The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.
It’s time to start cashing them in.
Like that’s going to work.
via FOXNews.com - Social Security to Start Cashing Uncle Sam’s IOUs.
Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff.
The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents.
Due to a horrible new law (HB 1193) recently passed in Colorado, Amazon terminated all of its “Amazon Associates” accounts in Colorado. (Amazon Associates is an affiliate program: members earn a small commission on Amazon sales via their links.) Much to my dismay, I found out about this change in the wee hours of Monday morning, while working on a new web site.
Nothing succeeds in the travel industry like a bad idea. The latest hidden mandatory add-on is a “health” charge added to restaurant bills. As far as I know, this scam cropped up first in San Francisco, but you can count on it to spread.
The rationale for this one is to cover the employers’ mandatory contribution to the City’s “Healthy San Francisco” health-coverage system. The charge actually is levied on employers, but at least some restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer’s bill to cover this charge.
via Dinner tabs: Restaurants add employee charge to dinner tabs - chicagotribune.com.
Growing up in Michigan in the heyday of the United Auto Workers, I long assumed that labor unions were part of the natural order of things.
That’s no longer clear. Last month the Labor Department reported that private-sector unions lost 834,000 members last year and now represent only 7.2 percent of private-sector employees. That’s down from the all-time peak of 36 percent in 1953 and ‘54.
via Public-sector unions bleed taxpayers | Washington Examiner.
Don’t look now. But even as the bank bailout is winding down, another huge bailout is starting, this time for the Social Security system.
A report from the Congressional Budget Office shows that for the first time in 25 years, Social Security is taking in less in taxes than it is spending on benefits.
via next-in-line-for-a-bailout-social-security: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance.
there are more than $3 trillion dollars sitting out there in individual retirement, IRA and 401K plans. Politicians just cant stand the idea of this much money sitting out there in private investments … out of the grasp of politicians.
via THE GOVERNMENT WANTS YOUR RETIREMENT - Nealz Nuze on boortz.com.
… is going to be a good year for dying. The Death Tax goes away for 2010, but have no fear, it will return in 2011 bigger and better as it used to be before 2001. 55 percent over 1 million dollars.
Happy New Year Everybody.
… is still a tax.
For some reason the President seems to think that requiring a person to buy insurance or be taxed is not a tax.
This guy really thinks little, of us.
House Passes Milestone Energy, Climate Change Bill
Sorry to see this happen especailly considering the 8 republican defectors could have made the difference.
Fortunately it will probably not pass the Senate. Fingers Crossed.
Last week, the Congressional Budget Office released their analysis of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill that had proponents of the bill claiming we could save the planet for just $175 per household. That was the figure CBO estimated cap and trade would cost households in 2020, which “includes the cost of restructuring the production and use of energy and of payments made to foreign entities under the program, but it does not include the economic benefits and other benefits of the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and the associated slowing of climate change.”
The trouble with the analysis is that costs are grossly underestimated. The trouble with legislation is that it will have virtually no impact on climate.
I swoon at the idea of ridding ourselves of the IRS and would celebrate the day of it ever happened.
Now if I did not have more than enough reasons to vote for Fred Thompson. He has added yet another reason. A Flat Tax, abolishment of the death tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax and a cut in the corporate income tax rate to 27% from 35%. Now granted it falls short of getting rid of the IRS, but it does give a choice between the the old system and a better system. It is also a good start to eventually dumping the whole mess.
No other candidate has put forth more conservative policies than Fred Thompson and that says a lot about who the true conservative is, in this race.
Source: Flat Tax Fred
Warren Buffet thinks he should pay more taxes. I say go right ahead, but don’t go wishing your desires to give the government more money to waist on the rest of us. Some of us think the government already has too much money.
I am all for consumer based taxes. If I have to pay a higher Sales Tax to pay lower Property Taxes, let’s do it!
It is more fair and shares the burden of taxes more equitably throughout the populist.
GOP leaders sign on to new tax plan
Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Ft. Wayne, and House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, both emphatically endorsed Gov. Mitch Daniels property-tax reform plan today.
In a Statehouse news conference, the Republican leaders called Daniels’ proposal the most important property-tax reform since the 1970s. Both Long and Bosma also announced they would seek to jump-start the legislative process required to pass the governor’s plan, which would permanently cap property taxes through a constitutional amendment.
Now let’s hope that they can actually get something done. Faster the better.
I just got through reading this post over a NRO’s Planet Gore about Dingell’s Sales pitch on fighting Global Warming.
