Free Republic

One of the key questions lurking in the "fiscal cliff" talks — though well below the public's radar — is what happens to the alternative minimum tax — or AMT. Implemented in 1969 to make sure upper-income Americans pay their share of taxes, the AMT has increasingly snared more middle-income Americans over the years because it was never indexed for inflation. During the 2011 tax year for example, the higher tax hit single taxpayers with incomes as low as $48,450 and joint filers making only $74,450. But millions more Americans could be subject to the AMT in their 2012 returns...

Anti-tax promoter Grover Norquist is losing his vice-like grip on the Republican party. The head of Americans for Tax Reform, who as recently as last year counted 238 members of the House and 41 members of the Senate among those who had signed his anti-tax pledge, has seen those numbers decline to 217 in the House, one shy of the 218 needed for a majority, and 39 in the Senate. Both totals represent an all-time low. Last Wednesday, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) disavowed his pledge not to raise taxes, even as he acknowledged doing so could hurt his reelection chances...

This is called surrendering before the war starts: Conservative commentator and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Sunday the Republican Party should accept new ideas, including the much-criticized suggestion by Democrats that taxes be allowed to go up on the wealthy. ***** "It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "It really won't, I don't think. I don't really understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer." "Really? The Republican Party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, half of whom voted Democratic...

It should come as no surprise that President Obama will raise taxes if he is re-elected. But here’s the shocker: He will invite the United Nations to tax Americans directly. And the proceeds would go directly to the Third World. In this way, Barack Obama will, indeed, realize the dreams of his father.

Atlanta Metro area rejects a massive tax increase (an additional one percent sales tax on the existing 6% - 8% around the metro area.) The county by county results are as follows: County YES NO Total Ratio yes/total Cherokee 9105 35280 44,385 20.51% Clayton 16750 19303 36,053 46.46% Cobb 38703 85412 124,115 31.18% DeKalb 57915 61792 119,707 48.38% Douglas 6383 13534 19,917 32.05% Fayette 6677 21712 28,389 23.52% Fulton 69064 72365 141,429 48.83% Gwinnett 28884 70273 99,157 29.13% Henry 9405 23371 32,776 28.69% Rockdale 5433 12484 17,917 30.32% Total: 248,319 415,526 663,845 37.41%

Eleven Southern California business owners met this week with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, at a Costa Mesa manufacturing plant. On the wall behind Mr. Romney's chair hung a large banner that read, "We did build it!" – with "did" underlined for emphasis. The banner underscored how out of touch President Barack Obama seems with what makes the American economy work. The business owners echoed the ire of those nationwide who do understand what makes the American economy work. Their words Monday in Costa Mesa directly refuted the president's now-infamous campaign utterance of last week: "If you've got...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced Tuesday that he will vote on Democratic legislation to extend the Bush-era tax rates. Manchin said he will join Democrats in voting to extend the rates for income up to $250,000 a year. The Democratic legislation would allow Bush-era rates on higher annual income to expire. Republicans want to extend all the rates for another year.  The vote on the Democratic plan is expected to take place on Wednesday.  "When considering these two proposals, I kept two priorities in mind: putting our fiscal house back in order and restoring fairness to the tax code," Manchin said...

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said on Wednesday that Congress ought to look at imposing a federal tax on soda pop. “We have to address the situation in the marketplace," DeLauro said at a press conference on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. "Right now, the least expensive beverages are often those with the least value to our health like regular cola or juice drinks that are only 10 percent juice. “But I will tell you that if you’re paying $3.49 for juice and 79 cents for soda, if you are in a low-income family and you have...

Behold what a prominent politician's "CYA" instinct hath wrought:   Facing questions about why she and other top Congressional officials won’t release their tax returns, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) downplayed her previous demands for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to release his, calling the issue a distraction. As recently as Wednesday, Pelosi had strongly urged Romney to provide further disclosure of his tax returns. But today, while maintaining Romney should release more documents because of “custom” and “tradition,” Pelosi said the issue was trivial compared with economic issues. “We spent too much time on that. We should...

