Free Republic

"Marriage Tax" was published by Henry Livingston, Jr, author of "Night Before Christmas" in the Poughkeepsie Country Journal of April 4, 1787 under the pseudonym "R". One of the funniest of his many funny works. Music is from The Duenna by Richard Sheridan, and appears in Henry's music manuscript. Illustrated with vintage postcards.

Someone in the White House thinks marriage is a bad idea. Earlier this year, TFT showed that a high-earning couple, each with incomes of $400,000, would save about $27,000 annually if they divorced and filed their taxes separately. Now we learn that the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, is dangling a similar fate in front of middle income earners. A typical 40-year old couple with two kids could save $7,230 a year by divorcing if one partner earns, say, $70,000 and the other $23,000. Sixty year-olds earning $62,041 each a year would save $11,028 annually if they broke up. This...

Obamacare Restrictions Lead Brooklyn Couple To Consider Divorce 'We Would Save Thousands Of Dollars If We Got Divorced,' Woman Says November 6, 2013 5:23 PM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — From website crashes to long holds on calls, the issues involved with the unveiling of the Affordable Care Act are well documented. But now, could it be breaking couples up? CBS 2’s Don Champion spoke to one Brooklyn couple on Wednesday who said they may be forced to get a divorce to get health insurance. Nona Willis Aronowitz and Aaron Cassara’s love affair began at a party in 2008. “We kissed...

In a September 13 email, Erin Hannigan of Organizing for Action’s “Truth Team” bragged about a “cool calculator from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation” showing how Obamacare’s “tax credits” work, and encouraged everyone to “share it on Facebook or Twitter.” Obamacare’s opponents, especially those who advocate defunding it before it goes live, need to follow Hannigan’s suggestion, and even embed it on their websites and blogs. That’s because what Kaiser’s “cool calculator” really does is expose the statist health care regime’s three ugliest financial elements.I covered two of them in my previous PJM column. The first is that, when...

The Democrats have found their kind of war. It's the "war against women" they have conjured for the Obama Presidential campaign run. Should be fun, but don't look for any of the combatants to speak for the realities of today's women. Still, there's an opportunity here for Mitt Romney, if he'll seize it. The White House has wasted little time capitalizing on Mr. Romney's perceived weakness among women. Polls show the President with a 20-point advantage over the Republican with women voters. Team Obama is hoping to use the recent fight over mandated insurance coverage for contraception to broaden the...

<p>A strange thing happened in the U.S. House of Representatives recently. Republicans and Democrats came together to pass an important piece of legislation by an overwhelming majority -- even though it is an election year.</p> <p>Now, Americans should hope the U.S. Senate will do an equally strange thing -- in the interest of our nation -- and pass the same bill, too.</p>

President Bush has proclaimed Oct. 12-18 as Marriage Protection Week, calling the institution's preservation "essential to the continued strength of our society." The president issued the proclamation Oct. 3, one day after a coalition of 25 evangelical Christian and conservative organizations announced a campaign to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The effort, campaign leaders said, will begin with Marriage Protection Week and will work toward passage of a constitutional amendment to preserve the biblical and traditional definition of the institution. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and other organizations formed the coalition...

<p>The loss of surplus revenue from taxpayers hit by the stock market's $7 trillion collapse since 2000 will affect the federal budget for years, the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday.</p> <p>Deficits will linger for the next four years, and small surpluses will return by the end of the decade only if Congress holds the line against big new spending and tax cuts, the agency said in a forecast that for the first time projects massive losses of income and capital gains tax revenue from reduced stock earnings in the next decade.</p>

<p>From bullets to Bordeaux, plans aim to get voters to tax others' proclivities.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO - That glass of merlot would cost you an extra nickel. Plinking with a .22 would be about 50 cents more per magazine than it is today. Smokers? You might want to budget another 65 cents per pack.</p>