Dems Put GOP On Spot Over Tax Benefits For The Super-Rich
Several weeks after Republicans and Democrats began high-level negotiations to slash federal spending by trillions of dollars -- the GOP's price for raising the national borrowing limit, and avoiding a catastrophic debt default -- Democrats finally peeped up. New tax revenues, of some kind, of some amount, would have to be part of the deal.
The group, led by Vice President Joe Biden, had already identified nearly $2 trillion in cuts to discretionary and mandatory spending programs -- nearly enough to raise the debt limit through the end of 2012 and take a contentious issue off the table this election season.
That's when Democrats said, "your turn to give!" and put $400 billion in tax cuts on the table. Republicans balked. No tax hikes at all. Some Republicans have left the door open to closing certain indefensible loopholes. But party leaders have tried, for all intents and purposes, to take the tax code off the table. Cuts only.
The Democrats' response, from the rank and file up to President Obama, has been a political twofer. If Republicans are taking all taxes off the table, then they're playing reverse Robin Hood -- demanding trillions in cuts to social programs while refusing to budge on preferences to unfathomably wealthy special interests. It's class war, but in tactical sense. If they can make the GOP feel so uncomfortable that they agree to end special tax favors for the ultra-wealthy -- even if those favors don't ultimately cost that much money -- then maybe they can break the anti-tax firewall and encroach on $400 billion.
* Corporate Jet tax-breaks
* $126 million in tax write-offs for the horse-racing industry that they say amount to a 'Bluegrass Boondoggle'
* Yacht Crock: If you can sleep in it, pee in it, and prove that you do those things at least 14 days a year, you can treat your yacht like a home, and deduct the interest payments on your mortgage from your taxes.
* Oil Subsidies: a top marginal corporate tax rate that's 3 percent lower than the 35 percent most businesses pay. If that alone were restored, it would put $18 billion back into the Treasury over a decade.
* Hedge Fund Manager's Income: 15 percent compared to a top income tax rate of 35 percent.
Instead of politicizing it by going after the usual Democrat targets, why not just be honest and clear what they really want? If they want to repeal the Bush tax cuts for couples making over $250K, just say it. And I'd support it.
But this is a mix of class warfare and big corporation attacks. It's not specific and it won't make much of a dent in the deficit.
So far as taxing yachts goes, if it really is your primary home then you should get the same mortage tax break everyone else does. And many lower income people live in house boats. Maybe instead the Dems should propose revamping the tax code to get rid of all deductions? Or at least get rid of the mortgage deduction for a second home.
I doubt all of a hedge fund manager's income is taxed at 15 percent (capital gains rate). I assume they collect a management fee as most fund managers get, and that should be taxed as regular income. Yes, if they invest in their own fund then they pay 15 percent on that. Instead just say you are going back to the Clinton capital gains rate of 20%. But instead they think their followers are dumb enough to get riled up against hedge fund managers.
This is so funny how certain people continue to buy into all this hype perpetuated by the liberal media. Do you have any clue the savings that these tax increases will accomplish? The ones that may cost tens of thousands of jobs? They have figured only $3 billion over ten years. That is less than 1/10th of 1% of the $2-3 trillion we are trying to save. It is NOTHING! And yet it is where the Dems are putting all their eggs. Absolutely clueless when it comes to economics.
Dems Put GOP On Spot Over Tax Benefits For The Super-Rich
Several weeks after Republicans and Democrats began high-level negotiations to slash federal spending by trillions of dollars -- the GOP's price for raising the national borrowing limit, and avoiding a catastrophic debt default -- Democrats finally peeped up. New tax revenues, of some kind, of some amount, would have to be part of the deal.
The group, led by Vice President Joe Biden, had already identified nearly $2 trillion in cuts to discretionary and mandatory spending programs -- nearly enough to raise the debt limit through the end of 2012 and take a contentious issue off the table this election season.
That's when Democrats said, "your turn to give!" and put $400 billion in tax cuts on the table. Republicans balked. No tax hikes at all. Some Republicans have left the door open to closing certain indefensible loopholes. But party leaders have tried, for all intents and purposes, to take the tax code off the table. Cuts only.
