Tag Archives: Tax

January 15, 2013 · 8:56 PM

The Wall Street Journal Doesn’t Think Anyone Makes Under $100k a Year

The Contributor

“While the top 1 percent of taxpayers will bear the biggest burden, many other families, affluent and poor, will pay more as well,” wrote Wall Street Journalreporter Laura Saunders in a story about the effect the “fiscal cliff” agreement would have on taxpayers.

However, a graphic that accompanied the story might help explain the conservative mindset about cutting taxes for the rich. Despite writing about the effect tax inceases will have for the poor, apparently no one in their Wall Street Journal’s world makes under $100,000 a year.

I especially feel bad for the poor, single parent struggling to get by on the measly $260,000 she earns a year. After all, how’s she going to afford paying an extra $280 a month in taxes when she’s only bringing in $21,666 a month?

At least the retired couple that barely squeaks by with $180,000 a year of income in retirement won’t have to pay more taxes (although, wearing a sweater tied around your neck like Carlton Banks is a requirement).

I would remind the editors of the Wall Street Journal that the median income in the United States is right around $50,000 a year, and less than 5 percent of households in the country earn more than $166,000 a year.

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December 22, 2012 · 2:51 AM

Obama Drops the Hammer on Republicans and Pulls Back His Last Fiscal Cliff Proposal

This is better…

PoliticusUSA

After House Republicans imploded over their own Plan B, President Obama took away much of his previous proposal by calling for Republicans to get their act together and cut taxes on the 98% right now.

Obama said he met them on taxes and he met them more than halfway on spending, The president said he is still committed to working towards the goal of making a deal, but in 10 days we are facing a deadline. The president then reiterated his call for Congress to immediately extend the Bush tax cuts for the 98%. He said he spoke to both Boehner and Reid, and he is asking them to extend the tax cuts for the 98% and extend unemployment benefits. Obama said, “Governing is a shared responsibility between both parties…everybody’s got to give a little bit in a sensible way. We move forward together, or we don’t move forward at all.”

The president turned up the heat by asking members of Congress to think about their obligations to the people that they serve over Christmas. President Obama said, “We’re going to have find some common ground.” He said the challenge is that the American people are much more sensible, responsible, and willing to compromise than the people they elected.

Underneath all the nice language about compromise, President Obama pulled back any sort of cuts that he had offered in his previous proposal by urging Republicans and Democrats to pass a tax cut extension for the 98%. In other words, that $400,000 income cutoff for the tax cut extension is gone, and we are back to $250,000. In fact, the President appeared to take all spending cuts off the table.

Obama’s call for congressional leadership to put spending cuts on the shelf and cut taxes for the 98% is exactly what he has wanted all along. Republicans blew their once chance at a deal, and now it looks like they can kiss any immediate entitlement cuts goodbye. It would surprise no one if Republicans reject what the president put on the table today, but the president is making House Republicans pay a price for their incompetence by cutting his offer.

It looks like Republicans will either have to go off the cliff, or give President Obama everything he wants right now.

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November 4, 2012 · 3:47 PM

Breaking: Romney Paid Zero Taxes From 1996 To 2009

Mitt Romney talks about Medicare during a news conference in Spartanburg, S.C. During the event, Mr. Romney also answered questions about his tax history and criticized the focus on his taxes as "small-minded."

Mitt Romney talks about Medicare during a news conference in Spartanburg, S.C. During the event, Mr. Romney also answered questions about his tax history and criticized the focus on his taxes as “small-minded.”

Daily Kos

Harry Reid was right.  Bloomberg  finally cracked the story…

Using a tax shelter called a CRUT (charitable remainder unitrust) that was held by the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons),  Mitt Romney was able to pay zero taxes (legally) every single year from 1996 to 2009.  Why did he stop in 2009?  Because he would make public his 2010 tax return, that is why.

This tax loophole was  killed by Congress in 1997.  However those including Romney that were already using it were allowed to continue it.   The way it works, is that Romney makes a “charitable” contribution to the Church of Latter Day Saints and it goes into a trust.  Since the trust is held by the church, the money is tax  deferred.  Any capital gains, are non taxed because of the charities status.  Like an annuity, the donor gets a charitable tax deduction and an stream of cash payments.  When Romney dies, the church accepts full ownership..

Bloomsberg’s attorneys estimate as the Romneys have received these payments, the money that will potentially be left for charity has declined from at least $750,000 in 2001 to $421,203 at the end of 2011…..

Romney has refused to answer any thing on this topic.  His campaign puts out that it was all legal….

