Free Republic

For as long as I can remember, allegations and accusations about taxes and the rich and the poor have been a part of every election--well, except the current 2006 election which has not substantively addressed any issue other than Republicans prodding voters to "stay the course" and Democrats prodding voters to vote against Bush. But in a normal election, Democrats inevitably accuse Republicans of promoting tax cuts that benefit primarily the rich, and the slogan "The rich got richer while the poor got poorer" is something that no election can go without. The same arguments are made election after election, so when someone recently...

IT HAS BEEN a little over a week since billionaire Warren Buffett called for higher taxes on the richest Americans, and now comes the reaction. Harvey Golub, a former chairman and chief executive of American Express, writes in the Wall Street Journal that he “resents” Mr. Buffett’s suggestion. I already pay plenty of taxes, Mr. Golub asserts, adding: “Before you ‘ask’ for more tax money from me and others, raise the $2.2 trillion you already collect each year more fairly and spend it more wisely.” Who’s right? Mr. Golub points out that almost half of the population pays no income...

The Obamas' summer break in Martha's Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets. But according to new reports, this is the least of their extravagances. White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10million of U.S. taxpayers' money on vacations alone in the past year. Branding her 'disgusting' and 'a vacation junkie', they say the 47-year-old mother-of-two has been indulging in five-star hotels, where she splashes out on expensive massages and alcohol. The 'top source' told the National Enquirer: 'It's disgusting. Michelle is taking advantage...

There are fewer millionaires in America today – can you hear the celebration at the Blue Heron farm on Martha’s Vineyard where the Obama family is spending someone’s millions? Obama at Blue Heron Farm - 2009 Pullout quote: For the past three decades, the political left has obsessed about income inequality. As the economy experienced one of the largest and lengthiest economic booms in history from 1982-2007, the left moaned that the gains went to yacht club members. Well, if equality of income is the priority, liberals should be thrilled with the last four years. Wall Street Journal (great article...

Billionaire Warren Buffett urged lawmakers to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit, saying such a move will not hurt investments. "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice," The 80-year-old "Oracle of Omaha" wrote in an opinion article in The New York Times. Buffett, one of the world's richest men and chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc , said his federal tax bill last year was $6,938,744. "That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid...

Further: 'I will work hard to protect entitlements... the only problem with the Reid Senate is that we didn't keep a fillibuster-proof majority... " Yeah. The Super Committee is gonna work. /S

Most Americans want a special congressional committee tasked with drafting a long-term solution to the nation's mounting federal deficits to include tax hikes for the wealthy and businesses and deep cuts in domestic spending, according to a new national survey. A CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday also indicates that the public doesn't want the super committee to propose major changes to Social Security and Medicare or increase taxes on middle class and lower-income Americans. Under the debt ceiling deal passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama last week, a panel of 12 legislators - six Democrats and six...

Liberals outline stimulus agenda in 'Contract for the American Dream' By Erik Wasson - 08/09/11 10:57 AM ET Liberal organizations and unions are frustrated that President Obama has not aggressively pushed a new jobs stimulus agenda and they are offering up a consolidated fall agenda for Democrats to embrace as an alternative to austerity. Representatives of MoveOn, Rebuild the Dream and the Center for Economic Policy and Research will join Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) on Tuesday to launch a progressive “Contract for the American Dream” to urge the administration and Congress to turn away from budget cutting and focus on...

“No risk,” Geithner told Fox Business at the time. When asked whether S&P was wrong and that the U.S. would keep its top credit rating, Geithner said, “Absolutely”... Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. said the president should “demand” that Geithner resign “and immediately replace him with someone who will help Washington focus on balancing our budget and allowing the private sector to create jobs.” “For months he opposed all efforts to reduce the debt in return for a debt ceiling increase,” DeMint said. “His opposition to serious spending and debt reforms has been reckless and now the American people will pay...

