Unless the U.S. Congress acts, there is going to be a massive wave of tax increases in 2011. In fact, some are already calling 2011 the year of the tax increase. A whole host of tax cuts that Congress established between 2001 and 2003 are set to expire in January unless Congress chooses to renew them. But with Democrats firmly in control of both houses that appears to be extremely unlikely. These tax increases are going to affect every single American (at least those who actually pay taxes). But this will be just the first wave of tax increases. Another huge slate of tax increases passed in the health care reform law is scheduled to go into effect by 2019. So Americans that are already infuriated by our tax system are only going to become more frustrated in the years ahead. The reality is that the U.S. government will soon be digging much deeper into our wallets.
The following are some of the tax increases that are scheduled to go into effect in 2011....
1 - The lowest bracket for the personal income tax is going to increase from 10 percent to 15 percent.
2 - The next lowest bracket for the personal income tax is going to increase from 25 percent to 28 percent.
3 - The 28 percent tax bracket is going to increase to 31 percent.
4 - The 33 percent tax bracket is going to increase to 36 percent.
5 - The 35 percent tax bracket is going to increase to 39.6 percent.
6 - In 2011, the death tax is scheduled to return. So instead of paying zero percent, estates of $1 million or more are going to be taxed at a rate of 55 percent.
7 - The capital gains tax is going to increase from 15 percent to 20 percent.
8 - The tax on dividends is going to increase from 15 percent to 39.6 percent.
9 - The "marriage penalty" is also scheduled to be reinstated in 2011.
It is being estimated that the total cost of these tax increases to U.S. taxpayers will be $2.6 trillion through the year 2020.
Ouch!
But wait, there are even more tax increases coming.
The "health care reform law" contains over a dozen new taxes that will be implemented in stages over the next decade. When you add all of these taxes to the taxes that were mentioned earlier, the result is going to be absolutely devastating. According to an analysis by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation the health care reform law will generate $409.2 billion in additional taxes by the year 2019.
Double ouch!
So is it any wonder why the public has such a low opinion of the U.S. Congress?
Every single major poll done on the topic shows that approval ratings for Congress are at record lows.
For example, Gallup's 2010 Confidence in Institutions poll found Congress ranking dead last out of the 16 institutions rated this year.
Of course there are a whole host of reasons why the American people are upset with Congress, but one of the big ones is the fact that we are literally being taxed to death.
However, it is not just federal income taxes that are killing us.
In a previous article entitled "Taxed Enough Already!", we listed just a few of the taxes that Americans have to pay each year....
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (indirect taxes)
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel permit tax
Gasoline Tax
Gift Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Payroll Taxes
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
School Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone federal excise tax
Telephone federal universal service fee tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
Telephone state and local tax
Telephone usage charge tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
Trailer registration tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Are you dizzy yet?
The reality is that the American people are being drained in dozens and dozens of different ways.
But what did you expect?
Did you think that our politicians would pile up the biggest debt in the history of the world and never ask you to pay for it?
Did you think that we could run deficits equivalent to about 10 percent of GDP without ever seeing tax increases?
The truth is that the U.S. government needs a whole lot more money than even these new tax increases will bring in.
After all, it is being projected that the U.S. government will be spending $2 trillion on the interest on the national debt alone by the year 2020.
To put that in perspective, the entire budget for the U.S. government is less than $4 trillion for 2010.
Are you starting to get the picture?
In the years ahead the IRS is going to be digging deeper and deeper into our pockets and a gigantic chunk of that money is going to go directly into the pockets of those who own our debt.
But very few Americans wanted to listen when this problem was actually somewhat fixable 20 or 30 years ago.
So now we are all going to pay the price - literally.
We need to Tax the rich hard and spread the wealth. The working peoples productivity increases have been stole by the rich/CEO’S and we need to take it back. As the rich keep getting tax cuts the economy does worse (the 00′s) and when their taxes are higher it does better (the 90′s) Obama was exactly right when he told that dolt Joe the plumber that we need to spread the wealth. What I can not figure out is why so many low income/middle income vote republican which is clearly against their financial interest. They must be very unsophisticated low information people like the TEA party.
The taxes described look just laughably low to us Scandinavians. No wonder US is in trouble.
On average, the total tax level of GDP is some 25% in USA. Check that with Norway’s of 45%. But then practically free health care, free education for your children and a generous governmental pension is included. Everybody making more than 71000 BOK (ca 10 – 11.000 $) have to pay income tax. Even if it is pension or social security, here in Norway.
