty’ Jenkins lost his first plumbing business during the region’s new-construction bust, and started over by launching Dynamiq Plumbing, a smaller firm specializing in repairs and remodeling. He’s been clawing his way back to profitability since mid-2008.  ‘I’m no expert on taxes ... I’m working 14 hours a day,’ Jenkins said, adding that ‘if I have to pay more taxes, it will be harder to pay my help. It’s a snowball effect.” (The News-Press, 12/8/10)
  • “Jim Murphy, president of EST Analytical, which makes environmental testing equipment, was previously uncertain about his hiring plans. ‘I was feeling like between health care costs rising and our tax burden rising to 39.6%, it was pretty dicey, especially when you have so much uncertainty remaining in the economy,’ he says.  Now, he says, ‘I know the government is not going to take anymore of our money out, so I’m fairly optimistic going into next year.’” (USA Today, 12/8/10)
  • “‘It’s a huge stress for us,’ [Small-business owner Brian ] Nichols said. ‘When we really don’t really know what is going to happen with our money, with our taxes, we get to the point where we’re afraid to spend.’  … ‘I don’t feel rich at all,’ Nichols said. ‘Do I categorize myself as higher income? Absolutely not. Do I believe the government should get their act together and spend our money more wisely? Absolutely. That’s what we’ve had to do as small businesses, and that’s what we expect.’” (The Deseret News, 12/7/10)
  • “Like many small business-owners, [Jim] Bushman’s household income is more than $200,000. But because of the way his business is incorporated, his personal and business taxes are intertwined. So if his personal income taxes increases, that money is pulled out of his business, he said.  ‘I’m hoping they extend it – we’ve got a lot of equipment needs we’d like to invest in, and the last thing I want is to have to pay more taxes,’ said Bushman, whose company employs more than 200 workers.  Bushman expects a negative impact on sales, too, should Congress fail to act. He helps supply heavy equipment to other small businesses; a higher tax bill for those businesses could mean they’ll have less money to buy Bushman’s equipment.” (Cincinnati Enquirer, 12/6/10)
A PLEDGE TO AMERICA.  Republicans are listening to the American people, especially small business owners, who want Washington to stop the job-killing tax hikes and give them the freedom and incentives they need to create jobs.  With the most recent Department of Labor jobs report showing that unemployment has ticked up to 9.8 percent and is still on the rise, it is clear that our economy simply cannot afford one more job-killing policy from this Democratic Congress.  Republicans have made a pledge to America to bring legislation to the House floor that will stop all the tax hikes and cut spending to get our economy going again.  On January 5th, with Democrats gone from power in the House, the new majority will begin moving immediately to deliver on this pledge. 

*****

Monday, November 08, 2010

Tax Foundation: 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index (Eighth Edition)

Tax Foundation: 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index (Eighth Edition)


2011 State Business Tax Climate Index (Eighth Edition) http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22658.html


Background Paper No. 60

(The link for the document, “2011 State Business Tax Climate Index (Eighth Edition), PDF, 1022.4 KB by Kail Padgitt” may be also accessed from the Tax Foundation website here: http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp60.pdf)

(Hat Tip and some excellent commentary may also be found here: http://www.mdpolicy.org/policyblog/newsID.159/news_detail.asp - by The Maryland Public Policy Institute, “Maryland’s Tax Climate” by John J. Walters.)

The Baltimore Business Journal wrote about the tax climate index here: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2010/10/26/maryland-ranks-44th-in-tax-climate-study.html - “Maryland ranks 44th in tax climate study,”
Baltimore Business Journal Tuesday, October 26, 2010  Read more: Maryland ranks 44th in tax climate study | Baltimore Business Journal.


The Tax Foundation presents the 2011 version of the State Business Tax Climate Index (SBTCI) as a tool for lawmakers, the media, and individuals alike to gauge how their states' tax systems compare. Policymakers can use the SBTCI to pinpoint changes to their tax systems that will explicitly improve their states' standing in relation to competing states.

The modern market is characterized by mobile capital and labor. Therefore, companies will locate where they have the greatest competitive advantage. States with the best tax systems will be the most competitive in attracting new businesses and most effective at generating economic and employment growth.

