Free Republic

I got to thinking about all this tax talk on another thread and I wondered ... what do we need taxes FOR in the first place ...

If Republican leaders were to fully embrace a conservative reform agenda, it would address pressing national needs. It would position the GOP as forward looking, contemporary, and have appeal to swing voters. It would demonstrate a commitment to a brand of conservatism that is practical rather than narrowly ideological. And it contrasts well with today’s reactionary liberalism, by which I mean liberalism that opposes virtually every effort to reform institutions and programs that are sclerotic, outdated, and ineffective. .... There are five obvious areas for Republicans to focus on, beginning with entitlement reform ... A second area Republicans should focus...

Political and policy fiasco alert: The GOP Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee is gearing up to waste the House Republican Majority's energy, time and political goodwill on a doomed-to-fail scheme that conservative realists know cannot emerge from Congress. The price of pursuing this strategy will be the loss of many good and necessary initiatives that could get done, initiatives that could unify and energize the voting public behind an expanded GOP House majority in 2014 and gains in the Senate as well. The consequence of this strategic blunder could be the loss of the House majority. Everybody...

Reading the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, and pretty much every other news outlet, one would think that Governor Bobby Jindal has given up on his efforts to eliminate the Louisiana income tax. But in fact, pretty much every reporter who has written on this has the story wrong. In his State of the State address on the first day of the 2013 session of the Louisiana legislature this week, Jindal announced that he was “parking” the tax-reform proposal that he unveiled last month, in response to opposition from the public and members of the legislature. While his...

Earlier this year, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal promised to undertake the major task of simplifying the state's tax code in the interests of promoting economic competition, business friendliness, and job growth; and last month, he unveiled his plan to get rid of income and corporate taxes in favor of a sales tax increase from 4 to 5.88 percent. There was quite a lot of grumbling about the specifics of his plan, however, and in a surprise move on Monday, he opened the 2013 legislative session with the announcement that he’s going to at least temporarily shelve his proposal in favor...

(Reuters) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, one of the nation's most prominent Republicans and a possible 2016 presidential candidate, has fallen out of favor with local voters, and his bold plan to scrap the state income tax is running into trouble. Jindal was re-elected to a second term with two-thirds of the vote in 2011. But his Louisiana approval rating was down to 38 percent in a recent poll, worse than Democratic President Barack Obama in one of the most conservative states. The poll suggested voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials...

It would be the ultimate fiscal cliff. A group of House Republicans wants to put an expiration date on the 75,000-page U.S. tax code. The Tax Code Termination Act would require the repeal of the entire code in 2017 — except for the bits dealing with Social Security and Medicare — with a new system ready to go for the following year. Of course, the U.S. economy would benefit from major tax reform that eliminated the current bias against investment, axed crony-capitalist tax breaks, and lowered marginal rates on individuals and business as much as possible. But Republicans can put...

If Republicans and Democrats are serious about tax reform in 2013, they should throw away the tired old playbook and consider bolder ideas to fundamentally change the flawed tax code. One such idea would be to eliminate the payroll tax. The payroll tax -- 12.4 percent, split between workers and their employers to help finance Social Security -- is one of the worst taxes on the books for several reasons. A basic economic principle is that when the government taxes something, the nation gets less of it. Because the payroll tax makes it more expensive and administratively burdensome for businesses...

The story behind the story is that “tax reform,” as we know it, is dying. During the 1980s, no major piece of legislation better symbolized bipartisan consensus than the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which was regarded by both liberal and conservative experts as the best tax law since World War II. The basic idea was simple: Reduce tax rates and recover lost revenue by ending (or limiting) tax breaks. The struggle between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner over the “fiscal cliff” indicates that this beneficial consensus has collapsed. Just the opposite is occurring. ... many politicians support...

<p>Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will change under a new code starting January 1.</p> <p>The landmark regulations will change the relations of Cubans with their government and are a signal that market-oriented reforms, launched since President Raul Castro succeeded his brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008, are here to stay.</p>

In the aftermath of a surreal election shock, those that ponder how to organize their way forward should heed this plea to familiarize themselves with every detail and nuance of the most innovative and inspirational legislation that has more support in Congress than all other competing proposals. Here is an easy intro link: http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FAQs Like the Sword of Damocles in Greek mythology, the FairTax can be held over the heads of those that have ascended the throne of the most powerful nation under God that has ever existed in human history.

