The Bush Tax Cuts: Obama is dithering again…

Big Bureaucracy ^ | April 12th, 2010 | Ellie Velinska

[Big Bureaucracy]

Will the Bush Tax Cuts expire? More dithering… May be, may be not, may be some…

The folks from the Tax Policy Center are issuing paper after paper in Desperate Seeking of Revenues. Their ideas can be sum up with this:

- Let the Bush Tax Cuts expire;

- Get rid of the tax deductions;

- Impose national Value Added Tax (VAT);

- Mix and match all of the above.

The pain is in the details.

Progressive Version: It is expected most of the Bush Tax cuts to expire – Obama may keep some to be able to add it as a socialistic talking point in his speeches. Itemized deductions will be reduced for the “rich”. VAT will be introduced in combination with a removal of the Federal Income Tax for the folks making less than 70K. Earned Income Credit will be expanded to send more welfare checks to the “poor” to make up for the “unfair” consumption VAT tax.

Conservative Version: The only detailed one that is scored by the CBO is Paul Ryan’s Roadmap. He proposes flat tax (with 2 rates -10 percent on folks making gross up to $100,000 for joint filers, and $50,000 for single filers; and 25 percent on taxable income above these amounts). The old tax code is scraped with all its loopholes, tax-cuts, tax-hikes; the itemized deductions are gone and so is the Earned Income Credit (imagine the reaction of the progressives on that).

One thing is sure: the gap between the government spending and the government income will be filled with somebody’s tax dollars. The more the bureaucrats spend – the more money come out of your pocket.

[Hoodat]

“Bush Tax Cuts” is a misnomer. Back in 2003, they were the Bush Tax Cuts. Today, they are the “Current Tax Rates”. By the end of the year, we will know whether Congress maintains those current rates or whether they raise those rates.

[Big Bureaucracy]

True - all taxes on business are passed on consumers. Ryan is trying to replace the current corporate tax with BCT (business consumption tax) according to his Roadmap

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

My wife an I will gladly pay it if Ryan’s spending cuts come with it.