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Straw Kennedy
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7227
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 6:30 am: | 
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CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 1641
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 6:56 am: |
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I never knew they used your picture. I like it. |
Straw Kennedy
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7228
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 7:49 am: |
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That's not me. I had a full head of hair when I was a baby. |
Straw Kennedy
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7229
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 8:57 am: |
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bump...
Let's use this thread to discuss these very important cuts. |
eliz
Supporter
Username: Eliz
Post Number: 1466
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:27 am: |
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Three cheers for the spiraling out of control deficit! Woo hoo !!! |
dave23
Citizen
Username: Dave23
Post Number: 1780
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:31 am: |
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Okay, let's. |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4334
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:36 am: |
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The worsening inflation is clearly a result of the Bush borrow and spend regime. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 3157
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:40 am: |
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I believe the worsening inflation is a result of my higher salary. I am spending like crazy, and thus driving the cost of everything up.
That, plus the neo-con consipracy to kill the middle class. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 3158
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:43 am: |
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Plus, what exactly did Bush do? He was trying to get the cuts made permanent, but they were simply extended (otherwise known asn Congress passing the buck). |
Twokitties
Citizen
Username: Twokitties
Post Number: 442
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:45 am: |
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YEAH!!! More deficit! Here's to mortgaging our kids future! Hooray! |
Nohero
Supporter
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 5406
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:55 am: |
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Quote:Let's use this thread to discuss these very important cuts.
Sure, why not? There's a good column about this today, from Bloomberg News -
Quote:The official title of the bill, which President George W. Bush proudly signed into law yesterday, is "The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005." It cuts taxes by roughly $70 billion over the next 10 years.
Nevertheless, Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, argued the legislation really only extends some parts of the tax code that have expired or would later.
"So I don't want anybody to come over and say we are cutting taxes," Grassley said.
The new legislation is really a stop-gap measure that settles nothing for the longer term. Still, it reduces taxes significantly, and that's a tax cut except in the land of make believe.
The bill's principal provisions involve tax rates on income from dividends and capital gains and the income thresholds at which taxpayers are subject to the alternative minimum tax. In another bit of make believe, the rates were set to expire in the first place because neither Bush nor a majority of the members of Congress was willing to own up to the amount of lost revenue if they were made permanent.
That type of deceit is still embedded in the new legislation for the same reason.
The income thresholds for the AMT have never been adjusted for inflation, so a provision originally intended only to make sure very high income taxpayers didn't escape income taxes altogether is now hitting upper-middle-income households. In 2003, the thresholds were lifted for that year and the next and later for 2005 as well. Now, they have been extended for one more year, 2006, with an estimated revenue loss of $31 billion.
Low tax rates of 15 percent on stock dividends and capital gains -- and no tax at all in 2008 for taxpayers in the 10- and 15-percent brackets -- were to expire at the end of 2008. Nevertheless, Bush and Republican congressional leaders pushed through a two-year extension, to 2010, at a 10-year revenue loss of $51 billion.
Presumably, there will be another bill next year to prevent the AMT from affecting millions of additional middle-income taxpayers. And now all the other major tax cuts passed since Bush became president in 2001 will expire at the end of 2010, two years after he has left the White House.
The AMT indexing makes sense, because without it there is a "hidden" tax increase for more and more people. Otherwise, as the columnist points out, this is really just sending a problem a few more years downstream. |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 1371
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:57 am: |
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My Average Cost of a Gallon of Gas: 2.84 last year 1.84
My Average Monthly Cost to Heat my House this Winter: 545.00 last year 435.00
My Monthly Cost for Health Insurance: 384.00 last year 310.00 (and more was covered)
My Cost of a Pair of Sneakers: 49.99 (hey I get them at Eastbay.com) last year 39.99
Each of those costs are far greater then the last year at this time.
My (cough cough) tax relief does not cover these expenses. Thanks for nothing President Bust.
It would have been better if they kept my taxes where they were and bought some body armor to help protect those poor kids in Iraq.