Legal perhaps.  Ethical for the president of the United States?  Well, only if you want a crook running the country….   Imagine!   Legally stealing from your church!

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October 16, 2012 · 7:14 PM

Pres. Clinton explains Romney’s $5 trillion tax cut for the rich (video)

No surprise there.  In my opinion, Mitt Romney has proven himself to be the most lying, shape shifting presidential nominee in our country’s history.

America Blog

President Clinton explains that Mitt Romney’s $5 trillion tax cut for the rich will lower taxes by $250,000 for the wealthy, while increasing taxes $2,000 for the middle class.

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September 22, 2012 · 2:10 PM

Martin Bashir – Romney Friday tax return latest bomb in ‘rolling calamity’ campaign

 

Once again TFC readers: For your edification…

Sept 21, 2012

The Nation’s Ari Melber, The Hill’s Karen Finney, and Republican strategist Ron Christie debate whether Mitt Romney’s Friday afternoon release of his 2011 tax return ends the debate over his tax returns or only exacerbates Romney’s comments about the “47%” and Republican criticisms of his campaign.

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September 16, 2012 · 12:05 AM

LA Times Article [Might] Sink Romney

The title above really says: LA Times Article Will Sink Romney.  I believe that Romney can sleaze his way out of this particular faux pas by changing things around to fit the narrative his base wants to hear.  It’s what he does on a continuous basis.

Daily Kos

Saturday’s Los Angeles Times front page prominently informed readers whose combined household incomes total $100K – $200K that Romney’s tax plan would raise their taxes significantly. That this disasterous data came from economists Romney often relies upon is astonishing.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s budget plan would significantly raise income taxes for many families making between $100,000 and $200,000, analyses by leading Republican economists cited by the Romney campaign show.

Imagine you’re one of the core constituents of the Republican Party: The two professional, two income family. Mom, dad, two kids (or maybe three, just to irk the liberal population pansies).

You live in a planned community, maybe behind a gate. You like BMW (Volvos are so lib). You haven’t been downtown in years, because all the dark people scare you.  In fact, if it wasn’t for that creepy Mexican bum outside of Gelson’s market, you wouldn’t have to deal with “those people” at all.

There just aren’t any where you live…well maybe a few that clean your bathrooms and cut your lawns.  You think Obama probably was born in America, but you’d like more proof (where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right?).  But that’s not why you’re not voting for him.  He just has failed America.

You don’t want socialized medicine, and besides the poor already get free health care.  Obama’s too much of a dictator.  He apologizes for America all the time. Romney was a businessman . Why don’t your liberal friends understand that?  Obama’s bankrupting the country, and he wants to take money from the job creators and spend it on Solyndra. Obama’s going to raise our taxes in a second term.Imagine you opening today’s LA Times, and there on the front page you read this:

For many wealthier taxpayers, lower tax rates would outweigh the loss of deductions. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center earlier this summer estimated that taxpayers with annual income of $1 million or more would gain more than twice as much from lower rates as they would lose by eliminating deductions. Taxpayers earning between $200,000 and $1 million also would benefit, although the margin would be less lopsided. The ratio flips for households earning below $200,000.

Wait! What? This can’t be right! Romney’s going to raise our taxes? Honey?? Read this! I’ve got to call Elliot and Jack at the office! Can you believe this???

 

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September 15, 2012 · 2:26 PM

Mittster Tales

 

Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan - The 2 Stooges : http://mariopiperni.com/

Mario Piperni

Here’s a lovely little chat George Stephanopoulos had with Mitt Romney.

Romney: “No one can say my plan is going to raise taxes on middle-income people, because principle number one is (to) keep the burden down on middle-income taxpayers.”

Stephanopoulos: “Is $100,000 middle income?”

Romney: “No, middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less.”

Median household income in the U.S. is just over $50,000. I’m starting to believe the rumors that Romney really is an idiot…albeit, a rich idiot.

___

And this…

With the first presidential debate less than three weeks away, Mitt Romney is spending lots of time getting ready behind closed doors.  In his first comments on that debate prep, he told me that Sen. Rob Portman is a tough stand-in for a president who basically lies in debates.

“I think the challenge that I’ll have in the debate is that the president tends to, how shall I say it, to say things that aren’t true,” Romney said. “I’ve looked at prior debates.  And in that kind of case, it’s difficult to say, ‘Well, am I going to spend my time correcting things that aren’t quite accurate? Or am I going to spend my time talking about the things I want to talk about?”