American companies often function at a competitive disadvantage in the global economy. They pay one of the highest corporate tax rates of any of the industrialized countries. The top federal rate on corporate income is 35 percent, and states with punitive tax systems cause companies to be even less competitive globally.

While most of the tax debate this year has focused around state budget problems and the expiration or extension of the 2001-03 Bush tax cuts, it is important to remember that states' stiffest competition often comes from other states… http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22658.html

[20101026 Tax Foundation 2011 SBTCI bp60.pdf]

Tax Foundation, business, regulatory, taxes, rankings, State Business Tax Climate Index, Kail Padgitt

Tax Foundation: 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index (Eighth Edition)                                                                                                                               

*****

Thursday, September 09, 2010

In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.

In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.

Americans for Tax Reform




20100707 070110pr-jan2011taxes(1)

I first received this in an e-mail…  After poking around on the web, I finally found the original piece on the Americans for Tax Reform website: http://www.atr.org/index.php

Ryan Ellis on Wednesday, July 7, 2010

They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011:



Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families.

These will all expire on January 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise.  The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).  The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent.  All the rates in between will also rise. 

Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates.  The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%

The 25% bracket rises to 28%

The 28% bracket rises to 31%

The 33% bracket rises to 36%

The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family.  The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. 

The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child.  The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level.  The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax.

This year, there is no death tax.  For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million.  A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.

Higher tax rates on savers and investors.

The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011.

The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011.  These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave:

Obamacare

There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare.  Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011.  They include:

The “Medicine Cabinet Tax”  Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

The “Special Needs Kids Tax”

This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). 

There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children.  There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. 

Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year.  Under tax rules, FSA dollars cannot be used to pay for this type of special needs education.

The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike.

This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

Third Wave:

The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes

When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise—the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired.

The major items include:

The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year.  According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families—rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million.  These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level.  The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.

Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear.  Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or “depreciate”) equipment purchases up to $250,000.  This will be cut all the way down to $25,000.  Larger businesses can expense half of their purchases of equipment.  In January of 2011, all of it will have to be “depreciated.”

Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses.

There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place.  The biggest is the loss of the “research and experimentation tax credit,” but there  are many, many others. 

Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced.

The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available.

Tax credits for education will be limited.

Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses.

Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut.

Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed.

The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed.

Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA.  This contribution also counts toward an annual “required minimum distribution.”  This ability will no longer be there.


Now your insurance is INCOME on your W2's......

One of the surprises we'll find come next year, is what follows - - a little "surprise" that 99% of us had no idea was included in the “new and improved" healthcare legislation . . . the dupes, er, dopes, who backed this administration will be astonished!

Starting in 2011, (next year folks), your W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are given by the company.  It does not matter if that's a private concern or governmental body of some sort.

If you're retired?  So what; your gross will go up by the amount of insurance you get.

You will be required to pay taxes on a large sum of money that you have never seen.  Take your tax form you just finished and see what $15,000 or $20,000 additional gross does to your tax debt.

That's what you'll pay next year.  For many, it also puts you into a new higher bracket so it's even worse.  This is how the government is going to buy insurance for the15% that don't have insurance and it's only part of the tax increases.

Not believing this???  Here is a research of the summaries.....

On page 25 of 29: TITLE IX REVENUE PROVISIONS- SUBTITLE A: REVENUE OFFSET PROVISIONS-(sec. 9001, as modified by sec. 10901) Sec.9002 "requires employers to include in the W-2 form of each employee the aggregate cost of applicable employer sponsored group health coverage that is excludable from the employees gross income."

Joan Pryde is the senior tax editor for the Kiplinger letters.  Go to Kiplingers and read about 13 tax changes that could affect you.  Number 3 is what is above.

Why am I sending you this?  The same reason I hope you forward this to every single person in your address book.  People have the right to know the truth because an election is coming in November.

AND TO THOSE OF YOU WHO VOTED FOR THE MESSIAH, WELCOME TO YOUR PROMISED LAND!!!

taxes, reform, Americans for Tax Reform, jobs, unemployment,

20100818 In just six months the largest tax hikes in the history

20100707 In just six months the largest tax hikes in the history

*****