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Straw Kennedy
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7230
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 10:08 am: |
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I spent the morning buying stocks.....Making money is what I do. Hopefully you silly libs are doing the same.. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 4942
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 10:43 am: |
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It's a lovely day for it. I hope you were covering your short sells from last week, otherwise you might be taking a bath. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 5628
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 10:55 am: |
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The spending problem is because people spend too much. It's not because tax cuts have revived the economy and put more money into the Treasury. |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2914
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 10:59 am: |
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Jay Leno: “On Thursday, the President will follow up his speech by going to the Arizona border, which will be historic. It will be the first time he's ever actually showed up with a National Guard unit.” |
eliz
Supporter
Username: Eliz
Post Number: 1467
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 11:01 am: |
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Quote:The spending problem is because people spend too much.
Uh yeah the government is the spending too much money. So much for conservatives. |
llama
Citizen
Username: Llama
Post Number: 772
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 12:11 pm: |
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Lets see, how am I going to spend all that extra money now to help with the "trickle down" effect that is amazingly boosting our economy that Bush is responsible for along with "The War on Terror" American soldier & Iraqi civilian death show in Iraq, and the biggest deficit ever?
You would have to be a fool...What a joke.
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Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 2054
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 12:45 pm: |
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Let's use this thread to discuss how these very important cuts will affect the RAMPANT RECESSION that we are in or how the stock market gains that Straw was BRAGGING ABOUT in an earlier thread he created, just went up in smoke ALL IN ONE DAY with the biggest market crash in 3 years. Talk about a recession.
But the richest people in this country got a tax break. There's something to brag about. |
sylvester the investor
Citizen
Username: Mummish
Post Number: 132
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 5:37 pm: |
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Let's use this thread to discuss how these very important cuts will affect the RAMPANT RECESSION that we are in or how the stock market gains that Straw was BRAGGING ABOUT in an earlier thread he created, just went up in smoke ALL IN ONE DAY with the biggest market crash in 3 years. Talk about a recession.
But the richest people in this country got a tax break. There's something to brag about.
Rampant recession.......what planet do you live on? crawl back under your rock. Can you even give me the factual definition of a recession. It isnt the result of a 3 days worth of a down market.
You are calling this a market crash!!! obviously you also know nothing about the market. The market was a little over extendend and the sell off is on pure tading speculation of more fed rate increases. The mild inflationary pressures that we are seeing are a direct result of an economy that is booming. I love how the naysayers on anything look to a few bad days or events. Hello mcfly, look at the market the last few years. Markets go up and they go down, and over time they trend up. Big deal, the market went down. Anyone with a brain 1/10 the size of yours is putting money to work for themselves right now.
And you can take your "richest people got a tax break" and shove it up your •••, as this is nothing but pure democratic rhetoric.
I've got a reccomendation for you: put your money under your mattress...The sky is falling.
IDIOT!!!!!!  |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4336
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 6:54 pm: |
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I see that unemployment is trending upwards as well. We will get to live the Bush legacy while the man is still in office - war, inflation, unemployment.
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CageyD
Citizen
Username: Cageyd
Post Number: 689
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 7:06 pm: |
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Straw, the best thing about these tax cuts is that part of Rove's strategy to try to save the mid-term elections was to highlight that the Dems prevented a tax cut from happening. The fact that enough dems voted to approve the tax cuts totally eliminated Rove's strategy.
Yipee, I'll celebrate irresponsible tax cuts now because it means that come Nov. we'll finally have some financially responsible congresspeople running the country. Isn't it funny that under GOP administratins Reagan, BUsh 1 & 2 the country spirals into deficits, but under Dem leadership - we have surpluses.....hm very interesting.... |
Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 2058
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 8:00 pm: |
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Sylvestor: I didn't know you too were a shill for the Republicans too. Say it is so, please.
OK, let's see. You're an offensive oaf who tells me to shove it up my rectum. Nice.
But let's for a moment give you the respect you DON'T DESERVE.