BAR STOOL ECONOMICS Suppose that every day, ten men go out for a beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1.00 The sixth would pay $3.00 The seventh would pay $7.00 The eighth would pay $12.00 The ninth would pay $18.00 The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.00 So that’s what they decided to do. The men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite...

One of the services of the Simpson-Bowles Commission was to set out a path for tax reform, with lower income tax rates and removal of many tax preferences — or, to use the commission’s term, tax expenditures. It’s an approach that has been tried before and worked. Ronald Reagan called for such a reform in 1984, and after much negotiating, it was hammered out in 1986. Lead roles were played by Treasury Secretary James Baker; the Democratic chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Dan Rostenkowski; and the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Bob Packwood. It wasn’t easy...

No sooner had Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate than Democrats and their backers started attacking the Wisconsin Republican as a "radical." President Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, immedi ately sent an email out to supporters calling Ryan the "author of a budget so radical the New York Times called it 'the most extreme budget plan passed by a House of Congress in modern times.'" [snip] But Ryan's budget plan is far from radical.

Corporate tax reform has long been an opportunity for a win-win bipartisan effort in Washington. Everyone agrees that the corporate code needs significant changes, if not a complete overhaul; it's too complicated, too costly, and rewards the larger companies that can afford to analyze it for every possible benefit. Both parties have made corporate tax reform part of their plartforms, Democrats arguing that we need to close loopholes, Republicans that we need simplification and lower rates.The White House decided to go first on corporate tax reform: The Obama administration Wednesday will unveil a framework for reforming the corporate tax code...

Participants in a recent shale gas energy conference held in Hobbs, New Mexico, referred to a whirlwind trip to Lea County, NM, as “exhausting” but “enlightening.” Bradford County Commissioners Doug McLinko, Mark Smith, and Daryl Miller, Susquehanna County Commissioner Mary Ann Warren and Pennsylvania state Rep. Tina Pickett were among local elected officials to partake in discussions and serve as guests on informative panels.

TOWANDA - While Bradford County has experienced extensive gas drilling for a few years, what will it be like after the drilling has gone on for decades? The three Bradford County commissioners and other local officials had a chance to get a sense of what could happen when they traveled last week to participate in a two-day conference in Lea County, N.M.

If Mitt Romney's 2010 tax bill were merely his pretax income, he'd still be a member of the 1%—in other words, the government takes more of his wealth every year than 99% of Americans earn. But what the world really learned from the tax returns the GOP candidate released yesterday is that he is a walking argument for pro-growth tax reform. The details of Mr. Romney's six IRS schedules, eight forms and 69 income statements—totaling some 547 pages—are by now familiar. The Bain Capitalist made $21.7 million in 2010 and an estimated $20.9 million last year. He doesn't merely belong...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's jobs council called on Tuesday for a corporate tax overhaul, expanded domestic drilling and new regulatory reforms, a set of proposals unlikely to provide a quick fix for high unemployment or gain much traction in an election year. A panel of top U.S. business leaders advising Obama - whose re-election chances could hinge on whether he can boost the fragile economy - offered its latest job-creation prescriptions at a meeting with him at the White House. Obama pledged to "push as hard as possible" on their recommendations but also sought to temper expectations. "Obviously...

Herman Cain tells National Review Online that he will launch a new political-action committee in January. The outfit, whose final name remains under wraps, will be Cain’s main project next year. Its mission will be to enact his “9-9-9” economic plan. “We continue the campaign without a candidate,” says Cain, who hinted at the endeavor during his departure speech. “There are a lot of people who are willing to support the campaign for solutions without the end objective being my election as president of the United States.” As Cain transitions to private life, “Friends of Herman Cain,” the financial force...

U.S. Government Plans Tax-Reform Initiative... ... in Armenia!The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said this week that it expects to award an estimated $5-10 million, four-year contract to assist the Armenian government in the areas of: (a) revenue policy formulation, strategic planning, revenue analysis and tax policy review and simplification; and the appeals policies, procedures and implementation carried out by the Ministry of Finance and (b) improving the SRC strategic planning, human resource management and internal control processes to better administer taxes and to enhance taxpayer trust and compliance. [emphasis added] USAID intends to release a more detailed Request...

