Free Republic

The very concept of privacy seems to be under attack (except, of course, as a justification for abortion, as laid out in Roe v. Wade — that is considered sacrosanct by the Left, including academia and the media). Now, from a member of the New York Times editorial board, comes the suggestion that not just President Trump's but your and my income tax records should be publicly available.  I'm not kidding.  Binyamin Applebaum wrote in the Sunday edition — the one with the biggest readership: … disclosure could help to ensure that people pay a fair share of taxes.  Americans underpay their taxes by more than $450 billion each year, more than...

For over six years, California has had a top marginal income tax rate of 13.3 percent, the highest in the nation. About 150,000 households in a state of 40 million people now pay nearly half of the total annual state income tax. The state legislature sold that confiscatory tax rate on the idea that it was a temporary fix and would eventually be phased out. No one believed that. California voters, about 40 percent of whom pay no state income taxes, naturally approved the extension of the high rate by an overwhelming margin. California recently raised gas taxes by 40...

A new statewide poll shows two-thirds of Illinois voters support Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s top policy priority, amending the state constitution to allow a graduated-rate income tax. The poll, from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, did not ask participants specifically about the governor’s proposal. But the poll showed that a system under which higher earners are taxed at higher rates is popular throughout the state among both Democrats and independents.

It wasn’t that long ago, in 1980, that America had a top income-tax rate of 70% for individuals, nearly double the current top rate of 37%. And it wasn’t unusual. From 1940 through 1980 the top rate for the highest earners never dipped below 70%. During most of the 1950s, when the U.S. economy dominated the world, the top rate was 91%. It kicked in at $400,000 of taxable income, or roughly $3.7 million in today’s dollars. This history is relevant given New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent call for higher tax rates on what she called the “tippy-tops” to...

This calculator provides a window into how the tax bill being passed by Congress could affect your after-tax income if your main source of income is a paycheck. It does not take into account the effects of the repeal of the health care individual mandate or the potential economic growth that may result from the bill's provisions.

... A large and growing literature continues to support the claim that high marginal tax rates and big tax hikes are harmful to economic well-being. See the work of the Dallas Fed’s Karel Mertens and colleagues, or the Romers’ own 2010 work finding a “highly contractionary” effect from postwar tax hikes. The theoretical cases for towering “optimal” tax rates that Mr. Krugman cites always tend to trip up over political realities if nothing else. Politicians may find it politically handy to be seen dinging the rich, but they also find it useful to placate the rich by dishing out loopholes....

The incoming chairman of the House Rules Committee, Rep. Jim McGovern (D., Mass.), confirmed to colleagues on Wednesday that he would not honor the three-fifths supermajority requirement to raise income taxes, as reported by the Washington Post. The change comes after a standoff between Pelosi and her moderate allies in the Democratic conference, such as incoming Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal (Mass.), and younger, more progressive members like Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.). In November Pelosi and Neal initially proposed keeping the three-fifths supermajority rule for income tax increases "on the lowest-earning 80 percent of taxpayers." That notion, however,...

This would create a first class bargaining chip when dealing with a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. Withholding taxation and estimated taxation for calendar years after 2019 would have to be ended too. The Democrats would soon realize that restarting 1040-style taxation would be a hard sell politically since people have a natural affinity for the money they worked hard to get. Their bargaining chip would be military funding. The Constitution provides that "no appropriation of money" for army funding "shall be for a term longer than two years". But since military people tend to be highly employable in the private...

The French government announced on Tuesday that it will push ahead with the long-planned reform to deduct income tax directly from workers’ paychecks on a monthly basis from January 2019. After days of wavering and speculation that they would ditch the reform, the French government finally announced on Tuesday that from January 2019 workers will indeed have their income tax taken directly from their paychecks automatically. The change will see most workers in France have their income tax automatically taken out of their wages each month by their employers, as is the case in most other European countries, rather than...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that new tax forms, designed to make the filing process clearer and simpler for Americans, will be released next week. “Next week we will be unveiling the new 1040 and it will be a postcard as we promised,” he said during a press conference celebrating the six-month anniversary of the passage of tax reform. “Hardworking taxpayers won’t have to spend nearly as much time filling out their [tax forms].” The 1040 form is the U.S. individual income tax return. Republicans promised to simplify the filing process for taxpayers, famously claiming the forms...

