Free Republic

Denmark’s government is seeking to introduce requirements which will limit the access of foreign residents to the country’s welfare system. Savings made from new curbs could help to finance tax cuts in several areas announced by the government on Tuesday, reports broadcaster DR. New regulations proposed by the government would prevent in principle non-Danish citizens from being eligible for certain welfare payments (known in Danish as overførselsindkomster) from their first day in the country. “I was keen for people to be unable to come to Denmark and receive welfare payments before entering the labor market,” Finance Minister Kristian Jensen told...

One of the most enduring lessons from the American health care fiasco is that to win a political battle it is best to keep the message simple. If there are too many moving parts to a plan, if Americans don't understand what the politicians are doing, or if there are parts of a bill they don't like, it probably will go down in flames. Most people don't like Obamacare, but when they couldn't understand the Republican alternative, they chose the devil they knew versus the devil they didn't. Which brings us to the tax-cut fight. Larry Kudlow, Steve Forbes and...

Congressional Republicans, seeking to address the complaints of small businesses, are floating changes to their controversial proposal to eliminate business tax deductions for debt interest payments, business lobbyists said on Tuesday. A top U.S. Republican on tax policy acknowledged that modifications are in the works, but did not provide details. The debt interest proposal, long seen by Republican policymakers as necessary to help drive economic growth, is backed by large companies with ready access to equity financing that they could substitute for debt if eliminating the interest deduction made issuing debt too costly. Debt-dependent small business owners, farmers and ranchers...

With a sweeping overhaul of the tax code on the horizon, two Senate Democrats believe this is the moment to broach the third rail of climate change policy: a carbon tax. The plan by the senators, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, to level a $49 per metric ton fee on greenhouse gas emissions is widely acknowledged as a long shot. But the lawmakers, along with climate activists and a cadre of conservative supporters, insist the tax reform is a way to create bipartisan support. The senators propose to use a portion of the estimated $2.1...

“I’m late, I’m late!” Today is Rabbit Hole Wednesday on Thursday, because I didn’t get it done yesterday. Today we examine the RQ Hypothesis: "Our new President, of course, has not been in this line of work before," said McConnell. "I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process." Adapt, Mitchy, adapt. “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” Or you won’t be in this line...

RUSH: The Dow Jones Industrial Average right now 21,992. It was at one point today 22,000, all-time record. And of course that number brought forth all of the negativists who are now claiming, including Greenspan, “It’s gotta burst. It can’t go on. It’s a bubble and it’s gonna blow up and we’re all gonna die. And we’re all gonna be poor, and we’re all gonna lose everything. It’s horrible.” Now, two things about this: 22,000 stock market. Who is that? Who’s getting rich? Answer, hint, clue: It ain’t the people that voted for Trump. Trump’s out there taking credit for...

Top White House adviser Steve Bannon is pushing for tax reform to include a new 44 percent top marginal tax rate, hitting people who earn more than $5 million a year, with the revenue paying for tax cuts for the rest, according to three people who’ve spoken to him recently.

Many of the ideas that emerge from Washington are stale, unimaginative and unworkable. Not so the latest pitch from a group of conservative congressional Republicans: Eliminate the IRS. This goes beyond some kind of political revenge fantasy. It's time to consider the damage that the IRS does both to Americans' freedoms as individuals and to the costs it imposes on the economy as a whole, argue the 151 members of the Republican Study Group, an in-house conservative think tank, in their newest budget proposal. The proposal, an alternative to the House Budget Committee's official 2018 budget, comes as part of...

The establishment press is easily distracted. Their goal is to sell papers or TV advertising. Conspiracy theories about Russians are more fun for the talking heads than deep dives into tax reform and health care reform. By Election Day 2018 the American people will want to know the answer to the question, "are you better off than you were two years ago?" Do you have a job? Do your family members have opportunities and increasing wages? Or not. The success of the Trump presidency will hinge on the passage of pro-growth tax reform that addresses the American competitiveness problem, boosts...

Every morning I wake up before 5am Eastern and switch on the TV to watch the early version of ″Fox & Friends″. Aside from enjoying my breakfast with the lovely Heather Childress, I learn what the ′Big News′ item is for the day ahead. The big topic this morning was a Midnight tweet on Twitter by President Donald Trump. The story is that he allegedly misspelled the word ′coverage′ when he wrote ′covfefe′ instead in a tweet about the negative press. As a Shaolin Master Abbott of the Temple of Trump Fu, I saw the true purpose of the...

