Free Republic

-Anyone who follows politics will recall the hue and cry that greeted President Bush’s 2005 proposal to allow workers to save a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in personal accounts. But even many who follow politics today could be forgiven for failing to realize that the incoming Barack Obama administration is, in its stimulus proposal, suggesting something far more radical for Social Security.-

IT now looks like half of President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus package will take the form of "tax cuts" for 95 percent of all Americans. Yet this wouldn't so much boost the economy as trigger a massive, unhealthy shift in American politics. Under Obama's plan, the majority of American voters would pay no federal income taxes, but would get money from the government instead. That is, these "refundable tax credits" are basically welfare checks - and Obama's plan would leave the most of us collecting, not paying. A $200 billion giveaway won't do much to get a $14 trillion economy rolling...

Teachers union proposes sales tax to fund schools BURLINGAME — The California Teachers Association has proposed a statewide ballot initiative to raise at least $5 billion a year for public education through a 1-cent sales tax increase. The tax would provide new, ongoing funding for schools and community colleges in a time of continuing budget shortfalls, the Burlingame-based association said. "California's budget process is broken," said David Sanchez, president of the 340,000-member CTA, "and our students and schools are suffering the consequences. More students are being squeezed into already overcrowded classrooms (and) more than 10,000 teachers and education support professionals...

Just over five years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger swept into power in California, vowing to crush the "spending addicts" responsible for the state's crushing budget deficit and to thwart Sacramento Democrats who saw taxpayers as ATMs. ... Now, however, Schwarzenegger is about to stab California's beleaguered taxpayers in the back. Not only is he poised to support Democrats' push to raise the state's sales tax, income tax and gas taxes to close a budget deficit of about $1 billion a month; he is also expected to go along with a devious legal maneuver that may allow Democrats to impose tax hikes...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Vic Scuderi is loaded with weaponry. His booth is stocked full of customers who are looking to wipe out his arsenal of firearms. It's business he won't shoot down. "I've probably seen a 25 percent increase in sales from last year," said Scuderi. While the economy may be wounded, gun dealers say sales are exploding at the annual Arms Fair at the City Center in Saratoga Springs. "This is my best show ever. I've sold more ammunition and more magazines than I've ever sold, so in that regard it's been a very good show for me,"...

The price of gasoline is low, but in Rochester and across Western New York, drivers pay more for gas than elsewhere. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter wants to know why. The Democrat from Fairport is sending letters to the heads of Sunoco, Citgo, and ExxonMobil, seeking answers. Rep. Slaughter said that on January 2nd, gas was selling at the Sunoco station on Culver Road for $1.88. In New Jersey and Massachusetts, Slaughter drivers were paying $1.45 and $1.60, respectively. According to AAA, the average price for gasoline nationwide was $1.67 on Thursday. In Rochester, the average is $1.78.

Economics: When is a tax cut not really a tax cut? President-elect Obama's economic program will reduce your tax bill if you jump through a series of hoops — or fail in business.Considering how difficult it always is to control the growth of government, it's tempting to embrace what might be called the Will Rogers school of economics: "I never met a tax cut I didn't like." Maybe any tax cut is better than no tax cut, but a clear view of what the incoming Obama administration has planned raises serious concerns. Not surprisingly, considering the class-warfare rhetoric of his...

Governor Deval Patrick is pushing lawmakers to expand the state's ability to collect sales tax on products sold over the Internet, which could add millions of dollars in revenue each year and alleviate a severe budget crisis.

Memo to Barack Obama. And his voters.  This is what Joe the Plumber was talking about. Like most business owners, we spent the last weeks of 2008 doing the annual year end fiscal dance.  Whether a business is a Subchapter S cash basis taxpaying entity (like LLC's, for example) or a C Corp accrual basis taxpaying entity (like INC's), this annual exercise involves making your business look as "poor" as possible for that magical midnight moment January 1, 2009. The parameters for defining "poor" are different for cash versus accrual tax payers, but the need to position a business for...

