Disney CEO: U.S. taxes are 'too high' and 'ridiculously complex'

Disney CEO Bob Iger thinks companies -- including his -- are simply paying too much in tax to Uncle Sam. Iger told CNNMoney on Thursday that high corporate tax rates in the U.S. are "anti-competitive," and described the country's tax system as "ridiculously complex."
Read  more at CNN Read More......

Taxpayers Fleeing Democrat-Run States for Republican Ones

In 2013, more than 200,000 people on net fled states with Democrat governors for ones run by Republicans, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by Americans for Tax Reform.
"People move away from high tax states to low tax states. Every tax refugee is sending a powerful message to politicians," said ATR President Grover Norquist. "They are voting with their feet. Leaders in Texas and Florida are listening. New York and California are not."


Read more at American's for Tax Reform Read More......

Ron Sherman: Yellow cabs vs. Uber: Tale of the tax tape

It's easy to take yellow cabs for granted. Taxis are ubiquitous in the city, moving 500,000 New Yorkers, tourists and business travelers daily.
But what do they really contribute to the local and state coffers? With new competition like Uber and all kinds of assertions and assumptions being made about the value of these businesses, it seemed like a good time to provide New Yorkers with the facts.


Read more at NY Daily News Read More......

Rand Paul calls for 14.5 percent flat tax

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants to gut the U.S. tax code and instead install a flat tax, insisting such a plan would “turbocharge” the economy and be fairer for average taxpayers. Paul, who’s running for president in 2016, would put into place one 14.5 percent rate for individual, business and investment income, and remove all but a couple of the tax breaks currently on the books. The current top rate for individuals and many small businesses is near 40 percent, while the corporate rate tops out at 35 percent.
Taxpayers would get to keep the deductions for home mortgage interest and charitable deductions under Paul’s plan, and would also not have to pay any payroll taxes. Plus, the gift and estate taxes would be scrapped, and the first $50,000 of a family of four’s income would be exempt from taxes.


Read more at The Hill Read More......

H&R Block: ‘No One Can Understand’ New Obamacare Tax Code

“Now that the Affordable Care Act has made health care a tax issue, no one can understand it,” H&R Block flatly tells taxpayers in a video that resides on its dedicated Obamacare web site.

A former IRS Commissioner agrees, and cautions that the new tax requirements will be a “shock to the system,” especially afflicting low-income earners who have never itemized on their tax return. The tax preparation giant — with 24 million tax clients worldwide — reports that the Obamacare tax rules now constitute “the biggest tax code change in the last 20 years.” The company is so concerned, it has launched a high profile national television advertising campaign directed solely at Obamacare enrollees.

Read more at the Daily Caller Read More......

New IRS Data Expose Dems' Phony Tax-the-Rich Mantra

Taxes: Democrats unveiled a plan Monday that — surprise — would boost taxes on the rich. But new IRS data show these soak-the-rich campaigns are based on total falsehoods.

'Our tax code today is stacked in favor of people who make money off of money and against those who make money off of hard work," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, said Monday.  The plan he announced — which to be sure has no chance of being enacted — would boost taxes on the top 1% and hand out checks to the middle class each year in the form of a $1,000 "paycheck bonus tax credit." There's another $250 for middle-class Americans if they put at least half that credit in a retirement account.

Read more at Investor's Business Daily Read More......

Oregon Dems’ tax tsunami has started

The Democrat “Super Majority” is doing little to hide their plans for the 2015 Legislative Session. On Monday, the House Revenue Committee introduced more than 40 bills that would increase taxes on working Oregon families and small businesses.

“The Democrat regime has a spending fever, and their only prescription is more taxes,” said Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day).

“Thousands of Oregon families are hurting, struggling to buy food, pay rent and keep the heater on, especially in rural parts of the state and among minority communities. The proposed tax increases would put the American dream that much further from reach, and show a disconnect between legislative leaders and working Oregonians.”

Among the tax increases introduced:

Read more at the Oregon Catalyst Read More......

