Free Republic

Austria's center-left Chancellor Werner Faymann kicked off Saturday his campaign for re-election next year with a call for higher taxes and a commitment to the crisis-hit European Union. Speaking at a party conference of his Social Democrats (SPOe), Faymann said he wanted to raise taxes on the wealthy and bring back an inheritance tax in order to improve "social justice" and curb the "excesses of capitalism.""In order to increase the number of all-day school places… to 100 percent, we need €500 million ($650 million) per year," he said. "This is exactly the amount that an inheritance tax… would generate." …

During his fundraising trip to Los Angeles this weekend, President Obama began by privately meeting a dozen liberal donors at the home of DreamWorks Animation Chief Jeffery Katzenberg. Obama’s “defender-in-chief,” former President Bill Clinton also attended. When asked by reporters about the nature of the event, White House Traveling Press Secretary Jen Psaki would only say that it was a “thank-you event” “We have actually done meetings or events with high-dollar donors who have maxed out or contributed a high amount to the campaign around other events before, Psaki explained. “So this is one of those events; it’s a thank-you...

France's Socialist government on Friday (28 September) unveiled €30 billion ($38.6 billion) worth of tax hikes and spending cuts in a bid to bring the public deficit in line with EU rules next year. Dubbed a "combat budget" by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, the fiscal plan is based on sharp tax increases for the rich (75% on millionaires) and for companies expected to bring in €20 billion ($25.7 billion).The budget is based on the assumption the economy will grow by 0.8 percent.This may prove difficult, as France's growth was zero this year and the continuing eurozone crisis is worsening the...

President Francois Hollande's Socialist government unveiled sharp tax hikes on business and the rich on Friday in a 2013 budget aimed at showing France has the fiscal rigor to remain at the core of the euro zone. The package will recoup 30 billion euros ($39 billion) for the public purse with a goal of narrowing the deficit to 3.0 percent of national output next year from 4.5 percent this year - France's toughest single belt-tightening in 30 years. But with record unemployment and a barrage of data pointing to economic stagnation, there are fears the deficit target will slip as...

In remarks this morning to the Clinton Global Initiative, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposed a radical idea: a global tax on elites around the world. "One of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner, especially from the elites in every country," Clinton said to laughter from the audience. "You know I’m out of American politics, but – (applause) – it is a fact that around the world, the elites of every country are making money." Clinton continued her rift on the rich. "There are rich people everywhere. And...

If you listen to America's political hacks, mainstream media talking heads and their socialist allies, you can't help but reach the conclusion that the nation's tax burden is borne by the poor and middleclass while the rich get off scot-free. Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal, and I'm proud to say former GMU economics student, wrote "The U.S. Tax System: Who Really Pays?" in the Manhattan Institute's Issue 2012 (8/12). Let's see whether the rich are paying their "fair" share. According to IRS 2007 data, the richest 1 percent of Americans earned 22 percent of national...

ARE AMERICANS EAGER for higher taxes on the affluent? Barack Obama and his allies clearly think so. The president who came to office vowing to "spread the wealth around" by raising taxes on individuals with incomes above $200,000 is doubling down, making a tax hike on the rich the centerpiece of his campaign for reelection. "We should ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more," he urged a White House audience last week. "We're talking about folks like me going back to the tax rates that existed under Bill Clinton.… And here's the thing -- there are a lot...

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) suggested that those with a substantial private fortune be forced to hand over 10 percent of what they have over €250,000. This would hit the richest eight percent of the population and would not lead to the feared reduction of consumer demand, it said. The tactic could be adopted to raise money in crisis-hit countries across Europe, the DIW said in a statement.

-Songwriter also has Austrian citizenship through her late father -Former husband Marc Rich fled the country when indicted on charges of tax evasion - but was pardoned by President Clinton in 2001 -House of Representatives committee later found Denise Rich had swayed the decision through donations to Clinton campaign -Comes as the latest wealthy American to denounce citizenship Denise Rich, the wealthy socialite and former wife of pardoned billionaire trader Marc Rich, has given up her U.S. citizenship - and, with it, much of her U.S. tax bill. Rich, 68, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, top Democratic donor and glamorous figure in...

(Loophole.)(4 Billion a year)(video)(Illegal Aliens Getting Bigger Tax Refund Checks?)