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama, commencing face to face consultations with congressional leaders Monday, is embracing an unexpectedly large tax cut of up to $300 billion. Obama said the country faces an "extraordinary economic challenge." Besides $500 tax cuts for most workers and $1,000 for couples, the Obama proposal includes more than $100 billion for businesses, an Obama transition official said. The total value of the tax cuts would be significantly higher than had been signaled earlier.

In an apparent effort to bring Republicans on board with his stimulus plan, Barack Obama has proposed some significant tax cuts to go along with his spending proposal. Here are the highlights. The largest piece of tax relief in the new plan would involve cuts for people who pay income taxes or who claim the earned-income credit, a refund designed to lessen the impact of payroll taxes on low- and moderate-income workers. This component would serve as a down payment on the "Making Work Pay" proposal Mr. Obama outlined during his election campaign, giving a credit of $500 per individual...

Cradle to Grave Conservatism? by: Bethany Stotts, January 05, 2009 Airing a new book which purports to think outside the policy box, Joseph V. Kennedy, author of Ending Poverty, explained his solution to the problem of American poverty at Heritage this December. “Conservatism does not imply the complete absence of government involvement in the market, nor does it imply that economic interests always are paramount and that raising [Gross Domestic Product] GDP should be the sole goal of public policy,” he argued. “What conservatives do advocate for are the importance of individual freedom, restrictions on the arbitrary powers of government,...

"The economy is tough. The (real estate) market is tough. Why aren’t my taxes going down?” St. Croix County Treasurer Cheryl Slind said that’s the question she has been hearing ever since property tax bills went out earlier this month. While the market value of many houses probably has dropped, it takes time for the assessment and equalized value processes to catch up, said Slind. Besides, she said, the drop is likely temporary. Also, said the treasurer, property tax bills — many of which have actually fallen a little this year — can’t go down significantly unless municipalities and schools...

You are probably wondering whether President-elect Obama owes an apology for his actions regarding global warming. The answer is, not yet. There is one person, however, who does. You have probably guessed his name, Al Gore. Mr. Gore has stated, regarding climate change, that "the science is in." Well, he is absolutely right about that, except for one tiny little thing: it is the biggest whopper ever sold to the public in the history of humankind. [Link to article in first post].

Motorists' habits spur call for tax increases By JOAN LOWY Associated Press Writer http://financecommission.dot.gov/index.htm WASHINGTON - Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren't raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs. A federal commission created by Congress to find a way to make up the growing revenue shortfall in the program that funds highway repairs and construction is talking about increasing federal gas and diesel taxes... ... The 15-member National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing is the second group in a year to call for increasing...

President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are crafting a plan to offer as much as $310 billion of tax cuts to individuals and businesses, a move aimed at attracting Republican support for an economic-stimulus package and prodding companies to create jobs. The size of the proposed tax cuts -- which would account for about 40% of a stimulus package that could reach $775 billion over two years -- is greater than many on both sides of the aisle in Congress had anticipated, and may make it easier to win over Republicans who have stressed that any initiative should rely relatively...

With a limited amount of money, officials across the U.S. are zeroing in on the neediest areas. Los Angeles is expected to get nearly $33 million. ___ Terry Ware, head of Denver's housing and neighborhood development office, is a man under siege. The city is due to receive $6 million under an unusual federal program to help cities and counties deal with abandoned properties. Not surprisingly, there are many people in town who want help. Representatives of several neighborhoods have pleaded for the funds to go toward cleaning up blighted houses that are dragging down property values. Homeowners struggling to...

Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all Democrats -- said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues. Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states...

It will be a year like you’ve never seen before. Banks and brokers in crisis, big automakers facing bankruptcy, trillions in deficits, open warfare in the Middle East, women with no elected experience becoming U.S. senators based entirely on their last name . . . Ooops. Get me re-write, stat! Take two: Welcome to 2009, where the only thing we’ll have to change, is change itself. President-elect Barack Obama, fresh from his Abs-Cam photo-op tour of Hawaii, will soon return to Washington a new man - if by new you mean virtually identical to the old guy. Oh, there’ll be...

