Budget and Taxation

On Measuring The Extraction Costs Of Taxation

By Lawrence A. Hunter
September 7, 2007

This study proposes a more complete measurement of the costs of extracting reveune under the existing Internal Revenue Code and for alternative tax systems, including a national retail sales tax. Read complete study here. . .

Developing consistent Tax Bases for Broad-Based Reform

By Fiscal Associates, Inc.
Draft, September 2011

Interest in far-reaching tax reform will begin again as the nation confronts financing entitlement growth. There will be a need to simplify the tax system and to promote increased saving, investment, and growth. Tax reform fever will intensify during the 2012 Presidential election cycle because many contenders and others will be proposing some combination of spending cuts and tax changes to close future deficits. Simply cutting spending and raising taxes is unlikely to succeed. As taxes are raised, growth will necessarily slow as the economy adjusts to a lower level of output. Lower output will mean lower tax revenues, setting off yet another round of spending cuts and tax increases. This vicious cycle will only end if the tax system becomes more efficient and growth-oriented.

This paper computes the tax bases for the following three tax reform proposals: a business transactions tax; a comprehensive factor income tax (flat personal income tax); an expanded retail sales tax (Fair Tax). In this paper, we find the revenue neutral tax rate, assuming no growth effects, and assuming no exemptions, deductions or credits. Recognizing that relief for low income taxpayers will inevitably be part of any tax reform, we also estimate tax rates assuming that each plan will provide a refundable credit equal to the tax rate times the poverty level. (This amounts to subtracting the identical amount from each tentative tax base.) Finally, we will combine the three bases to examine four hybrid proposals that split the rate between each of the combined bases. Specifically we will examine a variant of the Laffer/Moore Tax that combines the business transactions tax and a flat personal income tax and a plan that combines all three bases.
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The Minimum Wage Increase And Unemployment

Originally Posted At Republican Study Committee
July, 2009

On January 4, 2007, when the Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the minimum wage stood at $5.15 per hour and the unemployment rate was 4.6%. On May 25, 2007, the Democrats enacted a plan to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over three increments. As evidenced by the above chart, rising unemployment since 2007 has coincided with minimum wage increases. So Chairman Miller was right: life has dramatically changed for millions of people.
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A New Small Business Surtax = New Small Business Job Killer

By The J.E.C.
July 15, 2009

Larry Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, recently opined: “I don’t think the worst is over... It’s very likely that more jobs will be lost. It would not be surprising if GDP has not yet reached its low.”i This is cause for concern at a time when unemployment, at 9.5%, stands at its highest level in 26 years. An additional 2.6 million American workers have lost their jobs since President Obama took the oath of office. More jobs were lost in June than in May. Against this backdrop, congressional Democrats want to increase taxes on the engines of job growth and innovation for our economy – small businesses.
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Taxpayers in 39 States Could Pay a Top Tax Rate Over 50%

Originally Posted At Tax Foundation
By TF Staff
July 15, 2009

Fiscal Fact No. 178
New taxes to fund the federal government's plan for higher health insurance spending continue to be debated in Washington. According to a new Bloomberg report, the top surtax rate will be 5.4 percent in the House plan.[i] That will be the top rate in a three-tiered surtax aimed at high-income tax returns...
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Recent News

Those Dastardly Republicans

Friday, May 18, 2012

Source: Politico

Congressional Republicans are back up to their old shenanigans on ObamaCare. Politico reveals that Republicans would try to replicate popular parts of Obama’s health care law if the Supreme Court overturns the law this summer.
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FDA Warns Doctors On Fosamax Side Effects

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Source: ABC News

The Food and Drug Administration has warned doctors to watch for fractures of the upper thigh bone in patients taking several popular drugs designed to prevent hip fractures and fight osteoprothesis. The FDA warns that Fosamax and Boniva in particular, if taken unnecessarily or for too long, may actually be causing the bone fractures they are prescribed to prevent. Watch ABC News video.
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Senator Introduces Fugitive Taxpayer Act

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Source: ABC News

Exit Not An Option In Chuck Schumer's America. New York Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced the Fugitive Taxpayer Act of 2012 to re-impose taxes on expatriates after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Proposal also would impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship and would bar such individuals from ever reentering the United States again.
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US War Machine Will Be Real Winner In Nov.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Source: Salon.com

Whether President Obama gets his second term or Romney enters the Oval Office, there’s a third candidate no one’s paying much attention to, and that candidate is guaranteed to be the one clear winner of election 2012: the U.S. military and our ever-surging national security state.
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Social Security Garnished for Student Loan Debts

Friday, May 11, 2012

Source: Truth-Out.org

According to the New York Federal Reserve, two million US seniors age 60 and over have student loan debt, on which they owe a collective $36.5 billion; and 11.2 percent of this debt is in default. 4.2 percent of all student loan debt is held by people over the age of 60, and that share grows with each passing year.
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Seniors vs. Military-Industrial Complex?

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Source: The Washington Post

Across the U.S. economy, anxiety is rising about the potential for widespread disruptions after the November election, when a lame-duck Congress will have barely two months to resolve a grinding standoff over taxes and spending.
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Americans Say Cut The War Machine, Now

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Source: Huffington Post

Two-thirds of Republicans and nine in 10 Democrats polled support making immediate cuts to the military across the board -- a position at odds with the leaderships of both political parties.
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Police Beat Mentally Ill Man To Death

Monday, May 7, 2012

Source: Raw Story

Video revealing the circumstances of how a mentally ill homeless man in Fullerton, Calif. died last July was finally published Monday, revealing a stunningly brutal police assault that left Kelly Thomas bleeding, broken and near death.
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President Obama Is Running Out of Jobs Excuses

Monday, May 7, 2012

Source: Real Clear Markets

The number of people with jobs declined for the second month in a row, falling by 169,000 in April after easing by 31,000 in March. This means that there were 200,000 fewer Americans with jobs in April than there were in February. Additionally, the percentage of working-age adults who either have jobs or are looking for work, fell to 63.6%, which is the lowest level since December 1981.
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Attack Of The Drones

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Source: Salon.com

In November 2010, a police lieutenant from Parma, Ohio, asked Vanguard Defense Industries if the Texas-based drone manufacturer could mount a “grenade launcher and/or 12-gauge shotgun” on its ShadowHawk drone for U.S. law enforcement agencies. The answer was yes.
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