One hears a lot of noise these days in and out of the Capitol about "the 1 percent" – those at the top of the income pecking order – and the moral imperative to levy higher taxes on them to support public services. The narrative from left-wing activists and their political allies is that those at the top have rapaciously gathered more wealth while the poor get poorer and those in the middle class struggle to keep afloat. We'll hear a lot more in the coming months because Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature are beating...

A question for the rich: if President Obama successfully breaks the backs of the working middle class, is that really good for you? And how about this: if over half of your fellow Americans pay no income taxes and are quite happy to have you foot the bill for our wasteful bloated government, will that be good for your portfolios– or anybody else’s? We’re less than seven months away from selecting either four more years of Barack Obama, or a new President named Mitt. At this point President Obama isn’t running on his track record, so much as he is...

I cannot think of a better community organizer than our founding President George Washington. His charge to organize thousands of non professional soldiers to fight a war against the well trained and well equipped Brit Redcoats had to be at least as difficult as President Obama's tireless efforts to round up fellow travelers on the south side of Chicago to harass banks for not lending to people who could not repay loans. Although, we know nothing about Obama's early financing, except that it probably was gifted to him by a sheik, or two, George Washington married into money through his...

After a months-long feud with his most liberal allies, Gov. Jerry Brown compromised Wednesday to eliminate a rival tax initiative for the November ballot. The new proposal Brown forged with the California Federation of Teachers and left-leaning activists would rely more on taxing the rich to raise an estimated $9 billion for California's budget. The Democratic governor tried with little success to knock CFT's rival tax on millionaires off the November ballot. With a negotiating window closing fast because of the election calendar, state leaders and the teachers group struck an eleventh-hour deal to put their unified plan before voters....

François Hollande, the Socialist Party frontrunner for the French presidency, announced a tax plan Monday that would see taxes on the wealthy rise dramatically if he is elected this spring. Speaking on TF1 television, Hollande proposed a 75 percent tax on income over €1 million ($1.34 million), a huge jump from the current top rate of 40 percent. "I can announce here that above €1 million (per year), the tax rate should be 75 percent, because it's not possible to have that level of income," said Hollande, who added that he did not accept "excessive wealth." Hollande has consistently held...

"That’s the kind of balance you need," said Geithner. "Why is that the case? Because if you don't try to generate more revenues through tax reform, if you don't ask, you know, the most fortunate Americans to bear a slightly larger burden of the privilege of being an American, then you have to -- the only way to achieve fiscal sustainability is through unacceptably deep cuts in benefits for middle class seniors, or unacceptably deep cuts in national security."

It's February, so President Obama has unveiled his budget proposal for fiscal year 2013, which begins Oct. 1. Mr. Obama, who has presided over the first trillion-dollar budget deficits in American history and proposes to spend $3.8 trillion in his new budget, let it be known — again — that increasing taxes on "the rich" is his method of choice for raising revenue. The president may think this will get the nation out of the fiscal crisis he worsened, but in reality, he is setting the stage for more budget shortfalls — in the unlikely event this budget, unlike the...

President Obama heads west today for a three-day, three-state swing aimed largely at filling the coffers of his re-election campaign and honing his message to supporters in key states. Obama will headline eight fundraisers across California and Washington through Friday night. The events are expected to net at least $8.6 million for the Obama Victory Fund. Much of Obama’s focus will be on mingling with some of his wealthiest – and most famous – supporters in Los Angeles and San Francisco, who will play a key role in underwriting his bid for a second term. Later he’ll dine with 80...

Ever since the First Couple entered the White House, their social life has swirled around the very rich. Hollywood actors, pop star singers, Wall Street hedge fund managers, billionaire investors — these are the fabled "top 1 percent" in terms of income and wealth. The Obamas invite them to White House dinners. They vacation with them on Martha’s Vineyard. They party with them. They sup with them at $35,000-a-plate fundraisers. (Have these affairs ever included an auto worker? A mine worker? How about someone who is unemployed and looking for a job? What about someone who has lost his home?...

President Obama will use his election-year State of the Union address on Tuesday to define an activist role for government in promoting a prosperous and equitable society, hoping to draw a stark contrast between the parties in a time of deep economic uncertainty. ...Mr. Obama will call for changing the corporate and individual income-tax codes so the wealthy pay more, both to finance government investments and to alleviate the rise in income inequality in recent years. Republican presidential candidates have countered that government should get out of the way.