Dividends and Capital Gains Taxes
Small Biz Owners: Big Businesses, Millionaires Not Paying Fair Share
Feb 7, 2012 by Gary Therkildsen*
The American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance, and Small Business Majority released a new poll yesterday gauging small business owners’ opinions on taxes. On everything from the tax rates of the wealthy to corporations' exploitation of loopholes in the tax code, small business owners from across the nation say big businesses and millionaires aren’t paying their fair share.
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State of the Union's Call for Tax Fairness is a Good Start
Jan 26, 2012 by Sam Rosen-Amy
“The state of the union is getting stronger.” That is how President Obama characterized the current state of the union. But, as we wrote in our State of the Union preview on Tuesday, we still have a long way to go before the economy is back on its feet. In our article, we recommended doing away with the looming budget cuts, increasing taxes on capital gains and financial transactions, and using the additional revenue to pay for more infrastructure projects and public protections. So what fiscal issues did Obama talk about in his speech on Tuesday?
read in fullThe Carried Interest Loophole-Closer is the Kitty and Congress is trying to put it in the Microwave
Jun 3, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*
Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) released an important call to action along with a report this afternoon about carried interest, the loophole that allows multimillionaire investment fund managers to subject their income to lower tax rates than the average citizen. The "extenders" tax package, which is currently before the Senate, includes a carried interest loophole-closer, but it seems that senators are listening to the fund managers' well-heeled lobbyists and their ridiculous claims against this commonsense policy change.
read in fullHow Big of a Joke is Our Tax System?
Dec 4, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*
Anyone with a cursory knowledge of our current tax code can tell you that it is broken. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), which posted an interesting piece this morning on the need for comprehensive tax reform, our tax system "is inefficient, distorts behavior, stifles economic growth, and raises insufficient revenue to fund current or projected levels of government spending." CRFB included several suggestions for the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB), which was due to release a set of publicly generated recommendations on reforming the tax code today, but postponed the release until after the holidays.
read in fullNo Budget is Better than the Senate Budget
Mar 5, 2004 by Guest Blogger
The budget resolution approved last week by the Senate Budget Committee has nothing good to recommend it. It will hand more tax breaks to the extremely wealthy while slashing assistance to low-income working families and children. Funds for education, housing, the environment and a host of other services that benefit ordinary Americans will also be cut. Ironically, in spite of all these cuts, the committee?s resolution will increase -- not reduce -- the deficit.
read in fullChild Tax Credit: The Poor as Political Theatre
Jun 16, 2003 by Guest Blogger
The story is confusing. How did it end up that some Democrats voted against the House bill extending the refundable child tax credits to the 6.5 million low-income families who got left out of the latest tax break for the wealthy?
read in fullGarbage In, Garbage Out: Two Bad Tax Cut Bills Won't Make One Good One
May 19, 2003 by Guest Blogger
Conference negotiations to reconcile the tax cuts bills passed by the House and Senate are expected to begin tomorrow, and Congress hopes to pass a tax cut bill by the Memorial Day recess, although this may prove impossible.
read in fullPoll Shows Administration?s Priorities Are Out-of-Touch with Country?s Needs
Apr 21, 2003 by Guest Blogger
A recent poll conducted by National Public Radio (NPR), the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Kennedy School of Government reveals much about how tax payers view current proposals to reduce taxes when compared with spending on education, Social Security, health care, and even reducing the deficit. The survey, conducted between February 5 and March 17, 2003, also revealed that many people feel they don’t know enough about various tax cut proposals to offer an opinion on them. This result is disconcerting, surely, but is also very interesting given the efforts of Treasury Secretary John Snow and other White House officials in recent months to educate Americans on the administration’s tax cut agenda through road shows across the country.
read in fullDynamic Disappointment
Apr 7, 2003 by Guest Blogger
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the final version of its March 7 report, entitled “An Analysis of the President’s Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 2004.” The revised version of this report was eagerly awaited for its special section on the “Potential Macroeconomic Effects of the President’s Budgetary Proposals.” A macroeconomic – or “dynamic” – evaluation has never been offered by CBO, and both proponents and critics of the controversial scoring method were anxious to learn what the CBO report would reveal. For many, it seems that the long-awaited results were disappointing in their ambiguity.
read in fullThe New Round of Bush Tax Cuts--Inequitable, Ineffective and Costly
Jan 13, 2003 by Guest Blogger
Bush’s new tax cuts, thinly disguised as an economic stimulus plan, fail every test – whether that of equity, economic stimulus, or responsible budgeting that addresses the nation’s needs. The only test that the Bush plan passes is that of making the President’s wealthier constituents richer while forcing diminished government services upon the rest of us.
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