Dems Introduce Card Check
Taxpayer Protection Pledge
ATR's Congressional Ratings

INDEX





Double-Taxing U.S. Firms on Foreign Profits to Bail Out Highway Trust Fund?

From Sandra Fabry on Thursday, July 2, 2009 3:56 PM

The next bailout on deck seems to be a bailout of the Highway Trust Fund, which, as Obama administration officials said will likely run out of cash by the end of August, and could be in the red by $5 to $7 billion. 

According to CQ Today, the Transportation Department has sent Congress details on their plan to borrow $20 billion from the Treasury's general fund. 

One of the pay-fors being mulled by the administration is the "international tax enforcement proposals" that were included in the Obama tax-and-spend budget, one of the most controversial of which was to limit, or effectively repeal a company's ability to "defer" U.S. taxes on overseas income.

As we've pointed out before, this could be extremely damaging to the U.S economy, and would amount to double-taxing foreign profits:

Repeal of the rules governing the way the United States taxes the foreign earnings of U.S. companies could have dramatically adverse effects on U.S. jobs and investment and leave U.S. companies less competitive in global markets, according to a new economic report.

The report, authored by Robert J. Shapiro, a former Clinton Administration economic official, and Aparna Mathur, a Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, found that as many as 2.2 million American jobs could be affected by a repeal, or effective repeal, of  "tax deferral."  

But what's another few million, right? Or wait, maybe they will just claim they "saved" 2.2 million jobs elsewhere, so it's a wash...

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: TAXES, SPENDING, BAILOUT

Arizona Standoff Continues: Legislature Rejects Gov. Brewer's Tax Hike; Brewer Vetoes Budget

From Kelly William Cobb on Thursday, July 2, 2009 3:31 PM

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Arizona Legislature completed their annual session by sending Gov. Brewer a budget that rejected her massive $3 billion sales tax hike.

The rejection of the 17.8% tax hike came even as legislative leadership and the Governor had crafted a verbal budget compromise agreement that would have sent the tax increase to the ballot, while establishing a flat state income tax in Arizona.

While Americans for Tax Reform strongly advocates for a flat tax, the compromise agreement would have been at least a net $2.5 billion tax hike in Arizona and a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a promise 9 state senators and 20 state representatives have made to oppose any and all tax increases.  From ATR's press release:

“The state’s current fiscal crisis is a perfect impetus to reform Arizona’s reckless overspending addiction,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “Despite this, Gov. Brewer continued through the late hours to advocate for her massive $3 billion tax hike. Fiscal conservatives throughout the legislature should be praised for rejecting this irresponsible proposal.”
 
However, a day later Governor Brewer responded by vetoing the state budget, forcing the legislature to reconvene in a special session next Monday.  This came despite significant Republican opposition in the legislature, which even rejected sending the Governor's tax hike to the Senate or House floor.
 
Click "read more" below or here for ATR's press release commending the legislature for refusing to cave to Gov. Brewer's $3 billion tax hike.  Also, click here for ATR's alert to lawmakers urging them to oppose the tax hike compromise agreement.

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: TAXES, THEPLEDGE, BUDGET, Arizona

July 4th Tea Party Fact Sheet

From Adam Radman on Thursday, July 2, 2009 3:23 PM

As taxpayers gather in celebration of American Independence, ATR has compiled a brief fact sheet on the federal government and the economy.
 
Number of employees at the IRS in FY 2010: Over 100,000 
 
Current IRS Budget: $11.4 billion
 
How many words does the IRS Code contain? The IRS Code is more than 3.4 million words

How many hours did individual taxpayers spend complying with income tax laws in 2009? Individual taxpayers alone spent an estimated 3.8 billion hours complying with various tax laws. This is up from 3.6 billion in 2008.
 
What is the origin of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? The IRS dates back to President Lincoln when he created the position of commissioner of the Internal Revenue and enacted an income tax during the Civil War. The income tax was repealed ten years later.
 
When was the U.S. Constitution amended to include the 16th Amendment? Wyoming ratified the 16th Amendment in 1913 providing the necessary majority of states to amend the Constitution. The first form 1040 appeared the same year.
 