Quote: The first data to document the effect of President Bush's tax cuts for investment income show that they have significantly lowered the tax burden on the richest Americans, reducing taxes on incomes of more than $10 million by an average of about $500,000.
An analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by The New York Times found that the benefit of the lower taxes on investments was far more concentrated on the very wealthiest Americans than the benefits of Mr. Bush's two previous tax cuts: on wages and other noninvestment income.
text from this recent New York Times article. |
llama
Citizen
Username: Llama
Post Number: 773
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 8:24 pm: |
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Sylvestor;
Nice show of hostility. Similar to Strawbury, but not as passive aggressive in his cowardly way. How's your road rage? It's no wonder the likes of you support the war monger on a simplistic level due to a lack of emotional self control. I take it that you must have taken a beating in the market, but your tax break should make you feel better. Life is sweet. |
Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1393
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 8:43 pm: |
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800 billion in tax cuts produced 5 million jobs. Hmm how does the math work out? |
Bailey
Citizen
Username: Baileymac
Post Number: 287
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 8:58 pm: |
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Roughly 160,000.00 per job. Not Bad.
Of course, that's not enough for those people to enjoy significant tax savings.
Who got those jobs, btw?
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The Notorious S.L.K.
Citizen
Username: Scrotisloknows
Post Number: 1425
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:16 pm: |
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Ok, considering that they believe the government should pay for everything under the sun, witnessing MOL liberals sudenly preaching fiscal responsibility is pretty hard to swallow.
And a little common sense tells this little ole middle classer that rich people get tax cuts because they pay most of the taxes...duh...and many of those tax cuts also benefit the middle class.
Alley, you wouldn't know a recession if your life depended on it, but of course the NYT wrote an article so now you (and they) are experts on the subject....
Give me a break....while Sylvestor may have gotten nasty I can understand his frustration...
-SLK |
Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1398
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 19, 2006 - 12:44 am: |
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Bailey: are you sure you got it right?
"Roughly 160,000.00 per job. Not Bad. "
Everyone knows median income in the US is about 33k/annum, while the top of the 4th quintile (end of the middle class) is at about 85k/annum. |
indi13
Citizen
Username: Notupset
Post Number: 18
Registered: N/A
| | Posted on Friday, May 19, 2006 - 2:59 pm: |
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Until the dopes in Washington stop wasting so much money on beaurocracy and pork, the less money we give them the better. |
Straw Kennedy
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7239
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 6:21 pm: |
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Valid point.. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 4957
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 8:11 pm: |
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Quote:Ok, considering that they believe the government should pay for everything under the sun, witnessing MOL liberals sudenly preaching fiscal responsibility is pretty hard to swallow.
It's not that hard to understand; we think the government should provide services, but we think we should pay for them now, and not later when the T-bills come due.
Quote:Until the dopes in Washington stop wasting so much money on beaurocracy and pork, the less money we give them the better.
See above. As long as they can continue to borrow, it doesn'tt matter how much we give them. They'll spend it anyway.
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sylvester the investor
Citizen
Username: Mummish
Post Number: 134
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 9:46 pm: |
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WASHINGTON -- As America's rich get richer, the taxes they pay on their increasing income is yielding a windfall for the U.S. Treasury.
The Bush administration and its supporters point to a recent surge in tax receipts as vindication of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that critics say favored the wealthy. And even opponents of the tax cuts acknowledge that the surge in unanticipated revenue is coming from the rich.
With wealthy Americans taking an increasing share of total household income and paying a greater share of total taxes, "what we're seeing is a repeat of the late '90s, where you get a flood of tax revenues from the hyper-rich," said Rudolph Penner, a former Congressional Budget Office director now at the Urban Institute think tank. "It may raise some worries socially, but it certainly is good for revenue."
The Treasury reported last week that tax receipts in April jumped 13.5% from a year earlier to $315.1 billion -- much of that increase coming from taxes on investments and other sources of income more important to the wealthy. Receipts from these so-called nonwithheld taxes in April, a month when many tax returns are filed, were up about 17% from a year earlier. (Most Americans have the bulk of their taxes withheld from wages paid through the year.)
