A close look at the federal tax burden of corporations and individuals
November 1, 2008
Are you better off than you were four years ago? It’s a question asked at Obama campaign events, and I’ve been thinking about different ways one can answer the question. We can measure economic success a number of ways – housing costs, gas prices, energy bills, retirement account balances and net worth are all measurable, as is the most thought of indicator, income.
Another – more unique – indicator of economic success during the last four years would be federal tax revenue collected. If you’ve been listening to Obama and the main stream media, we’re in the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression where corporations get undeserved tax breaks, and the middle class have been screwed. They say the Bush tax cuts have failed, but what’s really failed is fiscal responsibility. Revenue is way up, spending is out of control.
Congress wants your 401(k) tax breaks back
October 23, 2008
This is unbelievable. Since Congress has totally screwed up Social Security and refuse to do a damn thing about it, now they are looking for more cash to fund their out-of-control spending. Since we know we can not depend on Social Security for our retirement, many smart investors are depending on 401(k) accounts, IRAs and Roth IRAs.
All three offer tax breaks either now or in the future and get this, a couple of Democrats don’t think they are getting enough for their investment. Their investment? They have the gall to think that $80 million in tax breaks provided to 401k investors is an investment. It’s our damn money!
New York Times fails math and basic tax collecting courses
August 14, 2008
On Tuesday, I saw a headline at the New York Times Web site, Study tallies corporations not paying income tax. This type of story is right up our ally since our readers know that corporations don’t pay taxes; people do. I didn’t get to research the story on Tuesday, but Power Line just provided a kick in the head tonight and reminded me about it.
It turns out that Lynnley Browning and editors at the Times can’t understand basic logic. They figured since two out of three corporations in the study did not pay any taxes, they might as well take the total gross receipts of two-thirds of the companies and assume that 35 percent of that should be tax going to the feds.
They calculated that the government was being cheated out of $875 billion. Idiots. Read more
Class Envy Continues – States Extort from Aircraft Owners
May 2, 2008
In the early 1990s, the U.S. Congress enacted a new law that taxed “luxury” items 10 percent. This was a big deal, since automobiles priced more than $30,000, boats more than $100,000, jewelry more than $10,000 and aircraft priced more than $250,000 were all targeted in the effort to enrich the government coffers.
So, why would you think this is a bad idea? Heck, when your talking about the people who are actually buying these luxury items, they certainly wouldn’t mind paying a bit more for these items would they? They are rich ya know, they can afford it. Tell that to the employees that were actually making these boats in Florida or selling these cars in New York. Read more
The Kennedy Fortune is Safe
April 15, 2008
We’ve all heard about the estate tax, aka the death tax, which is a tax that the federal government levies when assets are transferred from a deceased person to someone else. So how does the super-rich work within the law to protect their family assets?
To be clear, the U.S. tax code is written so if the assets are transferred to a spouse or a charitable organization there is no tax. Also, there are credits against the tax that ensure assets up to $2 million dollars that are transferred to children, as an example, are not taxed. Read more