I paid more than 300.000 NOK (48,000 $) to the Norwegian state & local gov. coffers in 2009. Then you can complain. But our state finances are in order….
When you see the rise of the men of the double standard–the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money–the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law–men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims–then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.
Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.
Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’
“When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? We are.
Michael,
The situation is far worse than you think. The taxes we pay, for the most part, do not go to the government but to the banks. Once upon a time, before the private, and partially foreign-owned, Federal Reserve was created, Americans paid no taxes. The whole thing is a scam, a tax we pay to bankers. Our indebtedness is built-in and inescapable with the present system, and can only be solved by abolishing the Federal Reserve and for the government to print its own greenbacks, without paying a single penny of interest on the big banks. And while we’re at it, we must abolish the dangerous banking cartels (instead of, as we do now, keeping them alive with OUR money).
Taxes… ugh. I’m self-employed, so I actually have to write checks to all the various government agencies: Federal, state, and unemployment. (The unemployment office is a quasi-government unto itself.)
With automatic payroll deductions, employed people don’t really feel the pain of taxes. If every American was self-employed and had to write checks to the government, I bet there’d be a revolution overnight.
-SJ
The problem is our leaders do not understand monetary policy, the deficit hawks make you think we are on some sort of gold standard, the government needs to have a tax holiday and spend responsibly to restore the economy.
Who can we trust to do this??????? Warren Mosler
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=7352.7.0.0
ALL the taxes you mention that will increase will hit the people who make the big bux. Oh Im gonna cry for all those rich @ssholes who will now have to pay taxes on the cash they make! Oh, my heart bleeds for them!
How about making ALL those companies such as Exxon pay actual tax in USA? Exxon paid zero taxes in 2009 as documented in http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/06/exxon-tax/
and many other sites http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Exxon+doesnt+pay+any+taxes+in+USA&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
The democrats and msnbcs talking points are always, “george bushs tax cuts for the wealthy.” Its not true.
Well if you want to completely beat the system, why not become a Hedge Fund Manager, or work at one. The reason I say this is because the barely pay any taxes for investing peoples money. I don’t work at on, but i used to.
Reply: Phil Nice cut a paste job. Your plagerism has gotten much better since 9th grade.
tax tax yax! I love it man! stop moaning and PAY UP!!!
The solution is simple.
The flat tax. We can abandon the 2500 page tax code, tax accountants will have to find new jobs. The IRS employees would have to find new jobs.
Ever stop to think why we don’t have a flat tax other than it’s too easy and makes sense?
It’s because over time and decades, the elite have carved out tax loopholes and deductions that they could not get with a flat tax. It’s that simple. They don’t want to pay what the lower classes pay.
Last year, I paid more as a percentage on my 75k income than Obama paid on his 5.3 million. Bet me Warren Buffett paid even less as a percentage.
The class war is over. The elite have won. Short of a revolution, this will not change. Nobody on the hill has the balls, nor would they change a law that would affect them. Serve the public? They only serve themselves- that is evident.
Whether or not Phil authored or copied his comment I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks Phil.
Not everyone is “subject to” these taxes. How to remove yourself from the system: It is not an easy read, but an in-depth study of law. DYNAMITE. See http://www.truthinlaw.net.
Phil;
You left off credit due, the author of your post.
Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged” page 413
Why tax the rich more than anyone else? I favor a flat rate (a low one) for everyone. However, I would like to see massive spending cuts in order to get our books in order. This isn’t Norway, I don’t want the Government paying for my child’s education, or my medical expenses. The Government needs to stop interfering with the free market, all they do is drive up prices.
I get up early every day, put on my boots and go work in this 100 degree Alabama heat. I don’t do it so I can give my money to the government to spend on aircraft carriers we don’t need, or to give to people who won’t work, or even to pay for someone else’s medical procedures – I do it so I can take care of my family and provide a better future for them. Kinda hard to do when I have such little disposable income left to invest.
Thanks for making so clear that this is propaganda, so I don’t have to read the rest. The few things I know about this, is that the so called “death tax” is a totally different story than indicated here:
“6 – In 2011, the death tax is scheduled to return. So instead of paying zero percent, estates of $1 million or more are going to be taxed at a rate of 55 percent.”
The fact of the matter is that the tax will only affect the amount of the estate over $1 million, nor does it mention that the exemption is per person, so that a couple can easily pass $2 million on to their heirs and escape all tax liability. IMHO, it’s high time that this is put in place. Very poor reporting not to mention this, which makes me see that this is just another piece of propaganda.