I was reading a thread on "tax the rich" and thought of the old comedy bit byJeff Foxworthy: "You Might Be A Redneck if". I found a few* answers meant to be on a more serious note; but added some on the satirical side. You have shelter for your car* Your kid decides what he wants to eat based on which kid's meal has the best toy* You have a guest bedroom* You run or walk for exercise, not transportation* You can pay your satellite bill You own a flat screen, one or more You own a snowmobile You...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We're into statistics today and the unemployment statistics are just fascinating in the way that we're being spun. It's as bad as the way we were spun on this debt deal, and the more you look at this debt deal, what a disaster that is. I'm gonna explain why as the program unfolds. This is from the UK Daily Mail. You're not gonna see this in the American media. Speaking of the American media, remember all of those years, the Bush years, the media apparatchiks on TV were trying to talk down the economy and trying to...

"I think increasingly the American people are going to say to themselves, 'You know what? If a party or a politician is constantly taking the position my-way-or-the-highway, constantly being locked into ideologically rigid positions, that we're going to remember at the polls,'" President Obama said at his Friday news conference. I know everyone is sick of hearing about the debt-limit negotiations. Lord knows I am. When I turn on the news these days, I feel like one of the passengers seated next to Robert Hays in the movie "Airplane!" By the time we get to the phrase "in the out...

Dennis Miller interviewed Tim Pawlenty today. Make that "Timmy Pawlenty." When the conversation turned to rich guys who say they want to pay higher taxes, Pawlenty recalled that when he was Minnesota governor, some lawmakers were calling for tax hikes on the rich. "I had a press conference. I said that anybody who wants to voluntarily come down here and contribute, we will give you a plaque. You'll have your picture taken with the governor, we'll do it here in the public in the reception room and we'll give you a certificate of appreciation. And you know how many of...

Ben Stein, an economist, actor, and conservative writer, said taxes should be raised on millionaires and billionaires to help reduce the federal deficit. “I am in favor of greatly raising the taxes on very wealthy people, millionaires and billionaires. I wouldn't raise the taxes on people making $250,000 a year,” said Stein in a June 29 interview on The O’Reilly Factor, guest-hosted by Laura Ingraham. Earlier, on June 25, Stein had told Cavuto on Business, “We've got to raise taxes. There's just no way around it. The deficit situation is so serious that while I wish we did not have...

So Obama demands that we must progressively "Tax the Rich" as a price for raising the debt limit. OK. Let's do that. Any civilian government employee making over $150,000.00 per year gets a 15% tax increase until the deficit is zero'ed. Any civilian making over $100,000.00 per year gets a 10% tax increase. Any civilian making over $75,000.00 per year gets a 5% tax increase. So how much would this raise? Does it really matter, Obama (and Hillary) have already said in 2008 that the fact that raising capital gains tax rates doesn't increase revenue "doesn't matter, it is a...

Robert Reich connects the dots on the economy, in less than 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Who knew he could draw?

According to the latest Internal Revenue Service report, the number of Americans renouncing their U.S. citizenship (or terminating their long-term permanent residency) has increased nearly ninefold since 2008. In the first quarter alone, 499 Americans expatriated through the IRS, meaning they probably won’t have to pay U.S. taxes anymore, according to data that first appeared on Andrew Mitchel’s International Tax Blog. That compares with a quarterly average of 384 in 2010. And 2010 marked a significant jump from 2009 and 2008, with quarterly averages of 186 and 58, respectively. -----SNIP----- One argument is that they are leaving because of President...

"Americans break into two roughly evenly matched camps on the question of whether the government should enact heavy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth in the U.S. Forty-seven percent believe the government should redistribute wealth in this way, while 49% disagree, similar to views Gallup found four years ago."

Tax attacks on the rich may seem extreme in the U.S., but around the world rates are far more aggressive. A report by KPMG highlights 2010 individual income tax for countries around the world. We ranked the countries based on the income tax rate on $300,000 of gross income and included the income level at which the top marginal rate kicks off. As a point of reference, America's top marginal rate starts at $373,650 and its percentage 27.9%. That keeps the U.S. out of the top 20.

Democrats have said they only intend to restore the tax rates that existed during the Clinton years. In reality they're proposing rates like those under President Carter. Media reports in recent weeks say that Senate Democrats are considering a 3% surtax on income over $1 million to raise federal revenues. This would come on top of the higher income tax rates that President Obama has already proposed through the cancellation of the Bush era tax-rate reductions. If the Democrats' millionaire surtax were to happen—and were added to other tax increases already enacted last year and other leading tax hike ideas...