|
Nearly half
of US households escape fed income tax
Recession, new tax credits have nearly half of US households
paying no federal income tax
Tax Day is a dreaded deadline
for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it's
simply somebody else's problem.
About 47 percent will pay no
federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes
were too low, or they qualified for enough credits,
deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability.
That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a
Washington research organization.
Most people still are
required to file returns by the April 15 deadline. The
penalty for skipping it is limited to the amount of taxes
owed, but it's still almost always better to file: That's
the only way to get a refund of all the income taxes
withheld by employers.
In recent years, credits for
low- and middle-income families have grown so much that a
family of four making as much as $50,000 will owe no federal
income tax for 2009, as long as there are two children
younger than 17, according to a separate analysis by the
consulting firm Deloitte Tax.
Tax cuts enacted in the past
decade have been generous to wealthy taxpayers, too, making
them a target for President Barack Obama and Democrats in
Congress. Less noticed were tax cuts for low- and
middle-income families, which were expanded when Obama
signed the massive economic recovery package last year.
The result is a tax system
that exempts almost half the country from paying for
programs that benefit everyone, including national defense,
public safety, infrastructure and education. It is a system
in which the top 10 percent of earners -- households making
an average of $366,400 in 2006 -- paid about 73 percent of
the income taxes collected by the federal government.
The bottom 40 percent,
on average, make a profit from the federal income tax,
meaning they get more money in tax credits than they would
otherwise owe in taxes. For those people, the government
sends them a payment. more...
(yahoo.com)
40% of Americans
interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their
political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as
liberal. more...
(gallup.com)
The Cost of
Socialism
The U.S. tax
wedge was around 30% in 2008, according to the OECD. With
much higher tax wedges, Europe has tended to have higher
unemployment and slower economic growth over the past 30
years. more...
(wsj.com)
Even a
Russian can see the rapid US decent
 |
It
must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam,
the American decent into Marxism is happening with
breath taking speed, against the back drop of a
passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I
meant people. more... |
Unelected and not answering to the US
Congress — Czars:
Great
Lakes Czar | Border
Czar | Energy
Czar | Urban
Czar | Infotech
Czar | Faith-Based
Czar | Health
Reform Czar | New
TARP Czar | Stimulus
Accountability Czar | Pay
Czar | Non-Proliferation
Czar | Terrorism
Czar | Regulatory
Czar | Drug
Czar | Guantanamo
Closure Czar | Car
Czar | Intelligence
Czar | Cyber
Security Czar | Green
Jobs Czar
If these
czars are making government policy, maybe they should be
going before Congress to be routed through the traditional
confirmation process, or maybe not — change
is good. Maybe this new way of organizing the community
of the federal government will provide hope.
Look to
Britain for America's Future under Obama
NotASocialist.org
 |
Shortly after the Second
World War had ended, the Labour Party in Britain under Clement Attlee
won a landslide victory over the popular war leader Winston
Churchill in the 1945 UK general election, and implemented
their democratic socialist ideas. |
The Labour Party implemented
socialist policies by taking ownership of key industries
(nationalizing one fifth of the British economy - including
The Bank of England, the coal mines, civil aviation, cable
and wireless services, gas, electricity, railways, road
transport and steel), increasing government intervention in
the economy, focusing on redistribution of wealth, and
increasing the power of trade unions. They also established the
tax-funded
National Health Service for "the abolition of want
before the enjoyment of comfort" and to become the
"envy of the world" (NHS has seen reforms,
and may see more).
The Labour Party was socialist in origin, but was
successfully reinvented as something approaching a
centre-right party by Tony
Blair and labeled "New Labour" after 1994. Among
the early acts of Tony Blair's government was the
establishment of the national
minimum wage. Tony Blair's membership in the Christian
Socialist Movement influenced his polices
and alarmed secularists
in Britain.
In the same way that modern
post-war America (post-WWII) followed pre-war Britain into
the role of a "world superpower", so may
post-modern, post-war America (post-War on Terror) follow
Britain into a declining economy under a "new"
socialism.
Can President Obama be the American version of
Attlee and Blair merged into one? With a compliant Congress,
yes he can! He’s sort of
God? Is it true that we
are all socialists now?
| "My
friends, I must tell you that a Socialist policy is
abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom. Although
it is now put forward in the main by people who have
a good grounding in the Liberalism and Radicalism of
the early part of this century, there can be no
doubt that Socialism is inseparably interwoven with
Totalitarianism and the abject worship of the State.
It is not alone that property, in all its forms, is
struck at, but that liberty, in all its forms, is
challenged by the fundamental conceptions of
Socialism."
"Socialism is,
in its essence, an attack not only upon British
enterprise, but upon the right of the ordinary man
or woman to breathe freely without having a harsh,
clumsy, tyrannical hand clapped across their mouths
and nostrils." -- Sir Winston Churchill,
June 1945
"Socialists have
always spent much of their time seeking new titles
for their beliefs, because the old versions so
quickly become outdated and discredited." --
Margaret Thatcher |
|
"The
American people will never knowingly adopt
socialism, but under the name of
liberalism they
will adopt every fragment of the socialist program
until one day America will be a socialist nation
without ever knowing how it happened."
-- Norman Thomas
, Socialist Party presidential candidate who studied
political science under Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson was the twenty-eighth President of the United
States. A leading intellectual of the Progressive
Era, he served as President of Princeton University
and then became the Governor of New Jersey in 1910.
With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft
dividing the Republican Party vote, Wilson was
elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved
highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress
to pass major legislation that included the Federal
Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the
Federal Farm Loan Act, America's first-ever federal
progressive income tax in the Revenue Act of 1913
and most notably the Federal Reserve System.
-
- - - - - - - - - -
|
|
USA
"This
Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present
strength, under the protection of certain
inalienable political rights—among them the right
of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by
jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and
seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
As
our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as
our industrial economy expanded—these political
rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in
the pursuit of happiness."
"In
our day these economic truths have become accepted
as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a
second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of
security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless
of station, race, or creed.
Among
these are:
- The right to a useful and remunerative job in the
industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
- The
right to earn enough to provide adequate food and
clothing and recreation;
- The
right of every farmer to raise and sell his products
at a return which will give him and his family a
decent living;
- The
right of every businessman, large and small, to
trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair
competition and domination by monopolies at home or
abroad;
- The
right of every family to a decent home;
- The
right to adequate medical care and the opportunity
to achieve and enjoy good health;
- The
right to adequate protection from the economic fears
of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
- The
right to a good education."
--
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
excerpts from January 11,
1944 message to Congress on the State of the Union
|
|
USSR
Chapter
7: THE BASIC RIGHTS, FREEDOMS, AND DUTIES OF
CITIZENS OF THE USSR
Article
40. Citizens of the USSR have the right to work
(that is, to guaranteed employment and pay in
accordance wit the quantity and quality of their
work, and not below the state-established minimum),
including the right to choose their trade or
profession, type of job and work in accordance with
their inclinations, abilities, training and
education, with due account of the needs of
society...
Article
41. Citizens of the USSR have the right to rest
and leisure...
Article
42. Citizens of the USSR have the right to
health protection. This right is ensured by free,
qualified medical care provided by state health
institutions...
Article
43. Citizens of the USSR have the right to
maintenance in old age, in sickness, and in the
event of complete or partial disability or loss of
the breadwinner...
Article
44. Citizens of the USSR have the right to
housing. This right is ensured by the development
and upkeep of state and socially-owned housing; by
assistance for co-operative and individual house
building...
Article
45. Citizens of the USSR have the right to
education...
--
CONSTITUTION
OF THE USSR,
adopted
at the Seventh (Special) Session of the Supreme
Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation On October 7,
1977
|
"I
prefer the word 'progressive,' which has a real
American meaning, going back to the progressive era
at the beginning of the 20th century. I consider
myself a modern progressive."
-- Hillary Clinton
-
- - - - - - - - - -
"I mean in a way Obama’s
standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s
sort of God." --
Evan
Thomas , grandson of
Norman Thomas
-
- - - - - - - - - -
|
| "only
government can provide the short-term boost
necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and
severe." -- Barack H. Obama
“I
am somebody who is no doubt
progressive... I believe
in a whole lot of things that make me progressive...
I believe in a tax code that we need to make more
fair... I believe in universal health care.”
-- Barack H. Obama
"We
are God's partners in matters of life and
death,"
-- Barack
H. Obama, speaking to 1000
rabbis
|
The British
Labour Party established the tax-funded National Health
Service... and in the US...
Sharks can't
stop — is that healthy?
If sharks stop swimming, they sink and drown. President
Obama seems to view his health-care program the same way.
"If we don't get it done this year," he said in a
recent pep talk to supporters, "we're not going to get
it done." Well, why? If laying "a new
foundation" for 18% of the economy really is as
important as the President claims it is, then surely it
could withstand more than fleeting inspection. Instead,
Democrats are trying to rush the largest entitlement
expansion since LBJ into law with a truncated debate and as
little public scrutiny as possible. more...
(wsj.com)
The British
Labour Party implemented socialist policies by taking
ownership of key industries... and in the US...
"As GM goes, so
goes the nation" — doesn't
sound good for US
GM is shrinking...
and is owned
by the government...
and the White
House (including an inexperienced and unelected
31-year-old) is making the most
fundamental corporate decisions and rewriting
the rules of American capitalism...
and China
fills the void and takes
the spoils and makes
the parts...
and GM's new
chairman says "I
don’t know anything about cars".
more...
(seekingalpha.com)
GM appears to be
rapidly morphing into Government Motors, and no one seems to
be in a position to stop this change. Where is the hope?
Is government takeover of private industry part of our future
shock?
Future shock is
the term for a psychological state of individuals and entire
societies, introduced by Toffler in his book of the same name.
Toffler's shortest definition of future shock is a personal
perception of "too much change in too short a period of
time".
Does the government know
where your car is? Will it soon?
Top lawmaker wants
mileage-based tax on vehicles
physorg.com
[source]
Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn.,
said he believes the technology exists to implement a
mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for
the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is
inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline.
"Why do we need a pilot
program? Why don't we just phase it in?" said Oberstar,
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation
bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected
to total around a half trillion dollars.
"I'm at a point of
impatience with more studies," Oberstar said. He
suggested that Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the
highways and transit subcommittee, set up a meeting of
transportation experts and members of Congress to figure out
how it could be done.
The tax would entail
equipping vehicles with GPS technology to determine how many
miles a car has been driven and whether on interstate
highways or secondary roads. The devices would also
calculate the amount of tax owed. more...
States are
worried about sovereignty being lost
For some states, the message
to the federal government is clear: Back off. Legislatures
in Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota
this year have approved resolutions asserting sovereignty
under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution and suggesting
that Uncle Sam "cease and desist" from interfering
in their business. more...
(usatoday.com)
Have no fear;
the US government is here
State
sovereignty may be hard to keep as state
budget woes get worse and the federal government is
needed to "rescue" poorly run states. Unlike the
federal government, states cannot simply print more money to
cover a budget shortfall.
If America's resistance to
socialism troubles you, don't worry — the
"extremists" are being watched
UNCLASSIFIED Department
of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and
Analysis - Rightwing Extremism report
(PDF
file).
AMERICAN LEGION: An
Open Letter to Homeland Security on ‘Rightwing
Extremists’
|
"The
meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to
socialism." -- Marx
|
Government to
fundamentally reshaped how energy is used in America —
Cap-and-T[ax]rade
coming soon?
The Democrats have released a
bill
that sets up a major legislative battle by seeking to
reshape how the country produces and consumes energy. The
640-page-plus measure, introduced by Henry Waxman and Edward
Markey, leaves practically no issue relating to energy
policy untouched. In addition to calling for an 80 percent
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — a target
supported by President Obama — their bill includes new
mandates for the production of renewable fuels for both
vehicles and electric utilities; new efficiency standards
for appliances and homes and businesses; and new programs to
improve the operation of the electric transmission grid.
“This is a lot different
than the [climate] bills that have been debated in the
past,” said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president at the
National Wildlife Federation, one of several environmental
groups to praise the effort Tuesday. “It goes beyond
reducing greenhouse gases toward fundamentally reshaping how
we use power in America.”
Some business lobbyists said
the bill was too proscriptive and could do further harm to
the economy. The measure will almost certainly raise energy
costs for consumers. One reader of the bill counted the word
“shall” more than 1,100 times. In addition to capping
carbon emissions, the bill also requires 25 percent of the
power produced by electric utilities to come from wind,
solar and other renewable resources by 2025. more...
(thehill.com)
- - - - -
American
Households Would Face Annual Burden of $144.8 Billion Under
Cap-and-Trade System (taxfoundation.org)
Massive
natural-gas discovery in Louisiana heralds a big shift in
the nation's energy landscape
(wsj.com)
2,653% tax increase
"for the children" — April fools?
Act
of Congress increases the Federal excise tax on all
tobacco products and cigarette papers and cigarette tubes,
effective April 1, 2009.
Small Cigars: 2,653%
tax increase
Roll-your-own tobacco: 2,159%
tax increase
Large Cigars: up to 725%
tax increase
Cigarettes, Pipe tobacco, Chewing Tobacco: 158%
tax increase
[source]
The Children’s Health
Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 was signed
into law on February 4, 2009. The Act increases the
Federal excise taxes on tobacco products and sets forth new
permit and enforcement provisions regarding tobacco products
and processed tobacco. As a result of the Act, any
person who manufactures or imports processed tobacco will
now be required to qualify for and obtain a permit from TTB,
and take inventories, submit reports, and keep records as
required by regulation. Also, as a result of the Act, the
basis for denial, suspension, or revocation of permits has
been broadened.
TTB is the newest bureau
under the Department
of the Treasury, with the mission of collecting alcohol,
tobacco, firearms, and ammunition excise taxes --
carrying out these responsibilities by developing
regulations, conducting product analysis, ensuring tax and
trade compliance with the Federal Alcohol Administration Act
and the Internal Revenue Code.
A Little History:
On January 24, 2003, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (the
Act) established the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Bureau (TTB).
Rendering the functions of the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) into two new
organizations with separate functions, the Act created a new
tax and trade bureau within the Department
of the Treasury, and shifted certain law enforcement
functions of ATF to the Department
of Justice. The Act called for the tax collection
functions to remain with the Department of the Treasury; and
the new organization was called the “Alcohol and Tobacco
Tax and Trade Bureau.” TTB’s history and the history of
tax collection originate with the former ATF, and ATF’s
origins began more than 200 years ago as one of the earliest
tax collecting Treasury agencies.
In 1789, under the new
Constitution of the United States, the first Congress
imposed a tax on imported spirits to offset a portion of the
Revolutionary War debt. Administration of this tax
collection fell to the Department of the Treasury, whose
secretary, Alexander
Hamilton, had suggested them. Congressional lawmakers
were favorably impressed by the results and by 1791, the
imports tax was augmented by adding domestic
production. Understandably, the sons and daughters of
the Revolution, who had grumbled over import duties, greeted
the domestic levy with political resistance, escalating in
the short-lived Whiskey
Rebellion of 1794. Although these particular taxes were
eventually abolished, similar devices for revenue came and
went as needed until 1862. By July 1, 1862, Congress created
an Office of Internal Revenue within the Department of the
Treasury, charging the commissioner with collection, among
other things, of taxes on distilled spirits and tobacco
products that, with amendments, still remain today. Because
taxation often evoked resistance in the past, including
criminal evasion, Congress authorized the hiring by the
Office of Internal Revenue of "three detectives to aid
in the prevention, detection and punishment of tax
evaders" in 1863. Tax collecting and enforcement were
now under one roof.