Tax Fairness: The most frequently repeated complaint about the Republican tax cuts is that they are a massive "giveaway" to the rich. New evidence shows that this claim, like almost every other attack on the tax bill, is false. In the run-up to the passage of the tax reform plan, which President Trump signed into law on Dec. 22, critics attacked it on several fronts. They said there was no way the tax cuts would spur extra economic or job growth. But after the tax cuts went into effect, several economists sharply increased their growth forecasts for 2018. They said...

For a nation accustomed to instant gratification, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a winner.Before President Donald Trump even signed the bill, companies were announcing employee pay raises, bonuses, and increased investments to grow their businesses and bring operations back from overseas.Among the first out of the gate was AT&T, which said it would give $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 nonmanagement employees and make an additional $1 billion investment in the United States. Boeing put $100 million toward training, education, and other workforce development. Walmart expanded paid parental leave and boosted starting wages to $11 an hour.Then in...

The only two restraints—at least for now—on public union governance in Illinois are GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state’s flat income tax. Democrats hope to do away with both in November. Democrats in Springfield have filed three constitutional amendments to establish a graduated income tax—the rates won’t be determined until after voters give their assent. The state’s flat 4.95% income tax, believe it or not, is lower than the rate in all its neighbors save Indiana (3.23%). But its property and corporate taxes are among the highest in the country. Last summer Democrats with the help of a handful...

Some leading proponents of centralized federal power have caught that ole-time states’-rights religion.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, for example, has been a fervid defender of ObamaCare and other congressional programs invading traditional areas of state control. But, he says, Congress violated the rules of federalism when its new tax law capped income tax deductions for state and local taxes paid (SALT deductions).Are Cuomo and his allies correct? Does the Constitution require Congress to include SALT deductions in its income tax laws? ADVERTISEMENT The Constitution’s actual language does not say so. Some cite a 1985 speech by the late Senator Daniel...

Support for the new tax law is increasing, according to a new poll, though it still isn't favored by a majority. The poll, conducted for The New York Times, found that 46 percent of respondents strongly or somewhat support the plan, up from 37 percent in December.

Tax the rich some more. That recommendation comes from many politicians. It seems obvious to tax the rich. We tell ourselves they won’t miss that little extra bit we take. And after all, it’s only right that they pay their fair share. The technical name for taxing the rich more is progressivity. And it’s hard to oppose a concept that shares its roots with an optimistic word like progress. But this surface logic obscures some important truths about progressivity. So let’s stand back. The first thing we see when we take our distance is surprising. It is that many people...

Personal Exemption A personal exemption is the amount that you can deduct from your income for every taxpayer and most dependents claimed on your return. Current law: $4,050 per person, which means a married couple with two dependents would receive a personal exemption of $16,200. New law: The personal exemption is eliminated. The exemption returns after 2025.

Of the 150,493,263 filers who submitted individual income tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service for the 2015 tax year, only 99,040,729 paid any income tax at all. Together, those Americans paid a record $1,457,891,441,000 in total income taxes -- for an average of $14,720 per taxpayer. The other 51,452,534 -- or about 34.2 percent of all filers -- did not pay a penny. Their average income tax payment was $0. This is a fundamental divide in the American tax system. On one side are those who do pay taxes; on the other, those who don't. And the divide gets...

This reality, and the resulting assignment of an avalanche of 'Pinocchios,' comes as no surprise to our readers -- who've been kept abreast of Democrats' never-ending onslaught of falsehoods, misinformation, fear-mongering and distortions about the GOP's tax reform bill. Fact-checkers have been working overtime to correct the record in an exhausting game of anti-lie whack-a-mole, with the Washington Post's team dishing out 11 Pinocchios to three top Democrats on the ridiculous ""private jet tax break" fairly tale alone. This nonsense is still floating around, promoted by the DNC chairman: Tom Perez @TomPerez #GOPTaxScam philosophy: Let's end tax benefits for colleges...

The state of New Jersey is doing a non-existent job of publicizing this new tax exemption for veterans, so I'm trying to spread the word.http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/newexemptionveterans.shtml