Grappling with the mish-mash of American politics
By Lori Montgomery, The Washington Post
Taxpayers earning more than $1 million a year would benefit the most from the GOP tax plan, the analysis shows, reaping an average $400,000 tax break that would send their after-tax income soaring by nearly 20 percent.
Meanwhile, taxpayers earning between $40,000 and $50,000 a year —
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Senate Democrats will soon release a bill to counter massive cuts from the looming sequestration. In short the bill will institute a minimum tax rate for millionaires and eliminate some tax subsidies, specifically those subsidizing crop insurance for large farms, a program the CBO says will cost upwards of $90 billion over the next decade.
Predictably, the Senate’s much criticized minority leader Mitch McConnell, has come out against the proposed bill saying,
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The core of the ideological economics debate the country has beared witness to over the last few years centers on essentially 2 elements;
1) Taxes and regulations are slowing the recovery and restraining growth and hiring
and…
2) Demand is the primary mover of job creation, especially during an economic recovery
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Taxes are always a political hot potato but over the last few years they have been the searing topic of choice as the Bush Tax Cuts’ expiration was debated by many a political pundit, each and every one of them apparent “experts”. Screams and wails about how much individual or “job creator” taxes will rise or fall should one or the other candidate wins. Constant complaints emanate from the Republican Party and the likes of Grover Norquist that taxes are too high, how any increase will destroy the economy and only lower taxes will save us all despite the large temporary cuts which have been in effect for more than a decade.
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Washington Post Factchecker:
We’ve noted this history before, but many people have forgotten it. Given that the dispute over whether to extend all of the Bush tax cuts has now led the nation to the edge of the “fiscal cliff,” let’s take a trip back in time to recall why the Bush tax cuts were enacted in the first place. (The Fact Checker covered passage of the Bush tax cuts as an economic policy reporter for The Washington Post.)
Oddly, a key reason the tax cut became reality was because of a fear the United States soon would have zero debt.
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From the New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Congressional Research Service has withdrawn an economic report that found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth, a central tenet of conservative economic theory, after Senate Republicans raised concerns about the paper’s findings and wording.
The decision, made in late September against the advice of the agency’s economic team leadership, drew almost no notice at the time. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, cited the study a week and a half after it was withdrawn in a speech on tax policy at the National Press Club.
But it could actually draw new attention to the report, which questions the premise that lowering the top marginal tax rate stimulates economic growth and job creation.
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Secretly recorded fundraiser video captures Mitt Romney characterizing 47% of voters as dependent on the government who feel they themselves are victims who believe they are entitled to such things as basic health care.
On that 47%…. The Washington Post explains this misconception that a virtual majority pay no taxes.
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Romney tax plan would shift burden to poorNEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Mitt Romney’s tax plan would provide large tax cuts to the very wealthy, while increasing the tax burden on the lower and middle classes, according to a study released Wednesday.
The report — produced by researchers at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center — illustrates just how difficult it would be to recoup government revenue lost under Romney’s plan.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s tax plan calls for 20% cuts to today’s Bush-era income tax rates. He would also eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax.
Those tax cuts would lead to a sharp decline in government revenue. Yet Romney insists he will make up the difference in-part by limiting deductions, exemptions and credits currently available to top-level income earners.
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Barack Obama says Mitt Romney’s tax plan “would cut taxes for the folks at the very top”After a flurry of attack ads in the past two weeks, President Barack Obama this week released a TV ad in which he spoke directly into the camera and discussed how his policy approaches differed from Mitt Romney’s. He cited taxes as one area where they had different philosophies. Obama said, “Gov. Romney’s plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top.”
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A new ad attacks Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., on the health care law and claims to have “the facts.” But then it trots out a series of well-worn distortions.
The ad is from an outside spending group called American Commitment, which said on its website that it supports “free markets, economic growth, constitutionally limited government, property rights, and individual freedom.” It’s a 501(c)4, so it doesn’t have to disclose its donors. (For more details about American Commitment’s connections and spending, check out this report from the Washington Post.)
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