Tax reform proposals are the political equivalent of science fiction: entertaining but imaginary. No tax proposal ever passes through Congress unscathed. There are too many interests that believe their survival depends on tax preferences — hence the tax code's immutable tendency to accumulate complexities as a ship collects barnacles. Still, presidential candidates' tax proposals are useful windows into their philosophies. Should income taxes on the wealthy go up or down? Should income from investments be taxed at a different rate than income from labor? And should "tax reform," a goal everyone embraces, be used as a tool to shrink the...

With Rick Perry’s call for a 20% Flat Tax, the movement for fundamental, pro-growth tax reform became unstoppable. Perry, Herman Cain, and Mitt Romney are now the only viable candidates for the Republican presidential nomination remaining. With both Cain and Perry now offering dramatic pro-growth tax reform proposals, Romney will either jump on the tax reform bandwagon or be left in the dust (or possibly both). The only pro-growth tax cuts in Romney’s 59-point economic plan are a reduction in the corporate income tax rate to 25% (from 35% today) and the elimination of the death tax. However, both Perry...

According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, 25% of Republican primary voters currently favor Businessman Herman Cain as the potential GOP presidential nominee, 21% prefer former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and the rest of the field is at 10% or less. But the real headline is that 80% of respondents say they have yet to make up their minds. While the hopes for an exciting late entry (Chris Christie, Sarah Palin, etc.) have been dashed, that 80% who have yet to give their final answer offer a huge opportunity for existing candidates near the back of the pack...

I can’t imagine a true patriot proposing a new tax, a national consumption tax which would tax every necessity of life, in addition to keeping corporate taxes and taxes on the working person’s wage. I also can’t imagine a true patriot proposing a new general tax among the States [Herman’s national sales tax] to feed the beast in Washington, and ignoring the rule of apportioning that tax among the States as required by our founding fathers clear intentions. The rule of apportioning any general tax among the States was adopted by our founders to cure a vicious evil of democracy....

Paul Ryan does a good job of offering a Republican tax reform response to Obama's jobs bill monster.

Anybody have an opinion on Herman Cain’s 999 tax reform plan? - It ends the Payroll Tax completely - Business Flat Tax – 9% - Gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses and all dividends paid to shareholders - Empowerment Zones will offer additional deductions for payroll employed in the zone - Individual Flat Tax – 9% - Gross income less charitable deductions - Empowerment Zones will offer additional deductions for those living and/or working in the zone - National Sales Tax – 9% I don’t like it. This puts into effect both an income tax and...

Despite the recent gains made in the debt limit negotiations, there is no amount of debt-shuffling that doesn't leave taxpayers footing the bill for Washington's spending problem. In its annual Cost of Government Day report, Americans for Tax Reform Foundation calculated that Americans worked until August 12 this year to pay for the full costs of government spending and regulation. The 'Cost of Government Day' report determines the day of the year on which the average Americans has made enough income to pay off the local, state and federal regulatory and spending burdens. This year, Americans work a full 224...

Every year, Americans for Tax Reform Foundation publishes its Cost of Government Day report, which calculates the day on the calendar year until which the average American must work to pay for the full costs of government spending and regulation. The study is available online at www.CostOfGovernmentDay.com “Highlights” of the report are as follows: Overall government burden: This year, Cost of Government Day falls on August 12, meaning Americans labor a full 224 days into the year to pay for local, state and federal government spending and regulations. Impact of Obama overspending: Americans have lost 29 days of the calendar...

The tax code has morphed from a device to fund essential government services into a tool to redistribute wealth. If we are going to redistribute wealth, everyone wants to be a winner, so it is no surprise that lobbyists are employed to gather more preferences and defend existing preferences. Effective tax rates on corporate income vary widely by industry, with petroleum, utilities and construction among the highest (30 percent to 33 percent) and some industries in single digits. The higher the statutory rate, the more valuable the preferences, and preferences breed complexity.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), arguably the most prominent fiscal conservative in the Senate, is declaring his independence from one of the country's leading anti-tax groups, Americans for Tax Reform - and its fiery founder, Grover Norquist.

One of the more intriguing new websites on the political blogoshere is POPVOX. POPVOX is an interactive site that enables individual citizens to weigh in on bills introduced into congress. You can vote for/against bills in the house or senate and you can also make a comment that will be displayed on the respective Bill Report page and forwarded to your respective representative/senator. POPVOX also has a mapping facility which shows where support\opposition to a bill is coming from geographically. You can drill down to CD level all the way up to state and national. HR 25 (The FairTax) made...