When is the Cost of Government Day (COGD)? In 2001, Americans finished paying off their share of the total cost of government on July 5th. Due to bailouts, the Stimulus Package, and President Obama’s budget, Americans will finish paying off their share of the cost of government somewhere between August 9 and August 19th. To read more about COGD, visit ATR’s Center for Fiscal Accountability.

Click “read more” to see what other fun facts you can discover below the fold. 

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: TAXES, CONGRESS, SPENDING, Federal

eTaxes Vetoed in Hawaii, California

From Kelly William Cobb on Thursday, July 2, 2009 3:08 PM

The following is cross-posted at www.stopetaxes.com.

Great news for Hawaii and California consumers! Governors Linda Lingle (R) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) yesterday vetoed legislation in Hawaii and California that would have required consumers to pay tax on purchases made over the internet.
 
The "affiliate nexus tax" has caused a storm of attention in recent days after a number of retailers, including Amazon.com and Overstock.com, rightly took steps to end advertising agreements to avoid collecting the tax, arguing that it is blantantly unconstitutional and violates the U.S. Supreme Court decision Quill v. North Dakota.  That court case determined states cannot force businesses to collect taxes if they have no physical presence in the state.  The nexus tax requires out-of-state retailers to collect and remit taxes if they advertise through in-state websites.
 
In her Statement of Objections, Gov. Lingle highlighted these very legal concerns.  She also noted that the bill violates Article III, Section 14 of the Hawaii Constitution, as it is overly broad in its subject.  In California, Gov. Schwarzenegger noted that it makes "absolutely no sense to go back to the taxpayers to solve the current shortfall."
 
A similar measure is still pending in North Carolina and the nexus tax was approved as part of Rhode Island's budget this week.
 
NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS: Click here now to write your legislators and Governor in opposition to the eTax!
 
Also, Click here for ATR's letter to Governor Lingle urging her to veto the nexus tax.
 
For updates on eTaxes, go to www.stopetaxes.com or follow on Twitter and Facebook.

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: TAKEACTION, eTaxes, California, Hawaii

Daily Media Spotlight--Happy 4th of July, Obama Tax Pledge Under the Spotlight

From Douglas Kellogg on Thursday, July 2, 2009 3:05 PM

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform:
“Sara Palin is not being attacked by the establishment media because she is a woman. She is getting the same treatment Goldwater, Reagan and Gingrich got when the establishment press saw them as threats to the Left.”
 
President Obama cannot shake the unwanted attention over potential taxation of health benefits. The President has put himself in a situation where the only way to pay for his health care plan is to tax employee health benefits; a proposal which would break his promise to not raise taxes on people making under $250,000 a year.

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: TAXES, POLITICS, GROVER, OBAMA

Unemployment and President Obama’s Fudged Economics

From Kelly William Cobb on Thursday, July 2, 2009 1:34 PM

The Department of Labor’s report this morning that unemployment rose to 9.5% nationally – a 26 year high – should come as a surprise to the Obama administration, who used a highly questionable formula to determine that the stimulus package would create more jobs. According to the original White House analysis, stimulus spending would increase GDP by 3.7% and a “1% increase in GDP corresponds to an increase in employment of approximately 1 million jobs.” 

However, this formula relied on the White House assumption that government spending has a multiplier effect of 1.57 in growing the overall economy, while tax cuts have a multiplier effect of only .99. This means for every unit of government spending, the economy grows by 1.57 times that amount, while for every unit of tax cuts the economy grows by only .99.
 
Really? Under this false logic, government spending always grows the economy, while tax cuts can actually be an economic drain. In fact, the government can theoretically just keep spending us into job growth and prosperity!

Not so.  To the left, the blog Innocent Bystanders has conveniently highlighted just how well this White House multiplier has worked to stimulate GDP growth and thus create jobs. The graph shows the White House estimates for unemployment with and without the stimulus, while the red dots depict what actually occurred. Luckily, the White House has already come up with a terrific non-falsifiable theory called “jobs created or saved.” Under the assumption that the White House is never wrong, if the estimated 3.5 million jobs weren’t created, the stimulus must have saved them! (Note: the economy shed 467,000 jobs last month.)

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Federal Reserve compiled a number of economic studies and released a paper directly countering the White House’s absurd multiplier. As summarized so eloquently by the Goldwater Institute:
 
It turns out that a dollar of government spending results in 70 cents of job-creating activity after two years. A dollar in tax cuts results in $1.30 to $3 of job-creating activity after two years. Put another way, a $1 cut in spending cuts job-creating activity by 70 cents. A $1 increase in taxes cuts job-creating activity by as much as $3.
 