Gary:
You want to remain a SLAVE to government handouts all your life, just keep thinking that way.
How do you conclude, that the government should have the right to steal from hard working, free thinking Americans, so that you can sit on your lazy ass and complain that “the rich are getting richer”?
Our nation fought a war to free those who had been forced into slavery. Now, we have a nation of slaves who embraces it gladly.
Your master (government) feeds you and clothes you and houses you, and doctors you, and trains you, how to complain about all those outside the plantation, who work for what they have.
Your “spread the wealth” mentality (taught to you by your master) is keeping you, and will keep you, on the plantation…just the way Master likes.
Let me guess – Gary does not like to work very hard for what he has. Hes rather go after the ambitious (ambition and drive is what makes you rich) to support his low energy lifestyle. Nothing like a government handout – huh Gary?
Gary is exactly the kind of voter Obama and the tax and spend happy democrats like.
Little advice Gary – put down the cheetos and the remote control – get off the couch and start fending for yourself. Self-sufficiency is what made this country what it is. The statist-socialist democrats need people like you. People who are utterly unable or unwilling to take care of themselves and look to government like it’s their mother.
Le me be clear Gary – the government is not going to be there when you truly need them – (Katrina).
You’ve got to see this to believe it.
http://www.businessinsider.com/22-statistics-that-prove-the-middle-class-is-being-systematically-wiped-out-of-existence-in-america-2010-7#83-percent-of-all-us-stocks-are-in-the-hands-of-1-percent-of-the-people-1
Olsen (at 9:33 am) America is the land of profitiers. Our problem (or demise) is our experiment has come full circle. Our “keeping up with the jones” culture is now killing everything we once cherished. Such as, happiness, security and health. We are in such competition with easy other to impress our friends, neighbors and selves, that we are losing touch with all the things your country possibly takes for granted. Aside from a Tsunami sized Depression, I don’t believe our culture can be corrected. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m having a ceo sandwich with bankster fries for lunch.
As Gary said, many people vote against their interests. Unfortunately, the Democrats were in collusion with the Republicans when Glass-Steagall was repealed, setting up ponzi loans and the like. I would hope that people would come to realize that both parties are hell bent on worshipping at the feet of the banksters.
But the VAT tax is an IMF hidden tax. We are now, as a first world country, in the cross hairs of the IMF, a part of the trio of banks that control the world, along with the Bank of International Settlements and the World Bank.
If our military were smart, they would confiscate the wealth of all these banks and the owners of these banks like the Rothschild family and put the money back into the treasury. Then huge refunds could be made to the average mainstreet guy and our economy would bounce back. Certainly, housing must come down.
But where wages are too low, like in China, they have these bubble mortgages, like the 255 year mortgage for housekeepers. This will crash at some point. We cannot rely on China. The US consumer is the buyer of the excess goods of the world. But he has been knocked down.
95% of my friends who lives and lived in America have no clue whats going on. Most of them have no clue about what is GDP and how they measure recession. When ever I talk about this economy they call me that I am nuts. They are busy in their day to day life. Back in 2005 April I sold my house in San Jose with 100% profit and moved to an apartment. I have asked all my friend not to buy during 2005, reason being its going to collapse. They called me that I was a moron and I am jealous. AT one point I stopped talking this economic issues to my friends. Because they hate me when I open this topic.
That is why the United States is the United States and Norway is Norway. Can only be one #1. Has nothing to do with arrogance.
Who among us will be the first to refuse to accept government handouts? Most people want them at the same time they complain about paying taxes! Educational grants, crop subsidies and insurance, free highways, police and fire protection, free schools etc. etc. Approximately 50% of citizens already get ‘government healthcare’- teachers, military, medicare, government employees- are they willing to give it up? Don’t complain about higher taxes AND larger deficits. It should be common sense- if there is not enough money to balance the budget- raise ‘income’ AND cut expenses.
This is a misleading article, meant to rile up the tea-baggers.
1. How can you say the IRS will be digging into our wallets when your laundry list of taxes consists of mostly state and local taxes?
2. When did it become unpatriotic to pay taxes? I didn’t want the rebates from Bush the Younger or from Obama – my son and his children will be paying for them.
