Free Republic

Taxes: A new study shows President Obama's budget would significantly boost taxes on the middle class. Funny, we seem to recall him promising voters that only the rich would pay for his grandiose spending plans. According to the analysis from the nonpartisan but liberal-leaning Tax Policy Center, Obama's budget would hit wealthy families hardest, with the top 20% of income earners shouldering almost 90% of the tax hike. But families at every income level would end up paying more if Obama's budget were enacted, including those making less than $10,000 a year.

President Obama’s budget would raise taxes mainly on people earning more than $200,000 a year, although earners at nearly every income level would face a somewhat higher tax burden, according to a new nonpartisan analysis. The study by the Tax Policy Center finds that in 2015, 86 percent of the increase in taxes would be borne by people earning $200,000 or more a year. That would largely be a result of dramatically scaling back tax breaks that disproportionately benefit the wealthy and establishing a minimum level of taxation for people who earn $1 million a year. But the study also...

Barack Obama's administration has cut the budget nearly in half for preventing domestic bombings, MailOnline can reveal. Under President George W. Bush, the Department of Homeland Security had $20 million allocated for preventing the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by terrorists working inside the United States. The current White House has cut that funding down to $11 million. That assessment comes from Robert Liscouski, a former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that killed three Americans and injured at least 173 others.

Barack Obama's administration has cut the budget nearly in half for preventing domestic bombings, MailOnline can reveal. Under President George W. Bush, the Department of Homeland Security had $20 million allocated for preventing the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by terrorists working inside the United States. The current White House has cut that funding down to $11 million. That assessment comes from Robert Liscouski, a former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that killed three Americans and injured at least 173 others. He told MailOnline that the...

$20 million budget under Bush became $11 million under Obama Barack Obama's administration has cut the budget nearly in half for preventing domestic bombings, MailOnline can reveal. Under President George W. Bush, the Department of Homeland Security had $20 million allocated for preventing the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by terrorists working inside the United States. The current White House has cut that funding down to $11 million. That assessment comes from Robert Liscouski, a former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that killed three Americans and...

According to a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News, the latest budget proposal from Barack Obama has about as much support as his previous two proposals. Only 52% of Democrats approve of his budget, which turns out to be twice as many as do independents: President ObamaÂ’s courtship of Republicans hit a critical point last week when he unveiled a budget proposal pitched as an effort at compromise. But a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds AmericansÂ’ initial reactions to the framework tilting negative, with broad opposition from Republicans and little public support for a key idea...

The Obama budget is finally out and there are, to no surprise, a potpourri of new tax hikes proposed, many of which are aimed at the "wealthy" among us. Deep within the bowels of the colossal budget, however, lies a proposed tax that targets the poor among us and it is perhaps a precursor of other health-related taxes to come. President Obama proposes raising the tax on cigarettes from $1.01 to $1.95 per pack--a whopping 93% increase in taxes. The White House estimates that the tax would raise $78.1 billion, of which around $66 billion would be used to fund...

Opinion Print Article | Email Friend | Reprint Permissions Obama's new budget calls for $30 million more in abortion funding by Elise Hilton Fri Apr 12, 2013 09:40 EST Comments () Tags: abortion funding, barack obama WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 2013 (Acton Institute) - Obama’s new budget is in. The usual political wrangling is taking place, but there are some undeniable facts about the budget. Taxes are going up (is anyone surprised?), but some of those taxes are “sneaky” ones on senior citizens designed to fund things other than their health. In all, the president’s budget will raise taxes by...

President Obama's Weirdest New Taxes By CHRIS GOOD (@c_good) April 12, 2013 President Obama has plenty of big taxes in his budget proposal. To achieve $1.8 trillion in new revenue, the president suggested a few of the policies he's raised while battling Republicans over the past four years: taxing higher incomes by capping itemized tax deductions, rolling back domestic-production credits for oil companies, instituting the "Buffett Rule" of a 30 percent minimum tax rate for people making over $1 million in a year, and taxing investment managers' "carried interest" profits as regular income top the list. But the tax code...

