Free Republic

President Obama released his FY 2013 budget [Monday] morning. By his own numbers, his budget raises net taxes over the next decade by $1.56 trillion (Table S-9, page 225). As a percentage of the economy, tax revenues would rise all the way to 20.1% of GDP in 2022, far higher than the historical tax revenue average of 18.3% of GDP (Table S-1, page 205). Here are some of the tax lowlights: All 20 of the new or higher taxes in Obamacare are assumed to take place. That means that there will be a 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income....

On February 13, a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at eminent domain abuse sailed through both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. This legislative action qualifies the amendment for a plebiscite vote in November. The amendment would stipulate that compensation resulting from eminent domain seizures include lost profits and access in addition to the value of the underlying real estate. This change has the support of Virginia property rights advocates including Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. If enacted, this constitutional amendment would strike at the heart of the 2005 Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London. This ruling allowed government...

Obama Energy Tax Proposals The President’s FY 2013 budget contains billions in tax increase on energy production and consumption. These taxes will result in higher prices at the pump, increased utility bills, and fewer American jobs as companies flee the U.S. and companies cannot recover their investments. Below is a breakdown of energy taxes Obama put forth in his 2013-2022 budget: [HTML Chart was over 300 words so I could not carry it over.] ATR Recommendations Congress should reject these new tax increases and move to rapidly increase access to domestic energy resources in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, part...

The U.S. House this week will vote on H.R. 4013, a bill which will continue payroll tax relief for the remainder of 2012. In all of 2011 and through February of 2012, the Social Security payroll tax rate nominally paid by employees has been reduced by two percentage points, from 6.2% to 4.2%. For someone earning $50,000 annually, this has reduced their FICA tax by $1000 over the year. Americans for Tax Reform is supportive of this extension of payroll tax relief: Now is not the time for workers to see their take-home pay decline because their taxes went up....

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, in her State of the State Address, outlined a bold plan for tax reform focused on reducing rates and consolidating Oklahoma’s seven tax brackets. The plan would end Oklahoma’s complicated seven bracket income tax structure that begins taxing on the first penny any Oklahoman earns, instead replacing the structure with three brackets – Oklahoman’s making below $15,000 a year would pay a 0-percent rate, those making under $35,000 would pay a 2.25-percent rate, and those making $35,000 and above would pay a 3.5-percent rate. The Tax Foundation ranks Oklahoma as 38th in the nation in terms...

Today the Committee on Education and the Workforce hosted a hearing on the President’s January recent recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. To refresh everyone’s memory, President Obama made “recess” appointments to the NLRB early last month, while the Senate was not actually in recess. The Senate was in what is called a pro-forma session. In the context of appointees, longstanding Senate procedures consider pro-forma recess nearly identical to standard recess. Therefore, recess appointments cannot be made at this time. Recently, several different organizations have decided to file suits against the administration for these illegal appointments. During yesterday’s...

SACRAMENTO, Calif- A new tax proposal could be the answer to our state's budget mess. The proposal? Tax illegal immigrants. The people behind the initiative said they can get illegal immigrants to pay income taxes, but first the Governor must get a promise from the federal government, it won't go after anyone here illegally and is part of the program. "Trying to get the federal government to not spend resources on those folks who are filing and paying I don't know why that would come about, I would suspect some sort of political motivation in Sacramento visa vie Washington." Attorney...

As a general matter, retroactive tax hikes are bad tax policy and even worse governance. There's a reason the Founding Fathers put a prohibition on "ex post facto" laws in the Constitution. When it comes to taxes, it's not fair for employers and families to comply with the tax code only to find that the rules then changed after the fact, and after it's too late to do anything about your original choice. It's "heads I win, tails you lose" government at its worst. Yet that is precisely what Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is proposing to do...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Each year the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project asks governors from all 50 states to issue a proclamation declaring February 6th “Ronald Reagan Day”. Today, The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project proudly commends the governors -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- who have recognized Reagan’s 101st birthday in their states. “It is wonderful news that thirty-three governors have declared today “Ronald Reagan Day” in their states. It is sad that sixteen Democratic governors place partisan politics above respect for a great President,” said Grover Norquist, chairman of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project. Governors who have issued proclamations honoring Reagan...