Oregon is among a growing number of states exploring ways to tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive instead of how much gas they use, even going so far as to install GPS monitoring devices in 300 vehicles. The idea first emerged nearly 10 years ago as Oregon lawmakers worried that fuel-efficient cars such as gas-electric hybrids could pose a threat to road upkeep, which is paid for largely with gasoline taxes. "I'm glad we're taking a look at it before the potholes get so big that we can't even get out of them," said Leroy Younglove,...

Lawyer gets 5-cent IRS bill, 4-cent refund Detroit defense attorney remains confused over two notices DETROIT - James Howarth is a little confused by two letters he has received from the Internal Revenue Service. The Detroit defense lawyer received one letter in November that said he owed the IRS money — five cents. He was warned that he should pay "to avoid additional penalty and/or interest," the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday. Howarth said he then received a second letter telling him the government owes him money — four cents. He was told he would have to request the refund...

The MSM presents this like it is news, yet the content is old and repetitive. It even mentions Plugs saying the discussions were almost done before Christmas. So, Bambi gives a radio address and everything is new again. Pathetic. Let's look at some of the details.

President-elect Barack Obama's plan to jolt the economy by overhauling the nation's roads, bridges and transit systems has local officials clamoring for their share despite questions as to whether the program will actually work. "California's fiscal house is burning down," state Treasurer Bill Lockyer declared recently after a California regulatory board halted financing for some 1,600 infrastructure projects because of the state's nearly $15 billion deficit. California's woes are far from unique, as the deepening economic crisis has wreaked havoc on state budgets across the country. At least 40 states are running deficits, forcing governors to raise taxes and trim...

The cheapest way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is probably to put a price on them. One way to do that is a direct tax (see "Q&A"). Another is a cap-and-trade system, where the government sets an overall cap on emissions, but indi­vidual businesses trade emission allowances. But surprisingly, a carbon penalty may do little to increase reliance on renewable energy or reduce petroleum consumption. Putting a price on carbon would certainly reduce the use of conventional coal-fired power plants. Coal emits more carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, and its price would more than double. But natural gas would...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_bi_ge/gas_tax_10 WASHINGTON – Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren't raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs. That has the federal commission that oversees financing for transportation talking about increasing the federal fuel tax. A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, is calling on Congress to pass a six-month payroll tax holiday as part of any economic stimulus package considered by Congress in the upcoming weeks.

My friend, fellow Blues lover, and Journal columnist Dave Frisse introduced me to this story. This seems a good time to bring it back. Ten friends meet for for lunch each day. Each day, the tab comes for all ten is $100.

Panel wants fuel taxes hiked to fund highwaysBy JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Updated 04:20 p.m., January 1, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) — A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by a federal commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads. **SNIP** With motorists driving less and buying less fuel, the current 18.4 cents a gallon gas tax and 24.4 cents a gallon diesel tax fail to raise enough to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs. **SNIP** A...

These greedy SOB's overtax the people, confiscate their tax dollars every week, blow the cash on useless, unproductive government programs, and now they don't have any of the people's money to give back after "borrowing" it - interest free - all year. From MSNBC. If you expect you'll be getting a refund from California when you file your 2008 state income tax return, be prepared: you may instead receive a "registered warrant." Translation: an IOU. Well, I have a few suggestions on how to deal with these reprobates. More . . .

WASHINGTON — A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by a federal commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

Calif. Taxpayers Due Refunds May Get IOUs By Patrick Healy NBCBayArea.com updated 8:46 p.m. ET Dec. 31, 2008 If you expect you'll be getting a refund from California when you file your 2008 state income tax return, be prepared: you may instead receive a "registered warrant." Translation: an IOU. California is rapidly running out of money. Blame it on the state budget deficit that continues to bleed billions of dollars from California's reserves. Facing inadequate credit to make up the difference, California's Controller John Chiang warns that by the end of February, the nation's most populous state may not be...