The Democrats' response, from the rank and file up to President Obama, has been a political twofer. If Republicans are taking all taxes off the table, then they're playing reverse Robin Hood -- demanding trillions in cuts to social programs while refusing to budge on preferences to unfathomably wealthy special interests. It's class war, but in tactical sense. If they can make the GOP feel so uncomfortable that they agree to end special tax favors for the ultra-wealthy -- even if those favors don't ultimately cost that much money -- then maybe they can break the anti-tax firewall and encroach on $400 billion.
* Corporate Jet tax-breaks
* $126 million in tax write-offs for the horse-racing industry that they say amount to a 'Bluegrass Boondoggle'
* Yacht Crock: If you can sleep in it, pee in it, and prove that you do those things at least 14 days a year, you can treat your yacht like a home, and deduct the interest payments on your mortgage from your taxes.
* Oil Subsidies: a top marginal corporate tax rate that's 3 percent lower than the 35 percent most businesses pay. If that alone were restored, it would put $18 billion back into the Treasury over a decade.
* Hedge Fund Manager's Income: 15 percent compared to a top income tax rate of 35 percent.
The Viking wrote: This is so funny how certain people continue to buy into all this hype perpetuated by the liberal media. Do you have any clue the savings that these tax increases will accomplish? The ones that may cost tens of thousands of jobs? They have figured only $3 billion over ten years. That is less than 1/10th of 1% of the $2-3 trillion we are trying to save. It is NOTHING! And yet it is where the Dems are putting all their eggs. Absolutely clueless when it comes to economics.
This post is what is so funny.....you will go after liberals for believing the so called liberal media hype, but you are totally silent about certain posters buying into the right-wing-nut blog hype and posting them here as fact.
LadyJazzer wrote: I keep wondering how many jobs Hedge Fund managers create?... Or Corporate Jet owners? or Yacht Owners? Must be a lot, huh?
If you want an idea, you could look to the Clinton era "luxury tax" that was levied and see the results. Tens of thousands of jobs lost for craftsmen who built and customized yachts, a 20% decline in the number of luxury cars sold; and let us not forget to mention a substantially less amount of tax revenue actually received than projected when the tax was levied. Once you figure in all of the unemployment benefits that had to be paid for displaced workers, the loss of income tax from those workers and all the other deleterious effects of enacting the tax, it might have actually ended up costing the federal government money to raise that tax. Imagine that................
The Viking wrote: This is so funny how certain people continue to buy into all this hype perpetuated by the liberal media. Do you have any clue the savings that these tax increases will accomplish? The ones that may cost tens of thousands of jobs? They have figured only $3 billion over ten years. That is less than 1/10th of 1% of the $2-3 trillion we are trying to save. It is NOTHING! And yet it is where the Dems are putting all their eggs. Absolutely clueless when it comes to economics.
This post is what is so funny.....you will go after liberals for believing the so called liberal media hype, but you are totally silent about certain posters buying into the right-wing-nut blog hype and posting them here as fact.
You really need to check your facts before you start making things up and laughing. Why are you saying this was from a right-wing-nut blog? It was all over the news all the channels. So you are the one, once again with egg on your face.
LadyJazzer wrote: I keep wondering how many jobs Hedge Fund managers create?... Or Corporate Jet owners? or Yacht Owners? Must be a lot, huh?
If you want an idea, you could look to the Clinton era "luxury tax" that was levied and see the results. Tens of thousands of jobs lost for craftsmen who built and customized yachts, a 20% decline in the number of luxury cars sold; and let us not forget to mention a substantially less amount of tax revenue actually received than projected when the tax was levied. Once you figure in all of the unemployment benefits that had to be paid for displaced workers, the loss of income tax from those workers and all the other deleterious effects of enacting the tax, it might have actually ended up costing the federal government money to raise that tax. Imagine that................
Exactly!
Here is Obama's mentality. Borrow a trillion for shovel ready jobs. Ooops, hahaha, I guess they weren't so shovel ready. Unemployment in the meantime went from 7.3% to 9.1%. Now what does obama want? Hey, let's tax people more, and as your example shows above PS, it will cost even tens of thousands of more jobs and not even be a spit in the bucket towards paying down our debt. Obama's economic skills are so clueless!
