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President Barack Obama on Friday called on Sen. Rand Paul to drop his “quirky” objections to pending international tax treaties so they can move forward in Congress. Obama said the treaties will help U.S. authorities investigate and crack down on offshore tax evasion. Paul has argued that they would infringe on Americans’ constitutional right to privacy because their tax data and personal financial information would be shared with other countries. Treaties cannot go into force unless ratified by the Senate, and the objection of any one senator halts action on legislative business pending in that house of Congress, as Paul...

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2016 budget will seek new taxes on trillions of dollars in profits accumulated overseas by U.S. companies, and a new approach to taxing foreign profits in the future, but Republicans were skeptical of the plan on Sunday. Reviving a long-running debate about corporate tax avoidance, Obama will target a loophole that lets companies pay no tax on earnings held abroad, the White House said. But his proposal was certain to encounter stiff resistance from Republicans. In his budget plan to be unveiled on Monday, Obama will call for a one-time, 14 percent tax on an estimated...

President Obama has proposed a fiscal year 2016 budget that raises $3.5 trillion in fiscal year 2016 and $45 trillion over ten years. In his budget, he proposes that over the next ten years, tax cuts of $349 billion be accompanied by tax increases of $1.9 trillion, for a net ten year tax increase of $1.6 trillion. The president’s budget would repeal, let expire or limit: the Lifetime Learning Credit; the student loan interest deduction (for new borrowers); Coverdell accounts; and 529 education savings plans. The president’s budget would: triple the maximum Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC); expand...

President Obama proposed $4 trillion federal budget would raise taxes $2.1 trillion, or $6,461 per person, but would spend $2.4 trillion more, drawing a “dead-in-the-water” reaction from members of Congress who will write the bill. “The president is required by law to submit a budget proposal. It is a suggestion and a wish list, but the budget of Congress sets the outline of spending for the coming year,” said a statement released Monday by the House and Senate budget committees. “We will work with our colleagues to make sure it is complete, on-time, and balanced within the next 10 years.”...

Posturing as champion of needed public investments and fairness, President Obama wants new taxes on the overseas earnings of American businesses. ... The United States is virtually alone by taxing the overseas profits of its multinationals when those are repatriated. ... Now the president wants an immediate 14 percent tax levy on those assets to raise about $500 billion and to impose a 19 percent tax on future earnings to finance infrastructure investments. Much of the $2.1 trillion in non-repatriated corporate overseas profits is not parked in foreign bank accounts. Rather, it is already invested by firms like GE and...

President Barack Obama calls his tax and spending plan ´middle-class economics,´ but most middle-income families would see little change in their tax bills. Obama is proposing a total of $1.5 trillion in new taxes over the next decade, mostly on corporations and high-income households. He would use much of that money--nearly $280 billion--to pay for targeted tax breaks for low- and middle-income families. Obama´s proposed tax cuts would benefit households with two wage earners, families with young children in child care and those with older children in college. One proposal would automatically enroll workers in individual retirement accounts, unless they

Politico has a list of the top 10 "biggest and boldest" tax proposals in President Obama's FY 2016 budget, which would raise $1.387 trillion over the next 10 years. Every single dime of that would go to fund new spending schemes by the president.  Zero would be applied to the deficit, which the CBO says will hit a trillion dollars by 2025. Here are a few of them (All amounts raised reflect the total over 10 years.): "BUFFETT TAX": The White House wants millionaires to pay a minimum tax rate of 30 percent. Raises $35 billion.. LIMITING ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS...

Moves in Washington may curtail the availability of workplace “flexible spending accounts” for medical and child-care expenses. FSAs can allow families to set aside thousands of dollars of their salaries each year to pay qualifying expenses without that pay ever being subject to federal income tax. If a family in the 33% marginal tax rate sets aside $5,000, for instance, it could save $1,650 in U.S. tax. Still, many families have a love-hate relationship with these benefit programs. Creating anxiety are the “use it or lose it” terms: Employees often have to guess at future expenses, and they forfeit some...

No excerpt allowed from Bloomberg, column here.

As I have noted previously bond yields continue to go lower, and Investment News reports that it has some bond managers worried that it means that the country will suffer a bout of deflation this year, which mean that the economy, might be, could be, holy cow, a little weaker than expected. Wow. You donÂ’t say? Investment News reports that bond yields are a pretty accurate predictor of which way consumer prices will be going. And in this case the yields are saying consumer prices will be going down. ThatÂ’s good news for those of us who still buy things...