3. If we don’t start actually paying for the things we are getting, we can simply become the U.S. of C.(hina).
4. P.T. Barnum was definitely correct when he said “There’s a sucker born every minute” – as a matter of fact, he miscalculated – there are millions of suckers born (here in the US) every minute – who want something for nothing and are falling for the carnival barking pitches of the media, the politicians, and anyone else who appeals to their emotions, rather than their intellect and common sense, sense of fair play, and duty to country and future generations.
Americans generally disgust me with their “I got mine, Jack, you can can go to hell” mentality. We deserve to get buried in the dustbin of history – we’ve become utter morons…
The IRS has a long history of going after small businesses and the middle class because they are a much easier target than the ultra-rich, who can afford the best accountants and know how to find every tax loophole imaginable (the late Leona Helmsley may have been a nasty bitch, but she was being painfully honest when she said that “only the little people pay taxes”). But now that the American middle class is going the way of the dinosaur, the IRS as well as state revenue departments are losing their favorite cash cow. And the poor don’t have much to tax. So get ready for budgetary problems to get a lot worse in The Banana Republic of America (formerly the USA). Get ready for the American infrastructure to resemble the infrastructure of a Third World country, which is what the BRA is. It won’t be pretty.
Bienvenido al tercer mundo.
“…are scheduled to go into effect…”????
Since when? Could you provide sources?
TAX THE **** out OF THE RICH! PERIOD!
A very disturbing trend here when you consider that the annual interest payments on our national debt will skyrocket to $806 Billion by 2019 and we are increasing taxes to pay for out of control spending. That is more than it cost to fund the entire Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Department of Transportation, and the State Department…
Who in the hell do they think is going to be able to pay this off? The problem is that many people, including people on this post, think that taxing the “rich” to give to the poor is going to bail us out of this mess when the reality is that taxes are going to increase on most Americans and while the super rich will remain rich, the middle class will continue to disappear under such onerous tax laws…
Tax and spend policies have never worked because sooner or later you drive American companies into being noncompetitive with this tax burden and you eventually run out of other people’s money to spend…
Corporate Statism and the Prince John Syndrome
From closing down yard sales, to labeling the widow finally selling the wedding bands a precious metals trading company; the 15,000+ additional ‘new growth’ jobs, in the IRS collection agency division, will be targeting the middle, lower and poor citizens that are selling their possessions in order to survive. Welcome to the gulag-ghetto.
http://sovereignthink.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/taxing-america-to-prison/
As a self-employed guy, I’m planning to cut back next year. Or try to transition to corporate or government work. My 70-hour workweeks with no vacation won’t make any sense. They almost don’t make sense now, if you add self-employment, state, other taxes, plus risks. Plus paperwork/cost requirements on small biz will increase next year with 1099′s required for everyone. We’re headed to a more European model anyway, so it’s time for a more balanced and less entrepreneurial (work all the time) lifestyle for more Americans.
How ‘They’ are Kicking the Legs Out From Under America
3/16/2010
This is the way I see it may happen this tax ‘season’.
This last year the Withholding Law was changed so that businesses didn’t have withhold taxes according to current tables.
Older tables were used or low withholding rates were allowed.
This was because the market had collapsed and liquidity was needed for small businesses and consumers.
The Tax table was amended but not the taxes that were still going to be due.
Therefore this year there is a majority of tax payers that are going to owe a large amount. These are the average taxpayers; they have usually broken even or maybe got a little back. This is going to be a big blow to most America.
I am talking true Lowest Minimum wages, small-medium business, office workers, Middle America and on up the line.
http://wp.me/PPkXP-U
The solution is to just step back to America’s Golden Age (the one the GOP plutocrats tell us they want to go back to–not that they really mean it, except for the racism, sexism, etc) for our tax rates. With a top marginal tax rate at 90%, we’d be fine.
And somehow, the rich of that era didn’t seem to suffer too much.
Taxes are just the price of living in a civilized society.
I see in all publications and in all comments blame on others. Everyone blames our government, business, the rich, the foreigners, their neighbors.
I am an older man so wisdom is something I believe I’ve earned.
The fact is that this America was built by mostly men who had faith in man.
Soon after our constitution was implemented there were those who set out to manipulate it so they could get rich and powerful.
As time passed more and more people did the same. Today everyone in America would do the same if given the chance. We all want wealth and power.
Who is at fault?
You are!!!!!!
Everyone who doesn’t take responsibility for their actions, words or greed.
I could describe it in detail but if you don’t understand why YOU are the one to blame then you never will and validate my claim that educated people are not allways smart.