Buckle up for an Oregon driving-tax blowout: Editorial

For Oregonians who care about the cost of driving, the most significant development Tuesday might prove to be the upset of incumbent Republican state Sen. Betsy Close by Democrat Sara Gelser in District 8, which covers parts of Albany and Corvallis. Even before the Senate seat switcheroo, lawmakers were likely to consider a road-funding package during the 2015 session. Now, Oregonians may have to swallow two pieces of legislation that will raise the cost of commuting, shopping and everything else people do with their cars.

Read more at The Oregonian Read More......

The Robin Hood Fallacy: Piketty Would Take from the Rich to Give to the Poor

FOUNDRY, by Stephen Moore - In public policy, bad ideas—no matter how many times they have been discredited—never completely go away. They seem to pop up over and over. Enter the hot new book that has captured the imagination and attention of the left because it endorses an 80 percent tax rate on the rich in the name of “leveling” incomes. ✧ The book is entitled “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by French economist Thomas Piketty, and in addition to 1970s-style tax rates, he wants a new wealth tax on the rich and more money for social welfare programs. He’s being treated like the modern-day Adam Smith by the media [THE LEFT]. ✧ The way to create a more equal distribution of income, apparently, is by making everyone poorer. Piketty warns that “meritocratic extremism”—which is another way of saying you get to keep the fruits of your labor—is ruining our nation’s economy and if we don’t divide the pie more equally, the result could be “truly frightening.” He says that his goal is to “save capitalism… [ahem]”

Read more at The Foundry Read More......

Uncle Sam Revives Feudal Practice to Collect From Children of Debtors

Holding children responsible for the debt incurred by their parents is a feature of historical feudalism and a few modern third-world sh**holes. ✧ Developed countries, by and large, assume that a debt dies with the person who willingly incurred it, or at least stops with his or her estate. "By and large," I write, because the U.S. government has broken with centuries of tradition holding individuals responsible for their choices, opting to withhold tax refunds from children whose parents incurred vague and often ill-documented obligations to the feds.

Read more at Reason.com

Oh, man! This is going to be hard to fight! --bc Read More......

WSJ: As Tax Day Nears, Where Does Your Money Go?

Three nonprofit groups help answer that and other questions of interest to taxpayers -- Where does your money go? Loren Adler, research director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget offers a breakdown, which shows how $100 of revenue was allocated among spending programs in fiscal year 2013. Please note that last year's figures do not include the cost of changes under the Affordable Care Act, which Mr. Adler estimates will come to about 6% of spending when they are fully phased in.

Read more and see the "tax receipt" graphic by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget at Wall Street Journal Read More......

Heartland Blog: A Short Guide to Obamacare

By Matt Faharty - It’s not a national healthcare system. It’s not the free market. It isn’t what we’ve had for the last forty years. So what is Obamacare?

Maybe I am too late to write about this topic since the Affordable Care Act has already been passed and is in the process of implementation. Then again, the bill is infamously opaque, and I believe very few people, either in Washington, the media, or the general public understand what Obamacare is, or how it will make healthcare more affordable. A study in the Journal of Health Economics published this month claims that only 14% of Americans between ages 25 and 64 have a basic understanding of how insurance works, let alone how Obamacare will effect it. Nobody even seems to know how long the bill is with estimates ranging from 10,000 to 33,000 pages of mind-numbing bureaucratic documents.

According to Nancy Pelosi we should start to know what is in the bill at this point, so I will take a crack at it. Read more at Somewhat Reasonable, a Heartland.org blog ... Read More......

A Farmers' Rebellion Lifts the California GOP

Democrats were writing obituaries for California's GOP after winning a supermajority in the state legislature last November, thus gaining veto-proof power to raise taxes. But their legislative lock may have slipped after this week's special election in which Republican farmer Andy Vidak appears to have defeated a Democrat—in a heavily Democratic senate district—who had championed high-speed rail and a higher minimum wage.

If Mr. Vidak wins an outright majority—late Friday, he led with 49.8% of the vote and provisional ballots were still being counted—his victory would put Republicans two senate seats short of reclaiming their veto on tax hikes. But more important, the election has exposed the Democrats' soft underbelly in California's Central Valley—a no man's land in state politics—and given Republicans a rallying point.

