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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) refused to say if she would raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for Medicare for All during the third Democrat debate in Houston, Texas, on Thursday evening. Joe Biden (D) lauded his progressive challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for being forthcoming on how he would pay for his Medicare for All plan, admitting that middle class taxes will go up. The issue was also presented to Warren, but she repeatedly dodged the question, refusing to say if she would raise taxes on middle class families. Warren said we all owe a “huge...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday unveiled a proposal to overhaul and expand Social Security, beefing up benefits with a hike in payroll and investment incomes taxes on some of the country's wealthiest households. The Massachusetts Democrat's plan would make major changes to the popular entitlement program, which currently provides monthly payments to roughly 64 million Americans. Most significantly, it would immediately boost benefits by $200 a month for every Social Security recipient. If the plan were implemented next year, the typical beneficiary would receive $1,595 a month, rather than $1,395. It would also increase monthly payments by $200 for certain...

State lawmakers took aim at liberal local government overreach this past session, and they passed a slew of legislation hoping to rein in some of the worst of it. Among the new laws is one ending forced annexation. For decades, city governments forcibly annexed property on their outskirts in a bid to grow their tax base—whether the property owners agreed or not. This anti-democratic practice was curtailed somewhat in 2017, but it wasn’t until this past legislative session that lawmakers fully ended it. Under the new rules, all home-rule cities must now hold an election—and win it—before grabbing any new...

A group that got Medicaid expansion on the Idaho ballot last year says it has started another initiative to raise money for public schools by increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Reclaim Idaho on Wednesday announced the initiative proposal to raise taxes by 3% on individuals making more than $250,000 or married couples making more than $500,000. The plan would also raise corporate tax rates from 7.4% to 8%, the same as from 1987 to 2000. Reclaim Idaho says that will raise $170 million for K-12 public schools while reducing the need for school levies through property tax overrides....

CHART BOOK INDEX Fiscal Policy Outlook: August, FY2019 Snapshot 2018: $779 Billion Deficit Higher Than Average Spending And (Eventually) Taxation Mandatory Spending Crowds Out The Budget Major Components Of Mandatory Spending Entitlements And Interest Is Squeezing Other Priorities Mandatory Spending Is Bad: Interest Is Even Worse The U.S. Is Borrowing To Pay Interest Costs The U.S. Runs A Structural Primary Deficit Debt Ultimately On An Upward Trajectory Debt Ultimately Approaches 1.5 Times The Size Of The Economy What Drives Our Debt? Congressional Budget Process Timetable SHARE CHART BOOK Read more: https://www.americanactionforum.org/chartbook/budget-chart-book-fy2019-q4/#ixzz5ygwA6HrG Follow us: @AAF on Twitter

SANTA FE – It’s not official yet, but a new tax rate for top-earning New Mexicans appears likely to hit the state’s books in 2021. The higher personal income tax rate was part of a broad tax package approved by the Democratic-controlled Legislature during this year’s 60-day session, but lawmakers tied its implementation to future revenue levels as part of a final compromise. Specifically, the new tax bracket will only take effect if state revenue levels in the current budget year, which started July 1, do not exceed last year levels by more than 5%. That now appears nearly certain...

Several offices within the Trump administration are studying a policy that would lower taxes for investments such as stocks and real estate, according to a senior administration official. The Treasury Department, the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the Council of Economic Advisers are studying the possibility of indexing capital gains to account for inflation, according to the senior official. The review includes a look at the distribution table for savings to investigate whether the reform would disproportionately benefit wealthy people who are able to invest more of their money.

New York City is losing more than 270 residents each day, more than any other city in the United States, according to census data analyzed by Bloomberg. Driving the Big Apple residents away are high taxes, staggering costs of living, and a significant decline in quality of life. While local politicians watch swaths of people pack up and leave, they continue to prioritize rank partisanship over smart policy. As a result, the great exodus is likely to accelerate in the months and years to come. New York City is home to the highest tax burden in the nation. Its residents...

It sounded like a historical moment was in the offing. For the first time, Europe’s finance ministers were seriously planning on publicly denouncing tax havens by presenting a black list of countries that lure companies through tax-saving schemes. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the countries on the list were “not doing enough to fight tax evasion.” Fellow Frenchman Pierre Moscovici, the European Union’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, called for vigorous sanctions. […] That was one and a half years ago, and that momentum has largely disappeared. This is partly because the black list had several fundamental...