While the exact details are still being ironed out, Gov. Kulongoski's web page gives the basics of the plan. In it he states, "As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system." He is creating a task force "to partner with auto manufacturers to refine technology that would enable Oregonians to pay for the transportation system based on how many miles they drive." Key studies were performed in 2006 and 2007 that indicate that such a program would indeed...

Bank isn’t hiding bail-out funds from IRS, says spokesman; contends “virtually all” of sharp drop in 2008 tax rate due to investment losses in U.S. Goldman Sachs fired back at critics of its tax practices today by explaining that the sharp decline it reported last week in its effective tax rate for fiscal 2008 was almost exclusively the result of losses in its U.S. investment portfolio. Critics, including a Texas Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, had charged that the bank was hiding income in countries with tax rates that are lower than those of the U.S....

"With trillions of taxpayer dollars being poured into an outright socialist invasion of our nation's founding free market philosophy - you might think that the paltry sum of $2.5 million would be incapable of generating much outrage." "You've heard the expression "a drop in the bucket?"

President-elect Barack Obama may be about to make a big mistake: raising taxes in the middle of a recession. That's what his top political aide, David Axelrod, hinted Sunday: The Bush tax cuts are "something that we plainly can't afford, moving forward," Axelrod said. "Whether it expires, or whether we repeal it a little bit early, we'll determine later. But it's going to go." Either way, of course, would deal a significant blow to the economy. But moving up the hit to a time when the nation is struggling to recover from a brutal downturn would simply intensify the pain...

Economy: President-elect Obama is letting his outline for economic recovery dribble out into the media ever so slowly. But from what we've seen, the plan seems less like stimulus and more like redistribution.The linchpin of Obama's strategy is a tax cut for the "95%" of taxpayers who earn less than $250,000 a year. In itself, cutting taxes on the middle class isn't a bad idea. It just won't do what Obama thinks it will. The Washington Post quotes senior Obama adviser David Axelrod as saying, "Look, we feel it's important that middle-class people get some relief now." Obama seems to...

Charles Krauthammer has a provocative idea to achieve energy independence, a gas tax. So why even think about it? Because the virtues of a gas tax remain what they have always been. A tax that suppresses U.S. gas consumption can have a major effect on reducing world oil prices. And the benefits of low world oil prices are obvious: They put tremendous pressure on OPEC, as evidenced by its disarray during the current collapse; they deal serious economic damage to energy-exporting geopolitical adversaries such as Russia, Venezuela, and Iran; and they reduce the enormous U.S. imbalance of oil trade which...

To the naked eye, everything here still seems okay. You look through the window of a restaurant and people are seated and eating. There are new cars in the traffic outside my office. I went to the liquor store the other day for some holiday supplies and it was pretty busy. But everything here is not okay. Americans are poorer than they were this time last year. Their pensions and their life savings have shrunk as stock market values have evaporated. Job security is disappearing, corporate health insurance along with it. Fear has set in. Sixty-somethings who were ready to...

A proposed gasoline tax hike to fix the state's crumbling roads and bridges is pitting road builders against gasoline station owners, who say it would give Michigan the highest tax in the nation. With the proposed hike being considered by the lame duck state Legislature, Michigan would jump ahead of California, the nation's current No. 1... "It's the last thing this ailing economy needs right now," ... "Cheap fuel prices are fueling the (economic) activity we have now. Taxing gasoline to fix roads is an old way of doing it." A recent poll of truckers ranked Michigan interstates as the...

Former Federal Reserve Governor Lawrence B. Lindsey suggests that the federal government immediately slash the Social Security tax by half as a way to give the U.S. economy a quick stimulus — one which will impact economic growth more quickly than new government spending plans. Economic growth is stagnating because consumers, made anxious by the bad business news of the last few months, have increased their savings dramatically. Lindsey, an economist, served as an economic advisor to President Bush in 2001 and 2002 and counseled the first Bush tax cut, as well as serving under Reagan and George H. W....

