Archive for the 'Taxes' Category

Business Community Upset by Obama’s New Tax Proposal

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Business, Taxes

President Obama’s plan to crack down on what he considers to be overseas tax shelters is already creating a lot of backlash from the business community. The main complain? Taxing overseas profits will directly harm American jobs.
[Martin Regalia, chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce] said the ability of companies under current tax law [...]

May 6th, 2009 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Some Tax Credits Will Have to be Paid Back

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Taxes

Many American’s enjoying their Obama tax credit should not be spending every cent. Some of that money will have to be repaid to the IRS.
In what can only be describe as poor planning/poor execution, it’s far too likely that Americans will accidentally receive more tax relief than they’re owed:
–A single worker with two jobs making [...]

May 1st, 2009 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Simpler Tax Code? I’ll Believe It When I See It.

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Taxes

So, on tax day, President Obama has pledged to make future April 15ths less stressful by simplifying the tax code:
“It will take time to undo the damage of years of carve-outs and loopholes. But I want every American to know that we will rewrite the tax code so that it puts your interests over any [...]

April 15th, 2009 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

AP Stretches Credibility On Obama Cigarette Tax Hike

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Media, Taxes

As I’ve said before, all the press ultimately cares about is conflict. They want to stir the pot because it sells papers and that’s fine. But claiming they have an inherent bias is pointless.
Yet another example…this roundabout claim that Obama is taxing those making under $200,000…
WASHINGTON -One of President Barack Obama’s campaign pledges on taxes [...]

April 1st, 2009 | Permalink| 37 Comments »

McCain Readies Economic Plan

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, McCain, Money, Taxes

And while there seem to be no details about what he actually wants in the plan, there is one very important thing he doesn’t.
From HuffPost:
Sen. John McCain is putting together a major economic plan that will be structured, in some ways, off of Newt Gingrich’s famous Contract With America.
In an email obtained by the Huffington [...]

March 11th, 2009 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Do You Know How Our Tax System Works?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Taxes

Yes, I’m genuinely asking.
Because after reading stories like this, I think a lot of people believe that tax brackets are things that you fall into and then ALL of your income is taxed at that rate.
This is obviously not true because that system wouldn’t make ANY sense, but ABC apparently found some wealthy people [...]

March 3rd, 2009 | Permalink| 33 Comments »

Obama Shoots Down Mileage Tax Idea

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Energy, Gas, Taxes

The moment I heard this idea it sounded like box office poison, and it looks like the administration did too. Because not only does it mean you’d have to have some sort of Orwellian GPS system attached to every car, but it completely negates the benefits of higher mileage hybrids that are in the pipeline.
From [...]

February 20th, 2009 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Performance Czar Pulls Nomination Over Tax Problems

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Taxes

Bad things come in threes, eh?
From AP:

On paper, Killefer brought impressive credentials to the two jobs Obama selected her for: deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, which requires Senate confirmation, and a new White House post, chief performance officer for the entire federal government, which does not require confirmation.
Killefer oversees [...]

February 3rd, 2009 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Tom Daschle Has Tax Problems Too?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Democrats, Taxes

I can understand forgetting that the use of a car is considered income, but note that Daschle didn’t even report earned income too.
From ABC:
ABC News has obtained the Senate Finance Committee Report on Tom Daschle’s nomination to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which indicates that Daschle’s tax problems were even [...]

January 31st, 2009 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Bloomberg To Cut $1B From NYC Budget

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bloomberg, Business, Money, Taxes

Some tough cuts and tax increases are coming to The Big Apple.
From WCBSTV.com:

“This is a very tough time for our city and nation,” Bloomberg said. “We have a $4 billion budget gap. It is serious, I think it is manageable.” [...]
For now, Bloomberg is proposing $894 million in new sales taxes, including:
-Increasing the sales [...]

