Don't worry, I'll put your money to good use...
Posted on 02/06/2008 10:19:09 PM PST by george76
The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.
GOP senators banded together Wednesday to thwart the $205 billion plan, leaving Democrats with a difficult choice either to quickly accept a House bill they have said is inadequate or risk being blamed for delaying a measure designed as a swift shot in the arm for the lagging economy.
The tally was 58-41 to end debate on the Senate measure, just short of the 60 votes Democrats would have needed to scale procedural hurdles and move the bill to a final vote. In a suspenseful showdown vote that capped days of partisan infighting and procedural jockeying, eight Republicans — four of them up for re-election this year — joined Democrats to back the plan, bucking GOP leaders and President Bush, who objected to the costly add-ons.
Democrats choreographed the vote for maximum political advantage, presenting their aid proposal as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for Republicans and calling back their presidential candidates to make a show of party unity behind their stimulus plan.
They calculated that Republicans would pay a steep price for opposing rebates for older Americans and disabled veterans, as well as heating aid for the poor, unemployment benefits and a much larger collection of business tax breaks than the House approved.
(Excerpt) Read more at connpost.com ...
Another of Bush’s stinking liberal handouts! You can take his compassionate conservatism and shove it up Hitlery’s A**!
No kidding... who the heck even gets rebate checks from the government. They just continue to rape us...
Big difference between ‘taxable income’ and paying taxes on that income. Many people have $20,000 or more taxable income and yet for various reasons pay no federal income tax. Seniors living on IRAs would fall into this group.
So the thinking seems to be to encourage & help working people even at the small end of income.
No, the thinking is buying votes from minimum wage earners who didn't pay as much in FIT as they will get with this giveaway welfare program.
If you giveaway a Big Mac to everyone seated in a football stadium and hand the bill to the top 5% of earners at the game, you have a good picture of this bogus stimulus package. It's too little to make much difference to the Big Mac eaters, but it will place a heavy burden on those selected to pay the bill...and who didn't even get a Big Mac in the process.
It wouldn't be hard? Well, why don't you try with me, because I'm interested to hear this. I have this really strange quirk, but I tend to assign value to items based on--and this is a shock--whether I want them! Red Wing shoes, Omaha steaks, and carpet cleaning have exactly no value to me.
During the flap over Dole's pathetic letter to Rush, Dole stated, "My conservative wife........."
Stop eating all those pineapples, Sen. Dole, you're obviously suffering from acid reflux.
Leni
Do it now before the gun banners take office. The sooner the better. The gun dealers will smell the fear of a pending ban and start driving up the prices. That's exactly what happened in California as the date drew near for their assault weapons ban.
Already on layaway. Right next to the new GSG-5. Have em both paid off in March. Probably pick up two more shotguns (Wife: Don’t you have enough shotguns already!) this summer too, one for hunting and a short barrel for home.
Am I right on this assessment?
The DemocRATs were trying to make it so the poor didn’t have to pay into Social Security, by giving them a rebate as well since they effectively pay no income tax. By doing that it meant another burden on the middle class since there’s a upper limit on income “taxed” for Social Security purposes. Only the middle class will pay into Social Security on every dollar they make. The side effect of including Social Security is that illegals get rebates as well.
Don't worry, I'll put your money to good use...
I hope you did not get the impression I am pushing the rebates.
I was just trying to analyze what Bush+Pelosi+Reid and the house were thinking.
My personal preference is a one rate flat tax for everybody with no deductions except a child tax credit capped at 2 kids.
I do not believe that is correct. I think that even people who do not pay income tax will get $300, but to get the whole $600 each you have to meet the criteria you said, $3000 taxable or more.
The house version of the rebate calls for $3000 minimum EARNED income. You are correct that many seniors do not pay any federal tax because social security income is tax free under a certain level of gross income.
and my teenage daughter had a $4000 income from interest only and paid $325 in federal tax.
That’s way too logical.
That was the campaign slogan of the original RINO, Herbert Hoover.
I would go for a flat tax if there was a ceiling on the maximum FIT skimmed from each person. High income earners get no more benefit from the federal government than low income earners...often much less as the low end is often feeding on the entitlements. Most of the "deductions" have been eliminated or "phased out". It's so bad now that my W2 filed as Single/0 dependents barely covers the tax confiscated. I do the whole 1040 exercise with all the itemized deductions only to find that most of them are "phased out" by the socialist garbage that inhabits the hallowed halls of Congress. I need to do a "Laffer curve" analysis to figure out what gross income vs tax rate returns the most net income for the effort. I'm clearly working too hard and feeding more to the government than I should be.
For comparison, my son's $10,300 gross was subjected to $110 in FIT. Fifteen such persons would gross $154,500 and pay a total of $1650 in FIT. If a single person earns that $154,500, the FIT is around $33,000. That is a gross injustice. It's just going to get worse when the socialists sweep into office in November.
Sadly true. I grew up in a socialist country and know from
first hand observation how bad socialism is for creating prosperity.
To expound on your example, a single person earning $10,000 would pay
10,000-2500 personal exemption x 10% = $750.
A family earning $150,000 would pay
150,000-4*2500 x 10% = $14,000.
So 15 people earning $10,000 pay 750 x 15 = $11250
So to me it seems fair.
Obviously a 10% flat tax can not cover all the entitlements.
So the social security system should be optional as a private investment option for the younger generation.
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