The kicker: these numbers that show tax cuts have a high multiplier effect were derived from a study by Christina Romer in 2007 – the same Christina Romer that serves as Obama’s Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and who wrote the White House’s stimulus analysis above. I wonder who got to her first: John Maynard Keynes or President Obama?
 

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: SPENDING, STIMULUS, TOLDYOUSO, Federal

The Race for Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District Gets Two More Pledge Signers!

From Amir Iljazi on Thursday, July 2, 2009 11:28 AM

In the contest to fill the seat being vacated by Republican Gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp, Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District has just landed a pair of pledge signers bringing the total to 3 so far who have put their names on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. The two newest signers in the TN-3 race are Attorney Art Rhodes and Entrepreneur Mark DeVol.

Cook Political Report ranks TN-03 as R+13 on the Partisan Voter Index (PVI). Barring any unforeseen events, the winner of the Republican primary appears to be the likely winner in the general election.
 
As pledge signers, Mr. DeVol and Mr. Rhodes have made a commitment to the taxpayers in Tennessee that they will fight to ensure that their taxes are not increased. Outgoing Congressman Wamp is a current pledge-signer and we here at ATR encourage all candidates in TN-3, as well as all candidates for Federal office to follow suit and pledge to the taxpayers that they will do their part in fighting on behalf of the interests of those who elect them.
 
To see ATR’s official releases on both candidates, click “read more”

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: TAXES, THEPLEDGE, POLITICS, Federal, Tennessee

ATR Energy Fact of the Day: Cap-and-Trade Sets Unattainable Energy Standards for Many States

From Douglas Kellogg on Thursday, July 2, 2009 10:51 AM

Fact: There are currently 14 states that produce less than 1% of their energy from governmental defined renewable sources. Cap-and-Trade mandates that this number be 10% nationally by 2012, an unachievable number.

Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) continues to oppose H.R. 2545, the “American Clean Energy and Security Act,” otherwise known as “cap-and-tax” or the National Energy Tax bill. The bill passed 219-212, with 211 Democrats siding with Nancy Pelosi to support the broadest tax increase this year.  Eight Republicans crossed party lines to support the Democrat bill.

“States will be unable to remake their entire energy industry in just three years, forcing them to penalize energy producers who will inevitably charge higher rates to consumers,” says Grover Norquist, President of Americans for tax Reform. “This is a regressive tax that affects every family and business in America; everybody will end up paying this multi-billion dollar tax.”

Click 'Read More' for the entire release

Read More | Comments (1) | Permalink | Email | Print

So, Where Are These "Stimulus" Jobs President Obama Keeps Talking About?

From Sandra Fabry on Thursday, July 2, 2009 10:15 AM

The following has been cross-posted at www.fiscalaccountability.org:

Where are the jobs? That's the big question today.  GOP House Leader John Boehner has sent out the dogs to find them:
 
And GOP Conference Chair Mike Pence's office has released a set of new charts on the issue of the Obama administration's jobs claim.

Read More | Comments (0) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: CONGRESS, SPENDING, OBAMA, STIMULUS, CFA

Meet the Health Care Taxes

From Wallace Forman and Jacob Feldman on Thursday, July 2, 2009 9:55 AM

President Obama and Congress Democrats are proposing health care reforms plans that will cost over $1 trillion in new government spending. Coming in the middle of crippling budget deficits, new spending equals new taxes under the left’s bizarre definition of “fiscal discipline”. Before they sign off on socialized medicine, Americans should know about the taxes that Democrats want to pass to pay for it.

Limiting the Medical Benefits Tax Exclusion
Americans currently pay no income taxes on the premiums paid for employer-provided insurance. After repeatedly attacking McCain for his plan to repeal this exclusion, the Obama administration is considering similar measures. A tax on health benefits would fall hardest on older, sicker Americans with higher premiums. Ironically, this is the group already most hurt by the skyrocketing costs of medicine.

*click "Read More" for full article*

 

Read More | Comments (1) | Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: TAXES, HEALTHCARE, POLITICS, SPENDING, Federal

<< First < Previous 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Next > Last >>