In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the Prince of Denmark overhears his uncle, King Claudius, pray for forgiveness for the murder of his brother, Hamlet’s father: O, what form of prayer can serve my turn? ‘Forgive me my foul murder’? That cannot be; Since I am still possess’d of those effects for which I did the murder; My crown, mine own [...]
Tags: Opinion · Politics of Taxes · shakespeare · Tax Policy
Scott Hodge of The Tax Policy Blog deftly answers President Obama’s call for someone to tell him why it’s fair that the capital gains tax rate is lower than the ordinary income tax rate (emphasis added): During his Rose Garden speech yesterday, President Obama once again fueled the general misperception that people who pay the [...]
Tags: Politics of Taxes · Taxes 101
This is classicker than Coke. Andrew Stiles of The National Review wrote the following in Schumer: Tax the Rich, Just Not My Rich (emphasis added): CBS News reports that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) isn’t such a big fan President Obama’s plan to raise taxes on households making more than $250,000 a year. After announcing his [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · Politics of Taxes
WaPo reports: President Obama will announce a proposal on Monday to tame the nation’s rocketing federal debt, calling for $1.5 trillion in new revenue as part of a plan to find more than $3 trillion in budget savings over a decade, senior administration officials said. The proposal draws a sharp contrast with Republicans and amounts more to [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · News · Politics of Taxes · Tax Policy
“The tenth rule of the ethics of rules and means is that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it in moral arguments. …the essence of Lenin’s speeches during this period was “They have the guns and therefore we are for peace and for reformation through the ballot. When we have [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · News · Tax Policy
The Tax Policy Center has issued a report titled The Distribution of Federal Taxes, 2009-12 that compares the distribution of taxes under current law to the distribution under President Obama’s proposed budget: Overall, the federal tax system is progressive. On average, households with higher incomes pay taxes that are a larger share of their income. But [...]
Tags: Tax Policy
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama’s tax plan will kick in at $235,000 of taxable income rather than the $250,000 he promised during the 2008 campaign: The Treasury Department’s detailed description, known as the “green book,” showed that the new 36% rate would apply to income of $250,000 “less the standard deduction and two [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · Tax Policy