January 31st, 2009 | Permalink| No Comments »

Republicans Need Ideas Other Than Tax Cuts

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Democrats, Economy, Republicans, Taxes, Video

Supply side economics are what got us to where we are currently and they’re not going to get us out.
John Boehner on Meet The Press today…

We all know the basic argument: you give people back more of their money, they’ll spend it wisely. Well, during these unique times I think that argument isn’t addressing the [...]

January 25th, 2009 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

Will Obama’s Stimulus Plan Work?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Business, Economy, Taxes, Video

Folks on the left and the right of this issue discuss on CNBC…

Of course Kudlow and Toomey were going to argue for lower corporate tax rates, but we’ve seen how many taxes corporations pay (hint: not much). But individual people and smaller businesses need the tax cuts and ability to write off debt, not the [...]

January 6th, 2009 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Tax Cuts Still Part of Obama’s Plan

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Barack, Taxes

In case you thought Barack Obama was only interested in spending billions to stimulate the economy, the incoming administration announced yesterday that billions in tax cuts are also planned.
The economic package under consideration by the president-elect and his Congressional allies would commit $675 billion to $775 billion over two years. If the tax cuts represent [...]

January 5th, 2009 | Permalink| No Comments »

Charles Krauthammer Proposes An Energy Tax?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Economy, Energy, Money, Taxes

Well, yes and no, but it’s refreshing to see that Krauthammer wants to employ some price controls for gasoline. And that’s the bigger story in all of this…that a hard core fiscal conservative sees the need for a more reliable price for gas so the new generation of hybrids will be desirable in the market [...]

December 29th, 2008 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Obama’s New Goal: 3 Million Jobs

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Economy, Taxes

First, the reason why…
The more aggressive target, up from 2.5 million jobs set a month ago, comes after a four-hour meeting last week in which Obama’s top economic advisers told him the economy is now expected to lose as many as 3.5 million jobs over the next year. Obama was told that could drive unemployment, [...]

December 21st, 2008 | Permalink| 18 Comments »

Things go better without Coke

By John Burke | Related entries in Food, New York, Taxes

On Wednesday, New York’s Governor David Patterson unveiled a proposed $121-billion budget for next year, which includes a barrage or 88 new or higher taxes and fees to help close a $15.4-billion gap. Among the new revenue raisers are an “I-Pod tax” on downloaded music, sales taxes on cable and satellite TV, new taxes on [...]

December 19th, 2008 | Permalink| 8 Comments »

Goldman Sachs’ Tax Rate Drops To 1%?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Business, Money, Taxes

Looks like the folks at Goldman Sachs will get those hefty bonuses after all.
Still think paying taxes isn’t patriotic?
From Bloomberg:

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which got $10 billion and debt guarantees from the U.S. government in October, expects to pay $14 million in taxes worldwide for 2008 compared with $6 billion in [...]

December 17th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Tax Cuts Still Likely

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Barack, Taxes

So, with all the economic turmoil, can those of us in the middle class still expect a tax cut from Barack Obama’s administration? Yes we can.
By all accounts, Obama is committed to making middleclass tax cuts part of the stimulus package he hopes to sign into law shortly after taking office. The cuts will likely [...]

December 3rd, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Obama To Let Bush Tax Cuts Expire

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Bush, History, Money, Taxes

This would be instead of raising taxes on the top tax bracket and giving the middle class a new tax cut. Instead, he’d reup the tax cuts the middle class has and not touch the top ones.
From Politico:
Obama adviser Bill Daley says Obama will “more likely than not” postpone a tax increase for the rich [...]

November 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

The Foreclosure Crisis In Michigan

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Business, Cars, Economy, Housing, Michigan, Taxes, Video

The following video shows you something you may not have seen before…pages upon pages of tax foreclosure listings published in the Detroit Free Press.
To be specific…137 pages of tax foreclosure listings.
Basically, these are people who are delinquent on paying their taxes and could have their homes foreclosed on in 2009 if they don’t [...]

November 18th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »