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

UK Raises Tax Rates and Revenues Decline

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Source: The Telegraph

After the UK raised the top income tax rate to 50 percent, the amount of income tax paid fell sharply last month in the first formal indication that the new 50 percent higher rate is not raising the expected amount of revenue but in fact is losing revenue.
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Doc pay fixes snowball, making Medicare all the harder to reform

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Source: Awesome Capital

The 1997 scheme to make supposedly automatic cuts in Medicare doctor fees based on what looked like a reasonable index has totally failed. Sooner or later, Congress will have to try something different if it doesn't want to bankrupt Medicare or jack up taxes to keep the program afloat. A real alternative to top-down cost control is a system giving consumers influence over costs and rewards for keeping costs low.
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Cancer drug reverses Alzheimer’s in mice

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Source: Raw Story

A widely available cancer drug has shown remarkable success in reversing Alzheimer’s disease in mice, raising hope of a breakthrough against incurable dementia in humans, US researchers said Thursday.
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Rep. Bachus faces insider-trading investigation

Friday, February 10, 2012

Source: The Washington Post

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee over possible violations of insider-trading laws.
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UK says elderly are “wasting" too many bedrooms

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Source: Canada Free Press

In yet another outrageous piece of social engineering from the British government, pensioners will be encouraged to downsize to smaller properties allowing local government councils to rent their homes out as public housing and manage the tenancy.
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Federal Employee Gravy Train

Monday, January 30, 2012

Source: The Washington Times

Federal workers earn 16 percent more in total compensation — including wages and benefits — than comparable private-sector employees, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The key difference is in benefits, where federal workers average more than $20 per hour in compensation — 48 percent higher than the $13.60 in prorated hourly benefits in the private sector.
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Ind. Lawmakers: "Pee Test For Thee But Not For Me"

Friday, January 27, 2012

Source: Huffington Post

A member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants Friday after one of his colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers.
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America, arms-dealer to the world

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Source: Salon.com

Retired lieutenant colonel's take on the military-industrial complex: As a country, we seem to have a teenager’s fascination with military hardware, an addiction that’s driving us to bust our own national budgetary allowance. At the same time, we sell weapons the way teenage punks sell fireworks to younger kids: for profit and with little regard for how they might be used.
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Still Convinced Tax Increases Work?

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Source: CBSChicago.com

After largest tax increase in Illinois' history, the state still can't pay its bills. Only solution is to cut government spending says state comptroller.
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GOP Voters Split On Interventionism

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Source: The Washington Times

Nearly half of all Republican primary voters say it’s time the U.S. stops intervening in world affairs and focuses on domestic priorities instead, signaling a persistent rift that is playing out in the party’s presidential nomination battle.
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