Free Republic

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...