<p>In good times, consumers search out the best places to eat, raise their kids, take a vacation, or pursue a career. But as the recession deepens and more workers lose their jobs, a more germane search may well be the best places to be unemployed.</p>

A year ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced it had demonstrated that a new way to pay for roads — via a mileage tax and satellite technology — could work. Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature to take the next step. As part of a transportation-related bill he has filed for the 2009 legislative session, the governor says he plans to recommend “a path to transition away from the gas tax as the central funding source for transportation.” What that means is explained on the governor’s website: “As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles,...

Americans have a deep and understandable aversion to gasoline taxes. In a culture more single-mindedly devoted to individual freedom than any other, tampering with access to the open road is met with visceral opposition. That's why earnest efforts to alter American driving habits take the form of regulation of the auto companies--the better to hide the hand of government and protect politicians from the inevitable popular backlash. But it's not just love of the car. America is a nation of continental expanses. Distances between population centers can be vast. The mass-transit mini-car culture of Europe just doesn't work in big...

Vice President-elect Joe Biden has been named to head a task force charged with finding out what happened to the middle class. “This issue is of the utmost importance because of our heartfelt dedication to improving the quality of life for this mysterious and, it seems, elusive group,” Biden explained. “We promised that we’d help this class of society. If we’re to do this, though, we’ve got to have a grasp of who we’re talking about.” Biden said the task force is needed because “neither Barack nor I have any direct experience on this topic. Neither of us is a...

In the aftermath of the Madoff implosion, quite a few people have pointed out the parallels between a Ponzi scheme and Social Security. Arnold Kling, whom I respect, has written: I’ve been thinking that Madoff is a perfect analogy for the public sector. The government gives people money, which it expects to obtain by taking the money from people in the future. Even the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, not known as a right-wing organization, sees the U.S. fiscal stance as unsustainable (pointer from Ezra Klein via Tyler Cowen)—in other words, a Ponzi scheme. Other people have gone farther....

Advisors David Axelrod and Lawrence Summers also make the case for a new stimulus package that could exceed $775 billion and that would include a portion of a middle-class tax cut. Reporting from Washington -- President-elect Barack Obama's top advisors said Sunday that they wouldn't back away from a promise to cut taxes on the middle class and raise them for the wealthiest Americans, as they made the case for a massive new stimulus package geared toward reviving the slumping economy.

"New global positioning system technology and congestion pricing can reduce traffic jams. In mid-January, 10,000 transportation professionals, including people from the incoming Obama administration, will convene in Washington D.C. at meetings of the Transportation Research Board, part of the National Science Foundation, to discuss solutions ... "London’s system of road pricing, with cars charged $16 to enter the center, is held up as a model for other cities. But its main flaw is that drivers pay flat fees, and are not charged by miles driven or by routes taken. "A better scheme would be to have drivers pay per mile,...

Barack Obama is an awfully good politician but not much of an economist. His model for lifting America out of its economic slump is President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The trouble with FDR's policy, however, is that it didn't come close to reviving the economy and restoring it to pre-Depression vigor. But FDR did use the New Deal quite successfully in another regard: to build a coalition that kept Democrats in the majority for a half century. The difference between Reagan's and Obama's policies is striking. Reagan stressed private investment. With Obama, as with FDR, it's public investment. Reagan cut...

I'm starting to think the New York Times is rolling out a year-ending Worst Ideas of 2008 list—with a twist. Instead of knocking the nutty notions, the Gray Lady's embracing them. Yesterday, as I noted in Union Got To Be Kidding Me, the Times came out against border fences and for worker rights for illegal immigrants—including the right to form unions. Today, in The Gas Tax, the paper editorializes in favor of taxing gasoline so that it would never cost less than $4-5/gallon. Yup: the Times wants to snuff out the only silver lining on the economic downturn.

‘Twas two days after Christmas and all through the land Retailers were panicked—huge supply, no demand. Consumers weren’t spending, like they did in the past, For fear that their credit just wouldn’t last; The stocks they had purchased for 401(k)s Were tattered and devalued in so many ways; And those who had hoped to sell homes and retire Now found it impossible to find a good buyer. Yes, people were shocked at the state of the State, But their leaders were clueless ‘bout what was at stake; To straighten things out and get things done There would have to be...