Posted on 07/22/2010 12:49:00 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Following comments from Senate Democrats expressing willingness to extend Bush tax cuts, the White House dispatched Tim Geithner to kill the buzz.
Tim just announced Obama's plans to let the tax cuts expire for wealthy Americans in January, according to WSJ. Which is what people expected all along.
WSJ:
Mr. Geithner said there is "still some uncertainty about how strong the recovery is going to be," which may be impacting spending decisions by businesses and individuals. But he discounted that as a reason to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for top earners, saying most private forecasts show moderate economic growth and increasing public confidence in the recovery.
He also rejected concerns voiced by business groups and many Republicans that the administration's economic policies are creating uncertainty and holding back private investment. "Business always wants their taxes lower and always wants to live with less regulation," he said, adding that U.S. firms are "doing very well…competing around the world."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“Mr. Geithner said there is ‘still some uncertainty about how strong the recovery is going to be,’ which may be impacting spending decisions by businesses and individuals.”
So let’s kill the recovery by raising taxes. Rocket Scientist.
BTTT
Glenn Beck is right. Congress has been shut out of budget decisions.
Republicans are idiots for not throwing that back at Dems everytime they push for their progressive income taxes--that they are just trying to keep people in their place.
Funny, I was just thinking about that the other day while looking at the reverse of the new penny that looks like something I would have seen in Loony Tunes.
I was arguing with a Lib the other day about “wealthy” Americans. She considered anyone that made more than $35K a year to be “rich”.
Excellent point.
Also, I don't believe in any progressive income tax. If the tax is an American's way to contribute to the nation, then those who don't contribute are less American than those who do. Those who contribute less are less American than those who contribute more.
I don't like the income tax, but if it were my only option, I'd push for one rate that probably wouldn't have to be more than 8 or 9 percent.
“...I don’t FEEL tardy...”
LOL. Sorry, that was the first thing that jumped into my mind.
My wife and I live on a quarter acre in ranchland in a little 1963 simple ranch (the ones that were built by the millions back then) and we are going to be hit big. We aren’t “rich”, but we are comfortable.
I suspect anyone seen as ‘comfortable’ is also seen as ‘rich’. Never mind we never bought things we couldn’t afford and tried to manage our own financial future without depending on Social Security income. People like me are viewed as the cash cow.
As damaging as letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire will be, I also think the cumulative effect of a LOT of things is going to be amazingly destructive to the economy.
For example, they want to get rid of the Health Care Savings accounts. Sure, that may only be a few thousand off your taxable income. But it is a few thousand. It is the tip of the iceberg.
When I explained this to someone, she said “Why would the government get rid of HSA’s? They don’t cost them anything? I told her they were viewed by the government as potential revenue.
Next, the mortgage credit will go. Now, I can see where we could do it, if the entire housing industry and tax structure is revamped in lock-step.
But we all know it won’t be. They will FIRST get rid of the mortgage tax credit, and somehow never get around to addressing the reasons why it was there in the first place and the results of having it in place for so long.
I see lots of iceberg tips. And as I have said before, I don’t think the deleterious effects of all this are unintended.
“that U.S. firms are “doing very well…competing around the world.”
Gee Tim, what firms would those be Tim? How many small businesses are in that count?
As someone in the top 1% myself, I understand what you mean (when I think of “rich”, I think of Warren Buffett with $60 billion). The thing is, the average household in the United States makes $4,167 per month. The top income tax bracket doesn’t kick in until $31,083 per month.
To most people that is rich, *especially* when you consider that those of us in the top 1% know how to use private pensions, tax shelters, trusts, partnerships, and corporations to lower our income considerably. (By the time all of the tax breaks after factored in, an income of $31,083 is probably really an income of $50,000+ per month if it’s done right.)
Also, at that level of income, whether you are “wealthy” or not depends on if you on a business or you are collecting a paycheck.
What I mean is, if you are a high paid executive and you get $31,000+ per month, that’s it. If you stop working, the checks cease. Game over.
If, however, you get that same $31,083 per month from owning shares of a private business, such as a commercial plumbing firm you built from a start-up, at even a low capitalization rate of 11x EBIT, your “shares” are worth nearly $4,000,000.
You may have $0 in the bank but the reality is you are still worth a cool $4 million. Instead of owning stock in McDonald’s or Berkshire Hathaway, you own shares of *your* company. Most people can’t “see” it so they don’t believe it. They suddenly think they got rich after selling their business but they were always that rich, they just exchanged stock in a private firm for cash.
A much, much bigger problem is the middle class is being taxed out of existence. When Buffett was in his 20’s and 30’s, the payroll tax was only 3% if I remember correctly. Today, it can go as high as 15.3% for self-employed business owners. A family making less than $150,000 per year has to work their ass off just to pay the IRS and, proportionately speaking, they are paying more than ever before. That is the sick part of this mess.
The ONLY way I would support increasing my taxes would if they raised the bracket on on income over $1,000,000 per year and they drastically CUT the payroll tax back to the level of the 1950’s to give small business owners a shot at getting off the ground.
Someone who is self-employed has to be able to keep most of the money he earns in the early years and Congress is killing off these men and women with tax increases. It has to be fixed. I know it was my biggest obstacle when I started out and, frankly, I’m not sure how much longer the American dream can stay alive if they keep reaching their hands into the pockets of entrepreneurs.
I don’t understand how this contradicts yesterday’s article at all.
The Dems emphasized middle class. It was pretty obvious they were going to let the rich suffer, not EXTEND ALL the cuts.
This article is just being a bit overdone.
Hopes? I never even considered the possibility that the tax cuts would be extended. My financial plans are cast in concrete and assume not only that the tax cuts would not be extended but also that overt and hidden taxes would rise for the entire four year nightmare. Once Mr. “Spread-Other-People’s-Wealth-Around” took office, I assumed there would be no good news from DC until the socialist left office. So far, I’m been right.
Thanks, Timmy for making the GOP’s job so easy. But the GOP should also make budget cuts across the board. Action on that will necessarily start in the house.
>>If the Democrats are so concerned about this, then why don’t the tax the truly “wealthy” rather than cut the brackets at these levels?
Because it’s easier to create a strawman that stands in place of the “wealthy” than to attack the true power structure of the Dem party.
A retail sales tax is equivalent to a tax on wealth (as long as exemptions are kept to a bare minimum). Why not implement the Fair Tax, and thus tax the wealthy disproportionately, while increasing savings and helping to repair the balance sheets of households and businesses?
Exactly! The "poor" and middle class will be hit much harder by letting these tax cuts expire than the "rich" will ever feel. And as you mentioned, there are a lot more ramifications than will ever float through these idiots heads.
Our "poor" are rediculously "rich" by most of the world's standards. So you're probably not too far off.
I thought we were already in the 'Recovery Summer'.
They were not just for the wealthy! This should cause a major spike in unemployment with employers cutting more to make up for what this will do this causing lower tax revenues.Good job there Obama!
Republicans are also idiots for passing tax cuts with expiration dates.
Not that big a problem for Timmie; he doesn’t pay his taxes anyway.
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