Treasury Department Order No.
120-1 (originally No. 221), effective July 1,1972,
transferred from IRS those functions, powers and duties
related to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives to a
new Treasury Department agency, the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The taxation and regulatory
control of the alcohol and tobacco industries remained a
part of ATF until January of 2003, when as noted before,
these functions were transferred to yet another new Treasury
entity, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Low-cost
doctor told to increase fees
ASSOCIATED
PRESS [source]
NEW YORK - A New York City
doctor whose low-cost health care plan angered state
officials has agreed to increase his fees.
The state Insurance
Department told Dr. John Muney last month to end the
$79-a-month medical service at his AMG Medical Group clinics
in all five boroughs. Department spokesman Andy Mais said
Muney was violating state law by basically operating as an
insurance operator without a license.
The monthly fee buys
unlimited office visits, including certain tests and
in-office surgeries.
Muney will charge $33 per
visit for all but preventive care, which Mais says brings
him in compliance. Muney's spokesman says he'll challenge
the restrictions through legislation.
Muney, a former surgeon,
started offering the $79-a-month plan in 2008.
- - - - -
Commentary on the
socialization of America
by Dave C.
Jones [source]
I was listening to Tom
Sullivan yesterday and heard about Dr. John Muney of New
York and his innovative method of servicing those who cannot
afford health insurance. In a nutshell, he charges his
patients $79 per month plus $10 per visit. In other words,
for about $1,000 per year, his patients do not have to worry
about routine illnesses or anything else that can be taken
care of in Dr. Muney's offices.
Who could possibly have a
problem with that plan? Apparently, the New York state
insurance regulators do. The state told Dr. Muney that his
plan is an insurance policy and he has to be licensed to
sell insurance.
Give me a break. The
government cries out of one side of its mouth that society
has an obligation to ensure that every person has access to
health care; then, out of the other side, it berates doctors
who do something to make that goal a reality. What the
government really wants is complete control of everything.
If the government really cared about the people, New York
state would have no problem with what Dr. Muney is doing. In
fact, the state should be recommending that idea to doctors
all over the state.
Unfortunately, the state sees
money running through its fingers. Rather than Dr. Muney
submitting claims to Medicare, he collects cash. Rather than
paying the state insurance licensing fees, he shuns
insurance, enabling his patients to pay cash. The government
worries that if all doctors did this, the government would
not be able to continue employing people to process
insurance, doctors could cut overhead by laying off
insurance billers and accounts receivable employees, and the
economy as we know it would end! Good grief.
The bottom line is that what
Dr. Muney is doing here is not conceptually different from
what attorneys do when they allow clients to sign a retainer
agreement. In essence, a retainer agreement secures the
right of the client to call the attorney with any legal
problems the retainer agreement says are covered and to have
the attorney handle them for an agreed upon rate (either
included in the retainer fee, hourly, or flat fee). The
"client" may never call the attorney for advice,
just as the "patient" may never come in to see Dr.
Muney.
I don't know how Dr. Muney's
agreements are written or structured, but any good civil
attorney should be able to help Dr. Muney modify his
agreements so they are essentially putting him on retainer
for each of his patients. The agreement would be that Dr.
Muney would see the patient within X number of hours for any
of the problems he can handle in his office for a retainer
fee of $79/month and a flat $10 per problem.
If the state still has
problems with the arrangement, it must have a problem with
attorney retainer agreements. And, if that is the case, I'm
sure there are hundreds or thousands of attorneys who would
step up and defend the retainer agreement in both law and
medicine.
It's time that people see
government for what it is—a leviathan that would rather
take complete control of everything rather than fix
anything. Just ask Dr. Muney's patients.
|