As I read it I got this feeling that Dingell is purposely setting the tax increase proposals high and is probably expecting a blow back and settling for something much less. A typical underhanded used car salesman ploy to get the highest price possible.
Last Wednesday, Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released his plan to fight global warming: a 50 cent gas tax increase and elimination of the mortgage deduction for homes over 3,000 square feet (the average American home is 2,400 sq. ft).
The proposal was met by a deafening silence from the climate jihad.
This whole Global Warming debacle is and has always been, a scheme to remove [by tax law], more tax dollars from an already over-taxed, hard working American public.
I have a personal policy when it comes to new taxes. Simply said, it is to always say, NO!
I don’t care what it’s for, the answer is and will always be NO. We are over taxed as it is and their is no such thing as a temporary tax. Never ever, ever.
That is what I have to say on any new tax, this is what Fred Thompson has to say on a Gas Tax.
Whoa now. Let’s hold our horses a minute and think about the calls for new tax increases to fix our infrastructure problems. The Minneapolis bridge collapse is a tragedy, but we can’t let it be used to compound other problems – which is what will happen if we’re scared into raising gas taxes.
As we all know, there are few things more permanent than a temporary tax. Just ask the folks who footed the cost of the Spanish-American War for the past 108 years via a federal excise tax on our phone bills. Congress is contemplating a new “temporary” 5-cent increase in the federal gas tax –(already at 18.3 cents a gallon), which is on top of the state and local gas taxes that have been in place over the years – to finance a “trust fund” for infrastructure repairs.
So there you have it, we are already being taxed to Hell and back and this money is supposed to be going to a trust fund.
I’m sorry, but when it comes to trusting government to spend taxes wisely, I don’t trust them.
The President delivered a great speech today on the economy and tax relief.
From GOP.com
Government does not create wealth. American and businesses and workers and
farmers and entrepreneurs create the wealth for this country. And so the role of the
government is to create an environment where the small businesses can grow into a
big business, where the entrepreneur can flourish, where people who dream about owning
a home are able to own a home. In our economy, our most precious resource is
the talent of the American worker — and there is no limit to what we can do when
people have the freedom to make a better life for themselves and their family.Ours is a confident and optimistic nation — and our trust in the American people
has brought us through some pretty tough times. In the past five years, our
economy has endured a stock market collapse, a recession, terrorist attacks, corporate
scandals, high energy costs, and devastating natural disasters. These were all
shocks to our economy, which I felt required decisive action. I believe that
economy grows when people are allowed to keep more of their own money, to be able
to save and to spend.And so I called on the United States Congress to let the people keep more of their
own money, to cut their taxes, and Congress responded. We lowered your taxes
and gave you an opportunity to keep more of what you earn — and let you decide the
best way to spend your own money. We cut taxes on families by lowering the tax
rates, and by doubling the child credit, and reducing the marriage penalty.
I felt we shouldn’t penalize marriage; I thought we ought to reward marriage in the
tax code.
I certainly hope he keeps this up. The President has plenty to brag about and should
continue to do so. He should also continue calling democrats on the carpet for
all of the lies and untruths.
Well according to this report it seems that the Republicans have beaten back those waskely democrats from trying to add a wind-fall profits tax to oil companies.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans beat back Democratic attempts Thursday to use a $60 billion tax bill to pinch oil and energy companies that have been reporting record profits while consumers pay high gasoline prices.
The bill, which would prevent a number of individual and business tax breaks from expiring, already levies almost $5 billion in taxes on major oil companies.
The energy amendments faced opposition from the Republican majority and stood little chance of success, but they reflected attentiveness on Capitol Hill to high gasoline prices and fears of skyrocketing home heating costs this winter.
Anyone who knows anything about taxes and corporations knows that corporations DON’T PAY TAXES. They simply collect taxes for the government they collect from consumers via higher prices. Also anyone who knows anything about economics knows this was STUPID LEGISLATION.
These two crack pot Senator’s tried this.
Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Chris Dodd of Connecticut lost a bid to impose a temporary windfall profits tax of 50 percent on the sale of oil over $40 a barrel, applied to profits not reinvested in increasing domestic oil and gas supplies. They would have returned the money to energy consumers through an income tax rebate. A 35-64 procedural vote defeated their effort.
Fortunately for all of us, it failed.
Who would pay for this? We would through higher prices. Do they not think we already pay too much in gas taxes. Sadly for the American people have been shafted through corporate taxes for way too long. This is just another way politicians get our money without us realizing it.
Consider reading the Fair Tax Plan for more info on the subject.
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