"This is the shot in the arm that shows that we are doing some things right," California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House GOP whip, says.

Read more at Wall Street Journal Read More......

Uh Oh, Obamacare Math Sinks In for Small Businesses

Even as you finish with this year's taxes, if you're a small-business owner experts say it's time to look ahead to 2014, when the tax implications of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) begin to kick in.

"Just now, things are really sinking in that there is this employer responsibility," said Amanda Austin, of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Under ACA, often called Obamacare, employers with 50 or more full-time workers face a mandate to provide insurance. It's known formally as shared responsibility.

"You're going to need somebody to do a thorough review of the impact on your business," Austin said, because the new rules are complex.

Read more at Yahoo Read More......

IRS claims it can read your e-mail without a warrant

The Internal Revenue Service doesn't believe it needs a search warrant to read your e-mail.

Newly disclosed documents prepared by IRS lawyers says that Americans enjoy "generally no privacy" in their e-mail, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and similar online communications -- meaning that they can be perused without obtaining a search warrant signed by a judge.

That places the IRS at odds with a growing sentiment among many judges and legislators who believe that Americans' e-mail messages should be protected from warrantless search and seizure. They say e-mail should be protected by the same Fourth Amendment privacy standards that require search warrants for hard drives in someone's home, or a physical letter in a filing cabinet.

Read more at CNet News Read More......

Fiscal Cliff Deal: $1 in Spending Cuts for Every $41 in Tax Increases

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the last-minute fiscal cliff deal reached by congressional leaders and President Barack Obama cuts only $15 billion in spending while increasing tax revenues by $620 billion—a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.

When Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush increased taxes in return for spending cuts—cuts that never ultimately came—they did so at ratios of 3:1 and 2:1.

“In 1982, President Reagan was promised $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes,” Americans for Tax Reform says of those two incidents. “The tax hikes went through, but the spending cuts did not materialize. President Reagan later said that signing onto this deal was the biggest mistake of his presidency.

"In 1990, President George H.W. Bush agreed to $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes. The tax hikes went through, and we are still paying them today. Not a single penny of the promised spending cuts actually happened.”

Read more at Breitbart.com Read More......

Harry Reid: 'We Are Not Going to Do Anything'

Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, made his "fiscal cliff" position clear in a press conference today. "We are not going to do anything," said Reid.

Reid added, "We are not taking up anything they are working on over there."

The top Democrat in the Senate was explaining his inaction on the House plan, the proposal put forward by Republican John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives. Boehner's plan is being referred to as 'Plan B.'

Read more at the Weekly Standard Read More......

Henninger: Obama's Ruinous Course

Daniel Henninger: Where in his career did Barack Obama ever learn the art of the political deal? Nowhere. ✧ Barack Obama says his election victory is a mandate to pursue the policy course he's insisting on in negotiations with Republicans on the fiscal cliff. He wants a tax increase of $1.6 trillion, $50 billion of new and immediate stimulus spending and the end of congressional approval to raise the ceiling on U.S. debt—the debt that a ratings agency downgraded in 2011. Read more at the Wall Street Journal...

Note: Since the House is still in Republican control, Obama did NOT get a mandate. Spread this news whenever you hear the mandate claim! --bc Read More......

Brent Bozell calls out GOP leadership on Fiscal Cliff

ForAmerica's Brent Bozell writes the Republican Leadership of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate challenging them on putting tax raises on the table.  The question he asks is, "If you now claim a tax increase on small business is the correct course of action, were you lying all along when you claimed this tax increase would decimate the economy?" See full letter at ForAmerica... Read More......

Taxes: Republicans Unveil Their own ‘Buffett Rule’

Republican lawmakers have introduced their own “Buffett Rule” that would allow billionaire investors like Warren Buffett who say they’re not paying enough taxes to voluntarily give more money to the federal government. ✧ Under the legislation, authored by Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Rep. John Scalise of Louisiana, taxpayers can donate at least a $1 to the Treasury fund for deficit reduction when they file their federal income tax returns starting next year. Read more at Fox News... Read More......