Topic: Taxes
USA, USA, USA -- We're #62?!?!?
Posted on Nov. 23, 10 | 04:00 PM by David Keating | Topic: Taxes
Number 62? That's terrible. No, it's not curling (US Men are #5 and US women are #8), where Team USA does pretty well.
It's in the "ease of paying taxes" competition in a new study published by World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and PwC. The ranking accounts for the difficulty of figuring out the tax, how many times you have to pay it and the total tax rate.
Our #62 ranking was pulled up by the #35 ranking for the number of payments. What pulled it down was the pathetic #124 ranking for the total tax rate.
Anyway you look at it, a very disappointing performance by Team USA, meaning the Congress and the president.
P.S. -- You've got to admire Brazil, which sets the dubious world record for complex tax rules. Compliance time for the studied business was a whopping 2,600 hours per year, over double the amount for Bolivia, the country in next to last place at 1,080 hours.
Permalink: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=14520
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It's in the "ease of paying taxes" competition in a new study published by World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and PwC. The ranking accounts for the difficulty of figuring out the tax, how many times you have to pay it and the total tax rate.
Our #62 ranking was pulled up by the #35 ranking for the number of payments. What pulled it down was the pathetic #124 ranking for the total tax rate.
Anyway you look at it, a very disappointing performance by Team USA, meaning the Congress and the president.
P.S. -- You've got to admire Brazil, which sets the dubious world record for complex tax rules. Compliance time for the studied business was a whopping 2,600 hours per year, over double the amount for Bolivia, the country in next to last place at 1,080 hours.
Permalink: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=14520
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Democrats Cry "Uncle" on Tax Cuts
Posted on Nov. 11, 10 | 08:13 AM by Andrew Roth | Topic: Taxes
**UPDATE**: Alexrod backs away from his original quote. From National Journal:
If we can get further clarity on how far into the future these tax rates will get extended, it ought to give the markets a nice sigh of relief. From the Huffington Post:
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Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod said this morning that President Obama has not caved to GOP demands on the extension of the Bush tax cuts, despite a report from the Huffington Post to the contrary.
“We're willing to discuss how we move forward,” Axelrod said in an e-mail to National Journal refuting the Huffington Post story, “but we believe that it's imperative to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, and don't believe we can afford a permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.”
If we can get further clarity on how far into the future these tax rates will get extended, it ought to give the markets a nice sigh of relief. From the Huffington Post:
President Barack Obama's top adviser suggested to The Huffington Post late Wednesday that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board continuation of steep Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest taxpayers.
That appears to be the only way, said David Axelrod, that middle-class taxpayers can keep their tax cuts, given the legislative and political realities facing Obama in the aftermath of last week's electoral defeat.
"We have to deal with the world as we find it," Axelrod said during an unusually candid and reflective 90-minute interview in his office, steps away from the Oval Office. "The world of what it takes to get this done."
"There are concerns," he added, that Congress will continue to kick the can down the road in the future by passing temporary extensions for the wealthy time and time again. "But I don't want to trade away security for the middle class in order to make that point."
It has been widely assumed that the president would have to accept an across-the-board deal of some kind, but Axelrod's remarks were the first public confirmation of that fact -- and by a figure regarded as closer to Obama than any other White House staffer.
Permalink: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=14457
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Is the FAIR Tax a Political Liability?
Posted on Oct. 29, 10 | 01:19 PM by Andrew Roth | Topic: TaxesCorporate Cash Sits on Sidelines
Posted on Oct. 08, 10 | 10:09 AM by Andrew Roth | Topic: TaxesWill Bush Tax Cut Vote Be Derailed?
Posted on Sep. 22, 10 | 10:06 AM by Andrew Roth | Topic: TaxesABC News Confirms President Obama's Tax-Hike is a Small Businesses Job Killer
Posted on Sep. 09, 10 | 10:58 AM by Andrew Roth | Topic: TaxesWhite House Still Seeks End to Tax Cuts
Posted on Sep. 08, 10 | 08:43 AM by Andrew Roth | Topic: Taxes
This battle will get settled before November, but who will back down? Vulnerable Democrats in Congress or the White House? From the Politico:
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President Obama disagrees with his former budget director’s proposal that the Bush tax cuts for the rich be extended for two years, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
“We cannot afford to extend the tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year,” Gibbs said in his daily briefing, restating the administration’s position repeatedly as reporters asked about a New York Times column by the recently departed budget chief, Peter Orszag. “We should and must pass legislation that extends the tax cuts for middle-class families.”
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Will Democrats Extend ALL of the Bush Tax Cuts?
Posted on Aug. 30, 10 | 01:44 PM by Andrew Roth | Topic: Taxes
Supply-side economist Brian Wesbury now believes (PDF) that Democrats will extend ALL of the Bush tax cuts, even those for the "rich." Here are the three scenarios in which he sees this possibly playing out:
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Ideally, it would happen before the election this year. But this would require President Obama and the Democrats to turn dramatically, just when the public is paying more attention to politics. It would look opportunistic, it would demoralize some liberal voters and it would undermine the Democratic position that tax rates on the rich don’t matter that much to the economy.
How about in a lame duck session? If the consensus is right and Republicans take the House and make large gains in the Senate, it would give Democrats a chance to say they are listening to the voters. But in a lame duck session, Speaker Pelosi would still rule the House with little to no incentive to do the heavy-lifting needed to pass a bill.
That leaves us with one more scenario for extending the tax cuts, the one loaded with the most taxpayer uncertainty, but which may be the most likely outcome. In this scenario, Congress fails to extend any of the tax cuts before the end of the year. All of the tax rates from 2000 – on everyone, from the “rich” on down – come back on January 1. Then, sometime in 2011, President Obama – his political advisers telling him to maximize growth going into his re-election battle – agrees to an extension but only through 2012, with all the lower tax rates made retroactive to January 1.
Permalink: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=13966
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Quote of the Day
Posted on Aug. 16, 10 | 04:32 PM by Andrew Roth | Topic: Taxes
From today's Wall Street Journal:
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"The only purpose of the [Obama] deficit commission is to propose a tax increase that Democrats don't have to take responsibility for," said Mr. Connolly, the spokesman for the Club for Growth. "It's a fig leaf."
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$36 Billion
Posted on Aug. 12, 10 | 08:18 AM by Andrew Roth | Topic: Taxes
From the Washington Post [emphasis added]:
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Republicans want to extend all the [Bush tax] cuts, which would cost the Treasury Department $238 billion in 2011, according to the taxation committee. President Obama and congressional Democrats have vowed to extend the cuts only for families making less than $250,000 a year and individuals making less than $200,000 -- 98 percent of American taxpayers -- in a plan that would add about $202 billion to next year's deficit.
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Where Does the Laffer Curve Bend...on Cigarette Taxes?
Posted on Aug. 11, 10 | 03:53 PM by Andrew Roth | Topic: Taxes
I was so happy to see liberals acknowledge the existence of the Laffer Curve yesterday, that I'd like to continue the discussion. In the spirit of cooperation, I'd like to suggest to the Washington Post's Dylan Matthews if he would ask another question.
Where does the Laffer Curve Bend on Cigarette Taxes?
More specifically, New York is increasing its cigarette tax by $1.60 a pack. Will the state collect the $40 million that it has estimated will come from the higher tax?
My prediction is that it will not.
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Where does the Laffer Curve Bend on Cigarette Taxes?
More specifically, New York is increasing its cigarette tax by $1.60 a pack. Will the state collect the $40 million that it has estimated will come from the higher tax?
My prediction is that it will not.
Permalink: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=13879
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