Washington, DC—On Wednesday, January 5, 2011, Congressman Rob Woodall (GA-07) introduced H.R. 25, the FairTax. The FairTax legislation eliminates the current income tax paradigm and replaces it with a system of taxation based on consumption. The bill was introduced on Wednesday with 47 original co-sponsors—the most original co-sponsors the bill has ever had for its initial introduction. “I committed to the Seventh District of Georgia that my efforts in Congress would focus on reclaiming freedom for the American people. It is for that reason that I am proud to make the FairTax—the only bill that restores transparency and simplicity to...

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s debt reduction task force led by Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin has performed a public service by trying to build a consensus and for offering some worthy ideas to steer the nation away from a fiscal cliff. But here’s one set of statistics that sticks out like a sore thumb. The highest marginal income tax rate at the federal level would be about 42%, including the employer portion of payroll taxes, paid by individuals earning from $51,000 to the top of the raised ceiling for Social Security’s 12.4% payroll tax. That ceiling is now $106,800, but...

"Cuba has set income tax rates at 25 to 50 percent for its soon to be expanded private sector, with the biggest earners paying the most taxes," reported Reuters last week. It is telling that the tax rates of Cuban communists are now comparable with those in many so-called free countries. Below, for comparison, are individual tax rates for selected Western democracies: Denmark                     36.57 - 51.5% United Kingdom          0 - 50% Belgium                      25 - 50% Germany                     0 - 45% France                         5.5 - 40% Austria                        21 - 50% Germany                     0 - 45% Japan                           5- 40% High as they...

After months of work and anticipation, [Puerto Rico] Gov. [Luis] Fortuño finally unveiled his administration’s comprehensive tax reform. At the center of the measure is an across-the-board reduction in the individual tax bracket that would result in a 49-percent overall savings in six years. Corporate reductions are slated to reach 30 percent. The cornerstone of the tax modification is the reduction of the income tax brackets. People making less than $20,000 would not pay any tax. The bracket of those making $20,001 to $30,000 would be taxed 7 percent. From $30,001 to $70,000, the allocation would be 14 percent. The...

Here’s the pitch: The FairTax — a plan to replace the federal income tax and payroll tax with a national sales tax — will get rid of the IRS forever. It will let workers keep their entire paychecks and retirees keep their entire pensions. It will raise just as much money as the current tax code. It will promote economic growth. It won’t hurt the middle class, and it won’t cause prices to rise. It will even end our illegal-immigration problem. These claims are drawn from the leading proponents of the plan: a group called Americans for Fair Taxation, former...

We are speeding toward an economic cliff because our government can't practice restraint. We spend so much more than we take in because politicians at every level use the public treasury to win elections. The public mostly accepts lavish promises of more and more federal spending because the cost of government has been so effectively divorced from what actually comes out of our paychecks. Ask almost anyone how they did on their taxes and you're likely to hear a happy exclamation that the taxpayer got a little money back! But ask the same person how much they paid the government...

Some people are fighting for a fair tax, replacing our income tax structure with a VAT, a Value Added Tax(country wide sales tax). Others argue for a Flat tax, one tax rate on income for everybody, no deductions etc. Both sides are fighting for the same basic concept. simplify the way the federal government collects taxes. America's Tax Structure is just so complicated and is getting more complicated every day. The best proof for this argument was made by IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman on C-Span (video at bottom of post).

SHANGHAI — China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest market for automobiles, the first time any other country has bought more vehicles than the nation that produced Henry Ford, the Cadillac and the minivan. Now that the Chinese buy more cars and trucks than Americans, the shift could produce ripples for the environment, gas prices and even the kinds of cars automakers design. More than 12.7 million cars and trucks will be sold in China this year, up 44 percent from the previous year and surpassing the 10.3 million forecast in the U.S., according to J.D. Power and...

Tolerance is the mother who softens the harshness of father’s strict adherence to the rules. Since nobody’s perfect, lawmakers and judges should guard against legal surprises never anticipated by lawmakers. This isn’t rewriting the decrees but interpretation in the highest sense of the word so the law can accomplish its original intent. “Who can say “I have purified my heart, I am free of sin? There is no man on earth so righteous that he never sins!” Proverbs 20:9 Below are some suggestions for lawmakers and judges to bring about a more just country: Intolerance-Justice should be based on each...

