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Groups who advocated for the IRS to prepare tax returns sure look foolish these days: http://t.co/oKvpIofu7Y
May 13, 2013 06:30 PM
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"We don't need the federal government mandating additional taxes..." -@MarshaBlackburn on MFA: http://t.co/lAuLJtr5t3 #NoNetTax
May 13, 2013 06:00 PM
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Health insurers and businesses are already feeling the iron-clad grip of regulations in #Obamacare: http://t.co/J6dfnKqFYZ
May 13, 2013 05:30 PM
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Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Signs Largest Tax Hike in Virginia History into Law http://t.co/Qd6KOFfaPv
May 13, 2013 03:46 PM
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Under #Obamacare, mothers have had a tougher time purchasing non-prescription, over-the-counter medicine: http://t.co/dJuaGAT9LE
May 13, 2013 02:01 PM
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9 out of 20 #Obamacare tax hikes have not even been implemented yet: http://t.co/opFkyf1guJ
May 13, 2013 01:30 PM
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.@GroverNorquist on MFA: "[The Senate] didn't ask all of the questions that needed to be asked": http://t.co/wXfkIR2Ca9 #NoNetTax
May 13, 2013 01:01 PM
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"When architects of #Obamacare are worried about it creating a trainwreck, you know something's gone terribly wrong": http://t.co/J6dfnKqFYZ
May 13, 2013 12:30 PM
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Conservative and Free Market Groups Applaud Move to Delay a Vote on Gina McCarthy: http://t.co/lNQYmJAB12 #EPA
May 13, 2013 12:02 PM
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The #Obamacare train wreck will derail the American economy: http://t.co/opFkyf1guJ
May 13, 2013 11:30 AM
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A Partial Return to Bracket Creep Is a Tax Hike
Some have suggested that slowing down the pace at which the tax code is indexed to inflation isn't a tax hike. They're wrong.
There are three sources today (WSJ, Time, and an op-ed in IBD) which suggest that slowing down the pace at which the tax code is indexed to inflation is not a tax hike. It's also suggested that this is being discussed as part of the debt limit negotiatons.
This idea would most certainly be a tax hike.
Tax brackets and other tax benefits are tied to the consumer price index (CPI). There are several ways to measure CPI, including a measurement which is less fast-paced than the CPI measurement used today. The idea is to use this alternative definition of CPI to slow down the inflation adjustments in the tax code.
This would mean that tax bracket thresholds would grow more slowly. This would be a legislated tax change scored by the Joint Tax Committee as a net tax hike, and for good reason: it would change tax law, forcing people to pay more in taxes than they otherwise would have.
It's also a partial return to "bracket creep," the 1970s phenomenon whereby people were pushed into higher tax brackets even though their real standard of living didn't rise at all.
This idea can of course be part of a discussion of comprehensive and revenue-neutral tax reform, but stand-alone it is a tax hike.
Posted by Ryan Ellis 
on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 9:27 AM EDT
on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 9:27 AM EDTTo follow Ryan Ellis's RSS feed click here. To follow them on Twitter, their handle is @ryanlellis