Obama and his fellow Democrats grow louder and more frequent for the top 5% (really the top 20%) who pay most of the federal taxes to ‘pay their fair share’ meaning even more taxes. But what about the 45 percent or so of our fellow citizens and legal residents who pay zero federal income taxes which that money is dedicated to pay for everything it does and that it gives away except retirement entitlements? With the government running the enormous deficits it is and candidates especially Dems promising more and more ‘free stuff’ to voters as Romney put it, this...

Last month’s Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare left champions of that law breathing a sigh of relief, while its opponents — a majority of the public — were left frustrated. It seemed at first glance as though the chief justice’s tortured opinion had saved the individual mandate, and with it the broader statute. But Obamacare’s champions should take a closer look at what the Court left them with, because on their own terms, the law is now set to collapse.

In a dramatic change, Republican governors — including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — are supporting sales taxes on online purchases in an attempt to send more revenue to state coffers.

Democrats are making increasingly explicit threats about their willingness to let nearly $600 billion worth of tax hikes and spending cuts take effect in January unless Republicans drop their opposition to higher taxes for the nation’s wealthiest households. Emboldened by signs that GOP resistance to new taxes may be weakening, senior Democrats say they are prepared to weather a fiscal event that could plunge the nation back into recession if the new year arrives without an acceptable compromise. In a speech Monday, Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the Senate’s No. 4 Democrat and the leader of the caucus’s campaign arm, plans...

Early voting just began this week for the upcoming primary, but some metro counties are already seeing a surge of early voters. In Henry County, elections officials say they are seeing up to 500 voters a day and are now expecting a 45-50 percent turnout for the primary. Turnout has been similar in DeKalb County. "We are already seeing more people coming out than in 2008's primary... we've already voted more people in three days than we voted in the first five weeks of 2008," says the county's elections supervisor Maxine Daniels. She says the presidential race, the transportation sales...

The Supreme Court has allowed Obamacare's individual mandate as a TAX President Obama LIED to America when he told us that Obamacare was not a tax in any way. He then turned around and argued to the United States Supreme Court that the individual mandate and penalty for not getting healthcare was a tax and therefore constitutional. ObamaTAX via Obamacare ...... this might be JUST the right Slap in the face that America Needs to wake up and VOTE OUT OBAMA    WAKE UP AMERICA! We are not only DROWNING in Debt, but not we have seen Obama impose...

President Obama signaled in our interview that he was prepared to address some of the concerns raised by key Senator Jay Rockefeller, who called the Baucus bill a “big middle class tax increase” this week. That means he’ll support more subsidies for middle class families. But in our most spirited exchange, the President refused to accept the argument that a mandate to buy health insurance is equivalent to a tax. Here it is: STEPHANOPOULOS: You were against the individual mandate… OBAMA: Yes. STEPHANOPOULOS: …during the campaign. Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if...

The Maryland General Assembly passed a $260 million tax increase Wednesday as it adjourned from a three-day special session that ended with Gov. Martin O'Malley saying he will bring lawmakers back for another session this summer. The House gave final approval to two bills that will raise income taxes and shift a portion of teacher pension costs to counties to balance the state’s $35.5 billion budget, which is nearly $1 billion larger than last year’s spending plan.

What’s worse than dueling tax increases appearing on the November ballot? How about, dueling tax increases that find a “cooperative” way to work together on the November ballot...

Among the intended goals of higher taxes on cigarettes is that some smokers will quitrather than dealwith the increased cost. While this may happen, newly released numbers show that taxing cigarettes also drove up the sales of forms of tobacco that are taxed at lower rates. The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009 increased and equalized federal excise tax rates for cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, and small cigars. It also increased the tax rates on pipe tobacco and cigars, but not to the levelof theother items.

ANNAPOLIS — Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. is pushing for broader income-tax increases and a last-ditch attempt at expanding gambling as lawmakers look toward a possible special session, but the House appears reluctant to embrace either proposal. Mr. Miller will meet Tuesday with Gov. Martin O'Malley and House Speaker Michael E. Busch to discuss the scope of a potential special session, during which the General Assembly likely would pass several tax and revenue increases to cancel out $512 million in cuts resulting from their failure to pass the increases at the regular session’s close. Mr. Miller is waging...