The Tax Preparation Industry Allie Winegar Duzett, October 15, 2009 Can you believe that it can cost you more to pay your taxes than you actually pay in taxes? “Last year, Americans spent more than $250 billion on tax preparation,” Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com told the audience at the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) summit on Defending the American Dream, held on October 3, 2009. “It costs us twice as much to comply with the tax code as it costs us in taxes, total,” Morrissey asserted, illustrating his point that our current tax system is “ridiculous.” “Ironically, what prompted our Founding...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2009 AT 5:59 AM Streaming at 12:30: PERAB Meeting on Tax Reform Posted by Austan Goolsbee Today, the tax subgroup of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) will hold a meeting to gather ideas on tax reform. It will be the first of several such meetings. The meeting will center on tax simplification and will be live streamed at www.whitehouse.gov/live. I wanted to take the opportunity to explain why we assembled this subgroup, what areas the PERAB tax reform subgroup will focus on...

RUSH: You want to hear the table of contents in the Max Baucus bill? This is the one everybody's all excited about now, Gang of Six in there, three Republicans, three Democrats. Remember, now, Baucus announced yesterday part of his plan is a fine of up to 3,800 bucks on citizens via the IRS if you don't have health insurance. It's going to be mandatory just like automobile insurance is. ... "Section I: Health systems savings." There are four chapters. "Ensuring appropriate payment. Capturing productivity gains. Reducing geographic variation in spending, and modifying beneficiary contributions." "Section II: Options for Modifying...

Mansfield North Central Ohio Take Back America! Tea Party Saturday, July 4, 2009, NOON-2:00 PM Central Park GAZEBO, Downtown Mansfield Corner of Main Street & Park Avenue Join patriots in our area and across the country who will be participating inTea Party rallies in front of their city halls.Featured Speakers: Lt. Col. Gene Berger, USAF Retired, Combat Pilot, Vietnam Thom Collier, Former State Rep. Dist. 93 & 90, State Senate Candidate Dist. 19 Maureen Collins, Concerned Citizen Dr. Patricia Lydy, D.C., Lydy Chiropractic Clinic Dennis Oleksa, USAF Veteran Pastor Brian Phillips, Cornerstone Freewill Baptist Church Dean Shoup, Shoup’s Plumbing and...

In today’s Washington Post, the White House floats a really scary trial balloon—a new national Value-Added Tax (VAT) to pay for out-of-control spending and a Washington take over of health care. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad appears to be on board. So does Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel, who has been hired by the White House budget office to help design the health care plan and whose book on health care uses a VAT to fund the new government program. Obama economic adviser Paul Volcker is also on-board the VAT-train. ————— "We need to draw...

WASHINGTON – Social Security and Medicare are fading even faster under the weight of the recession, heading for insolvency years sooner than previously expected, the government warned Tuesday. Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, a year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner, trustees reported. Medicare is in even worse shape.

JUST as the econ omy begins show ing glimmers of a turnaround, here comes President Obama with a "tax-reform" effort that's sure to sock the stock prices and after-tax profits of many of the biggest US employers. Obama's $190 billion business-tax hike will hit Americans whose jobs and pensions depend on these companies doing well, and will increase pressure on already struggling colleges and hospitals. Why? Because millions of individual investors hold the companies' stocks in their portfolios, mutual funds and pension funds, as do many colleges, hospitals, museums and other institutions in their endowments. Among the important employers in...

Do you know what the word "income" means? My large Webster's dictionary is able to provide a clear and comprehensive definition in a mere 52 words. The shortest definition the Internal Revenue Service could provide in response to my request for its definition was 140 words - but the word income was included 10 times, missing the point that you do not include the word to be defined as part of the definition. You may have read that President Obama has just appointed former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker to head a panel to make recommendations for tax reform....

A ny American who's fretted through filling out his or her income tax returns, churned through the confusing TurboTax online maze or plopped their shoe boxes of receipts down on their H&R Block representatives' desk has to be mumbling today, "There's got to be a better way." A predicted half million frustrated taxpayers will hit the streets nationwide today - the day that tax returns are due - to vent about increasing tax rates, wasteful spending, trillion dollar bailouts and debt being thrust onto our kids and grandkids. But after all the spouting, will anything change in the way we...