So we should leave in place the Bush tax cuts that trashed our surplus and and economy? I don’t think so. Where are the jobs such cuts are supposed to create? In the pockets of the rich CEos.
Raising taxes to try to reduce the deficit? No Way… That sounds like an awful idea!
Lets see:
Republicans lower taxes and spend money on Corporations.
Democrats Raise taxes and Spend Money on the people.
Which one lowers the deficit? Hmm. Really difficult to figure this one out (this is mostly directed towards tyler, but the amount of deficit hawks who think that the republicans are the solution, are blind.) We payed for 2 wars on credit… has anyone ever seen what our income tax goes to?
http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm
Now, I don’t necessarly agree that almost 60% of our income taxes go to the military, but I do think it’s well over the 20% the government claims it is. Rep. Grayson (D-Fl) is absolutely right when he said, and introduced a bill, that ‘War makes you poor’. You want to lower your taxes? Don’t let corporations bully America into going to war. Hold the government accountable. Hold corporations accountable. Practice true capitalism by letting banks fail. No bailouts. No mercy.
i’d also like to amend that last little portion. democrats are also as bad on spending money on corporations too.
I’ve summarized everything this blog has stated. Let’s all hope and pray we don’t have a recovery…here is why…
http://thecivillibertarian.blogspot.com/
mwthetm said:
“Everyone who doesn’t take responsibility for their actions, words or greed.
I could describe it in detail but if you don’t understand why YOU are the one to blame then you never will and validate my claim that educated people are not always smart.”
He is correct. People don’t want to realize that everyone in this country were broke the whole time except the rich who are still getting richer. This depression just lifted the curtain off for everyone to see. If you live off of credit, you are broke. If you don’t have the cash, you don’t need it. If you have a limited amount of money, prioritize, you can’t have it all. But, it’s too late for that now. I’m really upset at the fact that when I get my life cleaned up and I’m on the way to doing things, this happens. I feel just like mwthetm, Americans are to blame, I won’t leave myself out of it either.
When you rack up huge debt, sooner or later the bill has to come due. Looks like it is time to get going on paying down the deficit, no?
Wow! I can’t believe that anybody actually believes that keeping the tax cuts for the rich is good for America. It is not. The tax cuts passed in 2001-2003 are a big reason we are in the financial crisis we are currently experiencing. Why would any American not want the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. The author must also think that the bonuses paid to the Wall Street Bankers was a good thing since in increased the wealth of the rich at the expense of the poor. America can not go on subsidizing the rich at the expense of the poor. It is just plain wrong. Taxes are not the problem; greed is the problem and it must be stopped.
No, Obama is not correct in wanting to “spread the wealth”. Conservatives CREATE wealth, liberals on REDISTRIBUTE it. Why not create your own corporation? Go start your own business and risk your own money. Risk your own time. Risk your own assets. Make sacrafices with aboslutely no gaurantee of success. Then pay all of the employer taxes and the myriad of local, state, and federal taxes and fees. Become a job creator and start coming up with a payroll every week and see just how “easy” all of this is to do.
If you fail, then no one is going to feel sorry for you. You won’t be able to write off all of your losses in one tax year. But if you succeed, then you will be conceived to one of the evil corporations of this country, intent on exploiting the labor of the unskilled labor pool. You will be an entiity that must be held to pay the price of success. Your wealth MUST be redistrubted to those who didn’t risk or sacrafice a darn thing – YOU MUST PAY!!!
To Olsen:
Tell us: what were you country’s illigal immigration numbers last year? If an illegal alien has a child in your country, is the baby a citizen and the parents allowed to stay? Are they given welfare from accounts that they never paid into? How many of your population are on welfare? Would you like us to send you 10 million illegals per year for the next 5 years?
Despite our problems, despite our issues, despite our growing pains, the United States of America still enjoys the hegemony of our day and age, and we are still the richest and most powerful country that this world has ever known.
And we will remain there – have no doubt.
We are currently at the lowest tax rate since before WWII. People should stop complaining about taxes, and demand more efficiency from government. If you are going to make money in this country, you have to pay to play. The more you make, the more you should pay to support the internal machinery that supports your great wealth. It only makes sense. If big corp, down the street, is responsible for 80% of the damage to your road because they are responsible for you 80% of the traffic on your street, it only makes sense they should pay 80% of the costs to have it fixed. It is the same with the tax system. Remember the tax rate in the 90s did not ruin our economy, and it is that rate we will return to. I a sick of the wine, wine, wine, about taxes!