...WALLACE:The White House has made it clear that it flatly opposes paying ransom..now,ISIS is making a new demand,offering a swap of the Japanese hostage for a terrorist being held in Jordan.Is that something to be considered?MCDONOUGH:You know,our policies are pretty well set..We don't get into negotiation with terrorists.We don't pay ransom..we're not going to do that.WALLACE:And a prisoner swap?MCDONOUGH:We're not going to do that.WALLACE:And you would advise the Japanese not to do that......WALLACE:..the president wants to pay for free community college,for increased child care tax credits by raising taxes on the wealthy,$210 billion over 10 years......WALLACE:..during the Obama years,the top...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Ignoring history, Obama falsely claims that raising the capital gains tax yields higher tax revenue The Washington Times recently reported:Obama’s State of the Union speech to include $320B tax hike proposalPresident wants capital gains rate, bank fees raisedPresident Obama will propose $320 billion in higher taxes in his State of the Union address, mostly by raising the rate on capital gains and closing tax loopholes for wealthier families, senior administration officials said Saturday.Previewing Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night, aides said the president will propose raising the top tax rate...

Let's assume George and Ethel, two teachers, purchased their Southern California home in 1966 for $45,000. Lets also assume that over the next fifty years, the value of the house increased to $1,345,000. Let's also assume that George and Ethel had four children and each of them went to a private four year college and that George and Ethel continued to re-finance their home to put their children through college and take a few cruises. Today, there is a $1,145,000 loan on the house. With pensions and other savings, the now retired teachers manage to pay their mortgage and live...

The tax plan President Obama unveiled during his State of the Union is an assault on economic growth cloaked in populist demagoguery. It will not help middle class Americans but rather guarantee that their incomes remain stagnant. He wants to divert attention from the fact that his policies of higher taxes, blow-out spending, anti-growth regulations and the costly, chaotic government-created disruption of ObamaCare have caused median incomes to stay below what they were back in 2007. Most Americans are deeply worried that their expenses are rising faster than their incomes.While the economy is showing more signs of life lately, it...

Hoping to dominate the narrative on a holiday weekend and on the eve of the annual “State of the Union” speech, the Obama White House late Saturday night leaked some of the new tax ideas in their upcoming budget. One tax hike in particular was very odd, since it’s aimed almost exclusively at middle class families with kids–the exact demographic the goodies in the tax plan is targeting. The levy in question would increase taxes on college savings accounts known as “529 plans” (after their section in the Internal Revenue Code). By definition, these accounts are really only used by...

 SEE: Cruz: Abolish the IRS January 13th , 2015 ”Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that Republicans should take advantage of their control of Congress to abolish the Internal Revenue Service. “We need to pass fundamental tax reform making our tax code simpler, flatter, fairer,” he said Monday at Heritage Action’s 2015 conservative policy summit. ”And I’ll tell you, the single most important tax reform, we should abolish the IRS.” What is discouraging is, the above article goes on to say that Senator Ted Cruz ”… acknowledged it’s not really possible to abolish the IRS or adopt a flat tax...

President Obama will call for higher taxes on the wealthy and large financial institutions in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Obama will propose that the $320 billion in tax hikes be used to pay for tax cuts for the middle class, as well as a range of programs, the White House said Saturday. His plan would generate $320 billion over 10 years by raising the capital gains and dividends rate to 28 percent — the same rate under President Reagan, White House officials point out — on inherited assets, such as trust funds. The proposal calls for...

President Obama will use his State of the Union address to call on Congress to raise taxes and fees on the wealthiest taxpayers and the largest financial firms to finance an array of tax cuts for the middle class, pressing to reshape the tax code to help working families, administration officials said on Saturday. The proposal faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress, led by lawmakers who have long opposed raising taxes and who argue that doing so would hamper economic growth at a time the country cannot afford it. And it was quickly dismissed by leading Republicans as a...

President Obama plans to propose raising $320 billion over the next 10 years in new taxes targeting wealthy individuals and big financial institutions to pay for new programs designed to help lower- and middle-income families, senior administration officials said Saturday. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Obama will propose raising the capital gains and dividend tax rates to 28 percent for high earners; imposing a fee on the liabilities of about 100 big financial institutions; and greatly broadening the amount of inherited money subject to taxes. Obama will also seek to boost private retirement savings by requiring...

President Obama proposes massive tax hikes on the wealthy and says the loopholes they exploit need closing. 28% capital gain taxes are only the beginning. Right before his State of the Union address to a Republican controlled Congress, President Obama has thrown down a tax gauntlet, with $320 billion in tax hikes. His signature ideas would make community college free, and would extend sick leave to working families. But his massive batch of tax hikes is unlikely to be met with applause, even though he has cleverly invoked Ronald Reagan’s name to sell yet another big capital gain rate hike.