<p>The Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this month released its July jobs numbers confirming that we remain in the midst of the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. The expansion is clearly paying off for Americans of all walks of life.</p> <p>Just look at the mounting evidence.</p>

Deutsche Bank said in a court filing Tuesday that it has tax returns relevant to House Democrats' subpoenas for financial records of President Trump, his family, and his businesses, but the bank didn't publicly identify whose returns they had. The name or names of the individuals or entities whose tax returns Deutsche Bank has were redacted in the version of the document posted on the federal courts' public legal database. The bank also said in its letter to a federal appeals court in New York that it has tax returns "related to parties not named in the Subpoenas but who...

President Donald Trump said the U.S. will hike tariffs on most imports from China as his trade war with Beijing escalates. The U.S. will raise duties on $250 billion in Chinese goods to 30% from 25%, and increase tariffs on another $300 billion in products to 15% from 10%. Earlier, China announced new tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods — and Trump ordered U.S. companies to find an “alternative” to operating in China.

Alleging that "it was Reagan's unwarranted tax cuts that led to the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1970s," Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice-President Joe Biden called for "a doubling of the capital gains tax rate." "Trump is taking this country down that same disastrous path," Biden claimed. "The tax cuts and deregulation he crammed down America's throat have unleashed the same explosion of prosperity and greed that characterized that tragic earlier era. We must elect Democrats to avoid repeating these earlier mistakes." The former Veep vowed that "if I'm your next president, I will...

With a sturdy job market, healthy consumer balance sheets, and low inflation, the economy is probably not headed toward a recession. But to continue America’s prosperity and guard against a potential economic slowdown caused by the ongoing trade war with China, President Trump should lower one of the most oppressive of all federal taxes — the payroll tax. The payroll tax is imposed on both employees and employers to fund Social Security, Medicare, and other social-insurance programs. Since 1955, the basic payroll tax has nearly quadrupled from 4 percent to 15.3 percent. Today, almost 70 percent of taxpayers pay more...

Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden said he’d like to raise the capital gains tax rate to 39.6 percent, a near doubling of the current 20 percent. Biden made the remarks on Wednesday, August 21 during an interview with Iowa Public Television: “I believe we should, in fact, the capital gains tax should be at what the highest minimum tax should be, we should raise the tax back to 39.6 percent instead of 20 percent,” Biden said yesterday.Raising the capital gains tax would harm Americans’ ability to build a nest egg and hurt the value of their homes, farms, and businesses.Biden’s comments and his...

There’s a battle brewing in Brooklyn and it’s shaping up to be yet another fight between New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Big Apple Mayor (and presidential candidate, for some reason) Bill de Blasio. Seeing these two mixing it up is nothing new, as the friction between them is pretty much legendary. But this dustup is a bit unusual because it involves the fate of one of New York City’s legendary pizza joints. The taxman came and shut down the Di Fara pizzeria this week, kicking everyone out and padlocking the doors. A sign was posted saying that the...

Top White HouseOpens a New Window. officials are considering a temporary payroll tax cutOpens a New Window. to boost the U.S. economy amid mounting concerns about a possible economic downturn, according to multiple reports on Monday. Internal talks on a payroll tax cut are in their early stages Monday and are one of several potential measures under consideration, the Washington PostOpens a New Window. reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. White House aides have yet to determine whether to push Congress for approval. “As [National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow] said yesterday, more tax cuts for the American...

PITTSBURGH - Workers at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh voted to join the United Steelworkers union on Wednesday. According to a press release, the workers voted "overwhelmingly" to join USW. Library workers began organizing their campaign in June and are seeking a collective bargaining agreement that would cover employees across 19 branches and the library support center.

A Pennsylvania state legislator wants to revive the registration sticker two years after it was discarded as a cost-saving measure. A bill before the House Transportation Committee would not only bring back the tiny sticker, but tie it to state vehicle inspections as well, according to the proposed legislation introduced by Berks County Republican Rep. Barry Jozwiak. The Department of Transportation stopped issuing the stickers in 2017, a product of legislation passed years earlier. The move was projected to save more than $3 million. Jozwiak said Tuesday at a committee hearing that the loss of the stickers has given police...

The U.S. Treasury Department has incorrectly labeled China a manipulator of its currency. An important distinction exists between devaluing a currency and currency depreciation. Devaluing implies the People’s Bank of China actively manipulated the value of the Chinese renminbi to gain unfair advantage for its exports. Depreciation simply means the renminbi has lost purchasing power relative to the U.S. dollar, based on market forces. There’s no indication that China is actively devaluing its currency. However, according to the Treasury Department, China met a broad definition of manipulation laid out in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, which says...