Archive for the 'Taxes' Category

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 »

CNN’s Rick Sanchez Vs. Joe The Plumber

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, McCain, Taxes, Video

Let’s get ready to rumble.

Yes ladies and gentleman…progressive taxation is now akin to “robbing a bank.” Straight from Wurzelbacher’s mouth.
Amazing.

November 4th, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

McCain Pushes Tax Cut Magic

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Economy, McCain, Taxes

As the final week of the campaign begins, John McCain appears prepared to ride his economic message through until the end. And that message is simple: lower taxes and less spending, with some banking regulations thrown in for good measure.
McCain is careful to point out that his economic policies will differ greatly from those of [...]

October 27th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Getting the Ideology Out of Tax Policy Debates

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Bush, Taxes

After reading this anti-Republican rant from David Sirota, I’m going to make a bold suggestion: can we stop talking about which class is stealing which other class’ money and start addressing our tax code without the ideological blinders on?
Sirota makes the typical and typically contorted argument that the Republicans have let the rich steal from [...]

October 24th, 2008 | Permalink| 10 Comments »

McCain Needs Stronger Message on Taxes

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCain, Taxes

I’ve been hard on Barack Obama’s tax plan. But I wish John McCain would stop referring to the Obama plan as socialist. It’s not bold enough or broad enough to be considered socialist. You want socialism, check out the $700 billion bank bailout. Of course, both candidates voted for that.
McCain, for all his independent leanings, [...]

October 21st, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Obama’s Tax Plan Too Tricky for Its Own Good

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Taxes

William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal explains the accounting shell game of the Barack Obama tax plan. Here’s how it will work:
Under Obama’s tax plan, 44% of Americans will owe no income taxes but many will get a “tax cut” anyway. Meaning they’ll get more back from the IRS than they put in.
But Obama’s [...]

October 21st, 2008 | Permalink| 24 Comments »

The General vs. The Plumber

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Conservatism, McCain, Republicans, Taxes

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article looking at the effect of Colin Powell’s endorsement versus Joe the Plumber’s symbolic resonance. Do people care more about the decision of a statesman or about the concerns of an aspiring small businessman?
The CSM article gives both sides of the story. But, as far as I’m concerned, [...]

October 20th, 2008 | Permalink| 17 Comments »

McCain Goes After Obama on Taxes

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCain, Taxes

Well, I think we all saw this coming.
Looks like after “Barack Obama is a vapid celebrity” lost gas and “Obama is a terrorist’s best friend” turned more people off than it excited, John McCain is reaching for the oldest Republican attack in the book: ”He’ll raise your taxes.”
McCain set this up in the last [...]

October 17th, 2008 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

Digging into the Obama Tax Plan

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Taxes

We all know that Barack Obama is promising to cut the taxes of 95% of Americans, right? Well … that depends on what you mean by “tax cut.” The Obama tax plan is an overgrown field of tax credits, not tax cuts. Why is this important? As the Wall Street Journal explained earlier this week, [...]

October 17th, 2008 | Permalink| 21 Comments »

Worrying About a Democratic Supermajority

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Congress, Economy, Health Care, Taxes

The Wall Street Journal gives us the conservative doomsday scenario of a Democratic supermajority. The Journal is certainly right that we may be on the verge of liberal hegemony not seen since 1965 and the mid-1930’s. Question is: is the paper right about the damage that control would cause?
The Journal warns:
In both 1933 and 1965, [...]

October 17th, 2008 | Permalink| 21 Comments »

Why “Joe The Plumber” Really Matters

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCain, Taxes

Because, once again, we see a voter that’s apparently voting against their interests.

Fact: fewer than 2% of all small businesses would see a tax hike under Obama’s tax plan.

Fact: Since Joe apparently makes under $100,000, he would actually see a much bigger tax cut under Obama’s tax plan.

Fact: Since Joe apparently didn’t pay some taxes, [...]

October 16th, 2008 | Permalink| 23 Comments »

Why Joe the Plumber Matters

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Economy, McCain, Taxes

I think Joe the Plumber is going to be one of those quirky political moments we’ll all remember for years to come. But outside of his name being invoked ad nauseam last night, do the concerns of Joe Wurzelbacher mean anything to this election?
I’d say yes. And here’s why: while 95% of Americans may receive [...]

October 16th, 2008 | Permalink| 19 Comments »

The Entire “Joe The Plumber” Clip

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Taxes, Video

You’ve just seen the part where Obama talks about spreading the wealth around.
What you didn’t see was the entire 5 minute exchange…

I wonder if the McCain camp saw the entire clip before he made Joe a star.
Also, I wonder who “Joe The Plumber” is voting for.

October 15th, 2008 | Permalink| 12 Comments »

Obama Proposes New Business Tax Credits, Suspension Of Tax Penalties

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Economy, McCain, Taxes

While McCain is apparently “rebooting” his campaign with little more than a speech claiming he’s an underdog, Obama is proposing new economic plans.
From CNN:
The Democratic nominee will propose a temporary tax credit for firms that create new jobs in the United States over the next two years, and penalty-free withdrawals from IRAs and 401Ks in [...]

October 13th, 2008 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

A Question for Obama on that Tax Cut

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Debates, Taxes

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, William McGurn reminds us what happened the last time a Democrat presidential candidate promised to cut middle-class taxes. That’s right, Bill Clinton forgot his pledge even before taking office and went on to raise taxes on almost everyone. Is there any reason to expect a repeat from a Barack [...]

October 7th, 2008 | Permalink| 8 Comments »

WSJ Looks At McCain’s Plans To Cut Medicaid/Medicare Benefits

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Health Care, McCain, Taxes

At this late in the game, revealing something like this could really hurt McCain’s support among the elderly. Because it plays directly into Obama’s message that McCain’s plans would leave people without insurance. And with McCain’s staff agreeing that an average of $130 billion a year would be cut in the next 10 years, I’m [...]

October 6th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Bailout Passes Senate with Monster Tax Breaks Attached

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Congress, Economy, Taxes

As expected, the bailout bill (with extra sweetener) has passed the Senate. The vote was 74-25 with both John McCain and Barack Obama voting in favor of the plan.
The bill the Senate passed is virtually identical to the one the House rejected on Monday. The only real difference is the add-ons. The most directly related [...]

October 1st, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

My Thoughts On Paulson’s $700 Billion Bailout

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Economy, McCain, Subprime, Taxes

First things first…an explanation of what’s going on.
Basically, nobody is willing to buy these packages of mortgages. This is why banks are having cash flow problems and not lending money…because they can’t sell these packages and they’re worried they won’t have enough liquid assets.
But let’s be clear…a good 80% of these mortgages are perfectly [...]

September 24th, 2008 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

McCain Hits Obama With “Dome”

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Economy, McCain, Republicans, Taxes, Video

It’s a fair attack on Obama’s economic policies, but with Barack offering his 2 minute commercial on the economy yesterday, I wonder if McCain’s missing an opportunity to answer with something more substantive than the typical “tax and spend” horror stories. After all, the government has literally had to save the fundamental building blocks of [...]

September 18th, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Biden Urges Wealthy to be Patriotic, Pay More Taxes

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Biden, Economy, Taxes

This morning on Good Morning America, Joe Biden said that it’s time for wealthy Americans ”to be patriotic” and pay higher taxes. I was unaware that giving money to the government was a patriotic act. Maybe instead of dreading April 15th, I should hold a barbeque and set off fireworks.
Of course, under the proposed Barack [...]

September 18th, 2008 | Permalink| 10 Comments »