While many Americans celebrated Groundhog Day [last Thurs]day, lawmakers in Washington were participating in a more regular tradition: debating the state of the economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke took the stand before the House Budget Committee to defend the central bank’s recent policy decisions, a performance that mirrored the pomp and circumstance of the activities in Punxsutawney. Bernanke’s repetition of poor policy prescriptions was a fitting way to celebrate the national holiday. Once again, he insisted that interest rates will remain low without affecting inflation, and that government spending will increase job growth. In fact, Bernanke warned lawmakers ahead...

CNBC's Rick Santelli puts his perspective on the Jobs Report. Believe it or not 1.2 million Americans dropped out of the Jobs Market which enabled the Unemployment Rate to drop. VIDEO - RICK SANTELLI

Tax questions are among the most commonly polled issues by America’s opinion survey industry. It is important that conservatives use this positive tax polling data to our advantage, since the American people are generally supportive of the conservative message on taxes. "Do you favor or oppose completely eliminating the estate tax, that is, the tax on property left by people who die?" When the Kaiser Family Foundation, National Public Radio and Harvard University asked about the "death tax," 60% favored eliminating it; 54% favored eliminating the tax when it was called the "estate tax" in another question on the same...

After President Obama's third State of the Union address this week, the Cost of Government Center decided to take a look at how this speech different from joint addresses past. The speech, while rife with the President's usual demands for tax hikes on families and small businesses, was more of a campaign speech than an executive joint address. It is telling, then, that the President spent more time avoiding many of the top issues of past addresses than mentioning them. Notably absent from the speech was any mention of his plan to salvage the economy via government “stimulus.” The President...

Last year the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals once again used the Clean Water Act to bludgeon industry and property owners. In Georgia-Pacific West, Inc. v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, the nation’s most infamous appellate court held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had been misinterpreting its own regulations for more than three decades. The EPA has traditionally considered the cultivation of trees to be an agricultural activity. The jurists of the Ninth Circuit have determined that they have the expertise to overrule decades of regulatory precedent and deem forestry a manufacturing activity. Unfortunately for the two and half million...

The Register is reporting this morning that private employers added 170,000 jobs in January. So, isn’t that good news? Well, probably for those 170,000 people, whoever they are. But economists tell us that, give or take, from 125,000 to 200,000 enter the job market monthly. That means . . .

It's Christmas in the geeky budget world today. While everyone else is thinking about the Florida GOP primary, DC budget and tax wonks are reading the annual "CBO Budget and Economic Outlook." Here's my three takeaways after reading the report. They are by no means exhaustive: 1. If all scheduled tax increases are avoided, tax revenues will still come in at historical levels. CBO has to use a "current services baseline," which means they have to assume that Congress will let the path of current law run its course. That means that Obamacare is implemented, the 2001/2003 tax relief goes...

Gingrich concession speech a rousing call-to-arms: 'We are going to contest everyplace, and we are going to win, and we will be in Tampa as the nominee in August.' 'If (Obama) can have a record this bad, unemployment this bad, deficits this bad, policies this bad, gasoline prices this high -and still get reelected- you can't imagine how radical he'll be in his second term.' 'There's a core question, both in the primaries and in the general election, and it's a simple question: If you're comfortable with the way America is decaying, then we don't have to do much... we...

One of our letter writers, and we love you all, complained that our Sunday column wasn’t civil enough for his liking. “While columnist Mark Landsbaum cannot be accused of harassing the president…” Whew. At least we aren’t a harasser. But the writer had his complaints:...

President Obama and Congressional Democrats have called for hundreds of billions of dollars in higher taxes on American families and small employers. Yet, there are thousands of federal bureaucrats who owe billions of dollars in taxes. Here are some of the most notable agencies:   Bureaucrat Tax Cheats Amount Owed to IRS Delinquency Rate   Executive Office of the President     36   $833,970   2.01% U.S. Senate   217 $2.1 million 3.08% U.S. House   467 $8.5 million 4.24% Postal Service   25,640 $269.6 million 3.84% Homeland Security/TSA     4,647   $36.9 million   2.46% Treasury Department/IRS...

Winning our Future and Newt Gingrich were excoriated for their perceived attack on Capitalism in their previous film When Mitt Romney Came to Town. In my opinion, it was fair game to examine Mitt’s record of job creation since that was one of his campaign pillars. Many did not agree and Newt took a beating from no less an authority than Rush Limbaugh and Rudy Giuliani amongst others. Granted that film wasn’t the best use of Newt’s and Winning Our Future’s War Chest. This latest video is whole new ball game. It is about the largest federal medicare fraud in...