Buried deep inside President Obama's 2014 budget released on Wednesday is a new proposal to expand federal health insurance benefits to same-sex domestic partners. Framed as a measure to reduce the deficit, the proposal would amend the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program beginning in 2015 to add a "self plus one" enrollment option in addition to the "self" and "family" options. Like the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act that the administration has endorsed in prior budgets, this new FEHB formulation would work within the current legal constraints of the Defense of Marriage Act by adding a new classification for...

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration on Wednesday renewed its request for Congress to let it restore funding to the first United Nations agency to grant full membership to “Palestine,” arguing that defunding runs contrary to U.S. interests. Complying with U.S. laws dating back more than a decade, the administration in late 2011 reluctantly cut funding to the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), depriving the Paris-based agency of 22 percent of its operating budget. UNESCO head Irina Bokova described the resulting financial crisis as the “worst ever” in the agency’s history, but rather than urge member-states to reconsider the...

Jon Prior at Politico reports that according to budget projections released Wednesday, taxpayers could see “a $51 billion profit on the $187 billion in federal funds that have been pumped into” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “since they were taken over by the government in 2008.” The catch? Fannie and Freddie would have to remain under government control for another 10 years. Wait a minute. If taxpayers spent $187 to bailout Fannie and Freddie, a $51 billion profit over ten years still leaves taxpayers in the hole for $136 billion. Politico is making it sound like a tremendous return on...

House Speaker John Boehner says President Obama deserves some credit for "some incremental entitlement reforms" he has included in the budget, but urges the President not to hold those reforms hostage in return for more tax hikes.

President Obama is an old hand at absorbing attacks from his left flank. He got plenty of incoming hostility Wednesday during a conference call staged by a liberal advocacy group to highlight perceived flaws in his budget proposals. But it’s a novel—and not altogether pleasurable—experience for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve as target practice for the left.

The president has released his budget, with the usual threats to refuse to negotiate with Republicans in the co-equal branch of government called Congress. The proposal is monumental, with total spending in the budget totaling $3.778 trillion. Or, as the average accountant would write it: $3,778,000,000,000 !!! Looking at it another way, we currently have a national debt in the $16-trillion range. This sum has been accumulating since George Washington was first sworn in as president and on through the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam, the...

Obama's Fiscal Year 2014 budget includes $30 million in new funding to "track gun violence" and to research strategies that might prevent it.

President Obama finally released his budget yesterday—more than two months late. Heritage experts immediately went to work analyzing the mounds of new spending on education, manufacturing, “clean energy,” infrastructure, and small business. But the President didn’t stop at more of the same failed stimulus and Solyndra-type policies. He also piled on the tax increases—including on seniors, the poor, and the middle class. Five key things to know about President Obama’s budget: 1. It hikes taxes by $1.1 trillion. Heritage’s Curtis Dubay says: “There was little doubt that President Obama would propose a huge tax hike in his budget. It is...

Next year is the year President Barack Obama's signature health care law goes into high gear, covering millions of uninsured Americans by a mix of private plans and government programs infused with tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money. You'd think there'd be a chapter in the new 2014 budget that lays it all out. Wrong. Well, maybe a table? Wrong again. A box? Nope. It turns out that the costs of the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare to its unyielding Republican foes— are sprinkled here and there through hundreds of pages of budget books. It's partly due to...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) joined President Obama for his second closed-door dinner with Senate Republicans on Wednesday. Rubio had been invited but had not committed for most of the day of the dinner. The Florida Republican's office said immigration meetings might get in the way of him going to the dinner, but later said he would attend. Besides Rubio, Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), John Boozman (Ark.), Susan Collins (Maine), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Deb Fisher (Neb.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Johnny Isackson (Ga.), Pat Roberts (Kan.), John Thune (S.D.) Roger Wicker (Miss.) dined with Obama. Obama's first meeting with...

President Obama’s second big dinner with Senate Republicans will be at the White House Wednesday night, press secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday. Carney declined to say which senators will join Obama but Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who is organizing the guest list, said Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) will join him at the dinner. Isakson’s office said he would release the full guest list Wednesday. The dinner follows Obama’s initial outreach to Senate Republicans last month. That dinner grew out of discussions Obama had with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Carney said topics of discussion will include Obama’s...