Treasury Secretary John Snow, in a speech to the Bond Market Association Friday, said: "The results are in, and they are clear: Economic growth has led to a surge of tax revenues and shrinking deficits. Despite the cries from our critics, it cannot be denied that low taxes truly are consistent with rising federal revenues, which of course help bring the deficit down."
Surging tax receipts have led government and Wall Street analysts to scale back their projections of the federal budget deficit. The CBO said earlier this month that it expects the budget deficit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to be significantly narrower than $350 billion, an improvement over its previous $371 billion projection.
A surge in corporate profits is also helping to fill Treasury's coffers. Corporate income-tax receipts are up $40 billion, or almost 30%, so far this year, well above the CBO's projected 9% increase.
Some states are enjoying a similar windfall. California is expecting a $7.5 billion surplus. Much of that, state finance officials say, is coming from an increase in personal income taxes fueled in part by the exercise of stock options by Google Inc. employees.
Mr. Bush earlier this week signed legislation extending for two years, until 2010, the 15% tax rate on capital gains and dividends. And he has been pressing Congress -- without success -- to extend lower tax rates on ordinary income, which are set to expire in 2010.
Because the U.S. taxes each additional dollar of income earned by the best-off families at rates of up to 35% while taxing a dollar earned by others at 15% or, in some cases, zero, the Treasury benefits when the fruits of economic growth go disproportionately to those at the top, as they have in recent years.
Tax collections are up "not because economic gains have been dramatically faster than expected," said Issac Shapiro of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal advocacy group critical of Bush policies, "but [because] the gains that have occurred have been concentrated among high-income people." Put another way, he said, it's "a good thing for the federal Treasury, [yet] the rich are getting richer but the middle is not benefiting."
Administration officials argue that the Bush tax cuts were necessary to spur the economic growth that has produced rising tax receipts -- proving, they say, that critics of the tax cuts are misguided. "Part of our strategy to cut our deficit in half is to continue to grow this economy," President Bush said earlier this week. "Tax relief has helped a growing economy, which means more tax revenue for the federal Treasury."
Though the Bush tax cuts mean that the best-off Americans face lower effective tax rates than under President Clinton, they do pay a bigger share of all federal taxes. Data from the CBO and projections by the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution think tanks, show that the top 10% of income earners (with incomes above $251,400) will pay 56.2% of all federal taxes this year, up from 52.2% in 2000. That includes income and payroll taxes, Social Security and the like. The growing tax take from the rich reflects their growing share of the nation's income. In 2006, the top 10% is projected to receive 44.7% of all household cash income, up from 40.6% in 2000.
Despite the strong economy, wage growth among most Americans has barely kept up with inflation even as income at the top level has continued to rise as corporate executives, athletes, celebrities and other highly paid individuals enjoy fatter paychecks.
Though reliable data on the incomes of the best-off Americans aren't yet available for 2005, there are indications that the past few years have treated them well -- better than those in the middle and the bottom. According to the Census Bureau, the top 20% of households in terms of income received 50.1% of total household income in 2004, up slightly from each of the two previous years -- and that tally doesn't include all income that accrues to the very richest.
Estimates, based on tax and other data, by economist Emanuel Saez of the University of California at Berkeley suggest that the share of income going to the top 1% of households (excluding capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate) fell when the boom of the 1990s ended, and then rebounded after 2002. Mr. Saez estimates the top 1% got 16.2% of all income (excluding capital gains) in 2004, just shy of the 16.5% peak reached at the top of the boom in 2000.
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tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 4958
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 10:53 pm: |
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Quote:...much of that increase coming from taxes on investments and other sources of income more important to the wealthy.
I'm surprised/not-surprised they're taking credit; after all, these taxes which they are trying to completely eliminate. |
Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1415
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 10:59 pm: |
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Off topic: 5% inflation rate last month. |
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