Pledges on Immigration, Pledges on Tax Reform, Pledges on Obamacare The contents of chief White House strategist Steve Bannon’s whiteboard have been published online. During a visit to the White House, conservative broadcaster Rabbi Shmuley Boteach posed for photographs with Bannon and in the background of those pictures many of the policy priorities on the whiteboard can be observed, the Telegraph (UK) reports.

The coming fight over tax reform highlights distinct and seemingly irreconcilable views of government. We might want to reflect on them, as the major players ready the armament: brass knuckles, baseball bats, Fox News and New York Times commentaries. The two warring views: 1. Government knows more than you do. 2. On many topics, you know more than government does. There might be, between these viewpoints, certain points of mutual engagement, such as the point that government is entitled to enforce a uniform standard of justice, and the point that federal regulation of hamburger thicknesses would create problems without number....

This is not going to get done without you. Last week the Trump Administration announced its tax reform proposal. It’s impressive and a major departure from the tax code mess we have today. I believe it’s bold and will work to boost the economy without exploding the national debt. Remember, I have been studying tax reform proposals for decades. I served on the Kemp Commission for Economic Growth and Tax Reform in the early 1990s. I’m very familiar with, and supportive of, the Flat Tax, the Fair Tax and of course my own 9-9-9 plan.

Will the Left hold it hostage? The Trump administration unveiled an ambitious overhaul of federal tax laws yesterday that it is touting as the “largest tax cut for individuals and businesses in U.S. history. Republicans on Capitol Hill seem cautiously optimistic about the plan even though it was immediately attacked by the hateful class-warfare-mongering Left.

Line in the sand The latest Democrat threat is that they will somehow stop all tax reform until President Trump releases his tax returns. This follows constant media carping during the election demanding that very same thing, only to have the demand rejected by Trump and, by extension, by the electorate. But wait, you say! Polls consistently show the public wants Trump to release his returns. Sure they do, and it’s a classic example of what’s called push polling. When a pollster asks a person if he thinks something would be a good idea, that doesn’t necessarily mean the person...

Yuuuuuge Most of the media coverage, like this from CNBC, follows the current dopey trend of obsessing over how quickly the proposal will be done. Wednesday? Thursday? The following week? Maybe this is all about the spine-tingling drama of whether it will happen within Trump’s first 100 days, since all of America waits with bated breath for the answer to that question. Er, yeah . . . But when it happens is not the point at all. It’s what the plan consists of, and while Trump isn’t dropping many details, he’s certainly not being shy about establishing expectations:

Tell President Trump to ask Congress to end the federal income tax so that you and I can reach our full potential for wealth.This weekend, President Trump tweeted that a: “Big TAX REFORM AND TAX REDUCTION will be announced [on] Wednesday.” This is great news. However, as we go through the process of improving the tax code, we must encourage our politicians to do two things:1.) Eliminate the unconstitutional federal income tax.2.) Reduce hidden taxes that politicians eternally use to offset tax “cuts”—namely increases in federal spending.America turns 241 years old in July. We’re still a “baby” nation in contrast...

Big TAX REFORM AND TAX REDUCTION will be announced next Wednesday.

Following Republicans’ abysmal failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, the GOP announced that their next order of business would focus on tax reform. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady declared that he would schedule a hearing in which the House will review a drafted tax reform blueprint. On April 27, a formal meeting will be held in order to discuss the border adjustment tax, also known as the BAT. Weeks ago, Republicans decided to “move on” from healthcare reform, but they sadly fail to comprehend that employing the same strategies to tax reform as they did with healthcare...

Taxes: Democrats say they won't work with President Trump on tax reform unless he first releases his tax returns. This has to be the lamest excuse for not fixing the tax code we've ever heard. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week that "if he doesn't release his returns, it is going to make it much more difficult to get tax reform done." Democrats say that seeing Trump's tax returns is critical to tax reform, because otherwise how would anyone know if changes to the tax code will benefit Trump. As Schumer put it, "releasing his own full tax...