So our leaders don’t understand monetary policy! Neither does the public that voted for them. Baby Face and Sardine Sam forget that the rich have hundreds of ways to avoid taxes and that leaves the middle class alone to pay. The welfare class will continue to live on the dole!
Taxation is theft!
SayWhat says “Conservatives CREATE wealth, liberals on REDISTRIBUTE it”
Get a clue, conservatives HOARD wealth, liberals SHARE wealth. There’s a reason more Americans have historically benefited during periods of Liberal policymaking than not.
Have any other ridiculous conservative “facts” to disseminate?
Wow. Socialist air smells funny, doesn’t it?
The estate tax may well end our family-owned business.
Remember, the tax is against the value of all assets, not just liquid assets like cash & stocks.
We have millions in fixed plant & equipment, not liquid cash.
Those capital assets have depreciated to zero, but will be taxed at full market value as part of the estate tax.
So, how many of the 500 people who currently work for us will I have to lay off when it comes time to pay that 55% tax?
NO small business throws off enough cash flow to service that high of a tax!
Gary, any thoughts?
Read what Lee Brobst, a legal historian of 40 years has to say. The proof is in the pudding..
http://www.truthinlaw.net
To: SayWhatEVER: You say: “liberals SHARE wealth”. I agree with you: they share OTHER PEOPLE’S wealth, not their own. Conservatives don’t go out and find wealth laying around and collect it. They EARN it through risk taking, sacrifices, and hard work, at a level beyond most people’s concept.
Liberals are always very generous with other people’s money. Liberals think that there is a moral duty of the rich to give away their hard fought wealth. I’m not talking about inherited wealth like the Kennedy’s or Paris Hilton enjoy. I’m talking about the millionaire next door, the people in America who quietly and meticulously earn their wealth, year after year. That is not hoarding. That is reaping the benefits from one’s own labor.
Liberals too often think that wealth is about luck. They fail to realize that luck is nothing more than being prepared to seize and recognize the opportunities as they present themselves.
Bill-your obviously rich-I guess its time you will need to spread the wealth. Maybe you can take your company public to raise money to pay your tax bill? Sell it to a rich friend?
I would love to have this problem-having so much money that I would even have a tax bill, much less one so big. I will tell you what-lets trade places. I would love to have your problem. I would not even complain about the tax bill because I would still be rich when I was done paying it. Do you know what its like having to go to the food pantry to be able to feed your family because the only jobs out there (yes I work) are crap low paying ones. Please -send me your money I will gladly pay the tax bill. I wont even complain about it. I am absolutely serious about this. I love it when the rich complain-you go stand in line at the food pantry. I will go to the fancy restaurants.
Bill – you need to meet with a financial advisor, one who specializes in estate planning. With the proper planning, you will not lose 55% of your estate, in fact your estate probably won’t have to pay any tax.
or you can just own a church and not have to pay taxes at all..making money off of “god”..
must be nice.
The estate tax will indeed revert to 55% – whether the exemption will be raised from $1 million is to be seen.
Again, the tax is against the value of all assets – not just liquid ones, but land, equipment, and whatever the business is valued at (usually calculated from previous year cash flows)
There’s no planning to be done apart from the fact that to generate the cash flow we’ll need to service the loan (assuming we can borrow enough) I’ll have to cut costs significantly.
The bank will not loan us the money to pay the tax (due a scant 6 months after death) unless I can show them enough cash flow to service the loan.
Like most all businesses, labor is our highest variable cost.
So, the only question is how many layoffs will it take to pay tax on 55% (minus any exemption) of our land plus equipment plus the value of the business itself?
As reported by Politifact.com and in many newspapers today, 22 million jobs were created during the two terms of the Clinton administration. 1.1 jobs were created during the two terms of the Bush administration. More jobs have already been created under the Obama administration than was created in 8 years under Bush.
Wages grew by 21 percent under Clinton and only 2 percent under Bush. So much for the trickle down economic policies the Republicans so strongly believe in. Giving tax cuts that benefit the rich the most does not create jobs. It only gets us further in debt and was a major reason for our economy collapsed under the Bush administration.
Local income tax? Can someone please explain that one? I’ve never heard of anything like that and if the town I’m living in now has such a thing, I’m way behind in paying.
Bill-you never commented on my offer to trade places with you-you asked me for a comment and I gave you one. Quit complaining-many folks wish they had your problems.
Do you want any cheese with all that wine (ing)?