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Thursday, September 2, 2010
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Obama Tax Commission Report:
Baby Step Toward IRS Tax Preparation - Dina Titus Launches False Attack Ad on Joe Heck and the Taxpayer Protection Pledge
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010
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Monday, August 30, 2010
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Friday, August 27, 2010
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Thursday, August 26, 2010
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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Monday, August 23, 2010
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Friday, August 20, 2010
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Thursday, August 19, 2010
Happy New Year!
73 New Tax Hikes Take Effect
From Ryan Ellis on Monday, January 4, 2010 4:32 PM 
It might surprise many people to learn that not one, not two, but seventy-three new tax increases went into effect on January 1, 2010. This was the result of Congress letting temporary tax relief expire. They still have time to put the tax relief back in place before the end of the year, but they are gone for now. A complete list of them is maintained by the Joint Tax Committee. Here are some of the more recognizable tax relief which expired:
- The first-time homebuyer credit ($10.8 billion)
- The research and experimentation tax credit ($6.97 billion)
- The AMT “patch” to prevent more families from paying the AMT ($63 billion)
- The additional standard deduction for state and local real estate taxes ($1.46 billion)
- The itemized deduction for state and local general sales taxes ($1.85 billion)
- 15-year depreciable life for leasehold improvements and restaurants ($5.4 billion)
- 50 percent partial expensing for business asset purchases ($5.074 billion)
- Increase in small business expensing to $250,000 ($41 million)
- Above-the-line deduction for college tuition and fees ($1.53 billion)
- Above-the-line deduction for teacher classroom expenses ($228 million)
- Tax-free distributions from IRAs to make charitable contributions ($591 million)
- DC first-time homebuyers credit ($17 million)
All told, these expiring tax provisions total between $100-$150 billion of new tax hikes.
Estimated revenue effects of the individual provisions come from recent legislative scores by the Joint Tax Committee.
Comments
If the CBO uses current law to figure deficits or surplus regarding the health insurance bill, then aren't these counted as revenue, along with the expiring of the Bush tax cuts? And if congress "fixes" many or most of these what happens to the so called deficit reduction of $132 billion over 10 years claimed in the health bill?
>> Mike Tuesday, January 5, 2010 5:28 AM Report Comment
In what way is the expiration of a temporary tax reduction a "new" tax increase? That's like saying that retail stores have massive price increases the day after Black Friday because items are no longer on sale. I'm not bashing the writer of the article. I would genuinely like to know why this is considered a "new" tax increase.
>> Adam Tuesday, January 5, 2010 8:01 AM Report Comment
This is the kind of nonsense that pisses me off about you Republican groups. Leave tax reform the libertarians, the true small-gov't people. You guys focus on bogus wars in the Middle East and keeping gays from having equality under the law. Lol It's just a stupid rhetorical gimmick. These aren't "tax increases." It's just going back to the default. It's easy for an idiot to put forth a tax reduction and then say it's a "tax increase" when the reduction expires even though you just go back to the original state. the tax reduction is small and usually short so it's not that big a deal.
>> Brandon Wednesday, January 6, 2010 3:15 AM Report Comment
First: the article is about tax in regards to Obama's pledge not to raise the taxes of 95% of the people. For you to bring up your bogus issues of war and gays is a poor attempt to ignore or cloud the subject at hand. If in 2009 i pay $1000 in federal taxes, and then laws are allowed to expire and in 2010 i pay $1200 in taxes, in my ledger that means my taxes increased $200.
>> dusaa1975 Wednesday, January 6, 2010 9:03 AM Report Comment
Ok, but I didn't say anything about war or gays. And I'm not saying that the tax isn't, in fact going up. What I'm asking is why the writer called this a "new" tax increase. Again, I want to know why. I'm not bashing anyone or bringing other issues into it. My question is only about the article.
>> Adam Wednesday, January 6, 2010 10:03 AM Report Comment
Truth is, a lot, if not all, of these tax credits are simply "free" money the gov't lets you have to help pay for things like homes. The $8,000 homebuyer credit essentially gives you $8,000 of 'free' money to make it easier to give a down payment for a home. Your taxes on the home certainly won't go up with it expiring. With regards to the income tax return, it will "raise your taxes", so to speak, but only b/c you can't claim it to reduce the amount you pay. The actual income tax rate didn't go up. Plus, only those who claim the homebuyer tax credit will lose out. Others who don't know or don't care won't be affected.
>> Brandon Thursday, January 7, 2010 12:24 AM Report Comment
You bring up the $8000 dollar house credit. This was really not a good idea, but the $8000 did probably stimulate house sales. In essence, it was a tax DECREASE and it worked. Taking money from individuals just slows down the economy and limits what you can do in life. The goverment needs a certain aomount of revenue, but they are taking to much and doing more then they should.
>> Steven Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:11 AM Report Comment