Lovely. A serial liar is accusing his opponent of lying. This is a clear case of Romney protecting himself in advance from the mauling he’s going to take in those debates. He knows he won’t be able to defend his positions on tax cuts, health care, Medicare, immigration and foreign policy, so he’s pulling a Palin. He’ll only answer the questions he wishes to answer and even then, he’ll follow a carefully scripted set of talking points.

This guy’s evasiveness could not be more transparent. I hope he doesn’t think he’s fooling anyone.

___

We discovered yesterday that Mitt Romney asked for 10 years of tax returns from Paul Ryan but still refuses to make public more than two years of his own returns. The Obama campaign came out with this ad yesterday.

Despite the pounding Romney has taken on this issue from all sides, it’s become evident that he won’t be releasing any more returns…which just reinforces the belief that there must be something terribly ugly in those returns. Romney’s making a serious bid for Worst Presidential Candidate Ever honors.

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August 7, 2012 · 8:57 AM

New Obama Video: We’re ‘Really Screwed Under Romney’

TPM LiveWire

The Obama campaign’s latest web video features ordinary citizens testing out the campaign’s tax calculator which allows people to compare their tax burden under President Obama’s and Mitt Romney’s tax plans. The tool was created last week and is based on the Tax Policy Center’s assessment of Romney’s plan.

“We’re still saving a ton of taxes under Obama,” says one woman, looking at the calculator. “And we are going to be…really screwed under Romney.”

Watch:

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July 2, 2012 · 9:48 AM

Top Romney Adviser Breaks With Entire Republican Party: The Individual Mandate Is Not A Tax

Think Progress

Mitt Romney campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor disagrees with Republicans’ claim that the individual mandate is a “tax,” contradicting the party message since the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had authority to mandate people purchase insurance under the taxing power.

“The governor disagreed with the ruling of the Court,” Fehrnstrom said, “he clearly stated that the mandate was not a tax”:

TODD: But he agrees with the president that it is not — and he believes that you should not call the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine?

FEHRNSTROM: That’s correct. But the president also needs to be held accountable for his contradictory statements. He has described it variously as a penalty and as a tax. He needs to reconcile those two very different statements.

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April 22, 2012 · 12:45 AM

Class Warfare: Eric Cantor Reveals Republican Plan To Tax The Poor And Middle Class (VIDEO)

Just as Mitt Romney loves stay-at-home moms…unless they are poor and dependent on Government assistance, it appears that Eric Cantor and Congress might revisit their “no increase in taxes” credo so that  the 45% that he says doesn’t pay taxes can be taxed.

Stay tuned…

Addicting Info

Despite their pledge to Grover Norquist to never again raise taxes, Republicans have decided that their promise only applies to the wealthy and corporations. During a breakfast event on Thursday, Eric Cantor suggested to ABC’s Jon Karl that Republicans intend to punish the poor and middle class even more by squeezing more income taxes out of them so they can pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

CANTOR: We also know that over 45 percent of the people in this country don’t pay income taxes at all, and we have to question whether that’s fair. And should we broaden the base in a way that we can lower the rates for everybody that pays taxes.

KARL: Just wondering, what do you do about that? Are you saying we need to have a tax increase on the 45 percent who right now pay no federal income tax?

CANTOR: I’m saying that, just in a macro way of looking at it, you’ve got to discuss that issue. How do you deal with a shrinking pie and number of people and entities that support the operations of government, and how do you go about continuing to milk them more, if that’s what some want to do, but preserve their ability to provide the growth engine? I’ve never believed that you go raise taxes on those that have been successful that are paying in, taking away from them, so that you just hand out and give to someone else.

Here’s the video:

But what Eric Cantor wants to do is take from the poor and give hand outs to the richest. This is a reverse redistribution of wealth. Cantor is literally saying that Republicans will take more money from the poor and middle class so that the wealthy can have even more money to sit on. This IS what class warfare actually looks like. Food, health care, and gas prices are still rising while wages are falling.

The poor and the middle class are already facing deep cuts to virtually every domestic program that benefits them because of the Ryan Budget, and now Republicans intend to strip them of any money that they have left so that the wealthy can that extra lobster feast, that extra private jet and yacht, that extra mansion, etc… So while the Mitt Romney’s of the world get richer, the rest of us have to pay for their greed at the expense of feeding our children, taking care of our grandparents, paying our bills, getting an education, and just about anything else that money is actually important for. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Making sure the wealthy do not have to pay taxes on their huge mansions is more important to Republican lawmakers than feeding poor children. And they say abortion is cruel. Try starving to death.

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