Fausta's Blog

The Wall Street Journal has the editorial, The GOP’s Payroll Tax Fiasco
How did Republicans manage to lose the tax issue to Obama?

The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play.

Michael Ramirez has the cartoon, (h/t Clifton)

Second-highest tax burden in the country:

5 Highest State Tax Burdens
1. Connecticut
Income tax: 5%
Sales tax: 6.35%
Property tax per capita: $2,381
Inheritance tax: 7.2% to 16% with $2 million exemption
High taxes in Connecticut are paired with the nation’s highest income per capita–$56,001 per person in 2010, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A sales tax increase took effect in July, raising the rate, from 6 percent to 6.35 percent, and adding a further 3 percentage-point levy on luxury goods such as expensive cars and boats. The state collects the third-highest property taxes per capita and is one of 14 states to tax Social Security income, according to CCH.
2. New Jersey
Income tax: 6.37%
Sales tax: 7%
Property tax per capita: $2,625
Inheritance tax: See note*
Regularly listed as a state with one of the highest tax burdens, New Jersey is cited by the Tax Foundation as having the country’s highest property tax per capita. All Social Security benefits in New Jersey are excluded from gross income.
* Transfer to a spouse, lineal descendant, or charitable organization is tax-free; transfer to children-in-law is taxed at 11 percent to 16 percent; all other transfers are taxed at 15 percent to 16 percent.

Buy New Jersey magazine, and you’ll find dozens of ads for housing and retirement communities in Pennsylvania.

(h’t Instapundit)

Tax ‘Experts’ Target Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s official tax stats are deceptive. In 2008 the central government’s revenues equaled only 15.9% of gross domestic product. But as Cato Institute scholar Juan Carlos Hidalgo pointed out in a January op-ed in the Costa Rican daily La Nación, that number doesn’t include local taxes or taxes paid to government entities like the Institute for Tourism and the Institute for Agrarian Development. Nor does it include social security taxes, which rich countries include when they discuss their tax-to-GDP ratios.

Tally up the total take and, according to Mr. Hidalgo, the burden for Costa Ricans in 2008 was 23.1% of GDP. In recessionary 2009 it fell to 21.7%. Compare that to the U.S. overall tax burden of 26.1% in 2008 and 24% in 2009 (the latest year for which Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development figures are available), and it is clear that Costa Ricans are not undertaxed.

Nevertheless, the country’s fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP rose to 3.5% of GDP in 2009 from only 0.2% in 2008. In 2010, according to the United Nation’s Economic Commission on Latin America, Costa Rica’s fiscal deficit was 5.2%, the highest in Latin America. The government forecasts a deficit of 5.5% in 2012.

The problem is government spending. While revenues as a percentage of GDP are forecast to be 7.5% lower this year than they were in 2008, expenditures as a percentage of GDP are expected to come in 29.4% higher. Most of that money is going into an expanded bureaucracy, which grew by 20% during the previous PLN government of Oscar Arias. Mr. Arias was also generous with salary increases. Tocqueville predicted it.

Now Ms. Chinchilla’s “reform” proposes, among other things, a 14% value-added tax on all goods and services to replace a 13% sales tax on goods only and tax hikes on small and medium-sized businesses. Far from simply raising taxes on the rich, as the politicians want people to believe, this proposal will hit ordinary Costa Ricans hard.

Check out the Costa Risa website (in Spanish). Tax increases are for the clowns.

Obama Administration to Delay New 15-Cent Christmas Tree Tax

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is going to delay implementation and revisit a proposed new 15 cent fee on fresh-cut Christmas trees,  sources tell ABC News. The fee, requested by the National Christmas Tree Association in 2009, was first announced in the Federal Registry yesterday and has generated criticism of President Obama from conservative media outlets.

U S Constitution, Section 8:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

In one more instance of governmental intrusion in daily life, Louisiana has banned cash-only transactions for second-hand goods:

Cold hard cash. It’s good everywhere you go, right? You can use it to pay for anything.

But that’s not the case here in Louisiana now. It’s a law that was passed during this year’s busy legislative session.

House bill 195 basically says those who buy and sell second hand goods cannot use cash to make those transactions, and it flew so far under the radar most businesses don’t even know about it.

“We’re gonna lose a lot of business,” says Danny Guidry, who owns the Pioneer Trading Post in Lafayette. He deals in buying and selling unique second hand items.

“We don’t want this cash transaction to be taken away from us. It’s an everyday transaction,” Guidry explains.

Guidry says, “I think everyone in this business once they find out about it. They’re will definitely be a lot of uproar.”

The law states those who buy or sell second hand goods are prohibited from using cash. State representative Rickey Hardy co-authored the bill.

Hardy says, “they give a check or a cashiers money order, or electronic one of those three mechanisms is used.”

Hardy says the bill is targeted at criminals who steal anything from copper to televisions, and sell them for a quick buck. Having a paper trail will make it easier for law enforcement.

It also comes in handy for the taxman, too.

According to the WSJ, long-term capital gains and dividends are taxed as follows:

For taxpayers in the 15% income tax bracket and below, the rate is zero. For those in the 25% bracket and above, the rate is 15%

and the federal income tax rate for people earning $10,000,000 or more is 26.3%

Warren Buffett claims that his secretary is taxed at a higher rate than he. President Obama repeated that claim

“Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett.

She may be, if she’s pulling in a salary in the vicinity of $2-$5 million per year, claims no deductions, and has no capital gains.

Otherwise, the evidence doesn’t support Warren’s claim, particularly considering the various tax exemptions, deductions, etc., that change the numbers when you look at what people actually pay. Today Stephen Ohlemacher did a FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries?

This year, households making more than $1 million will pay an average of 29.1 percent of their income in federal taxes, including income taxes and payroll taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

Households making between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay 15 percent of their income in federal taxes.
Lower-income households will pay less. For example, households making between $40,000 and $50,000 will pay an average of 12.5 percent of their income in federal taxes. Households making between $20,000 and $30,000 will pay 5.7 percent.
The latest IRS figures are a few years older — and limited to federal income taxes — but show much the same thing. In 2009, taxpayers who made $1 million or more paid on average 24.4 percent of their income in federal income taxes, according to the IRS.

Those making $100,000 to $125,000 paid on average 9.9 percent in federal income taxes. Those making $50,000 to $60,000 paid an average of 6.3 percent.

Obama’s claim hinges on the fact that, for high-income families and individuals, investment income is often taxed at a lower rate than wages. The top tax rate for dividends and capital gains is 15 percent. The top marginal tax rate for wages is 35 percent, though that is reserved for taxable income above $379,150.

We are being subjected to class-warfare propaganda.

Warren, since you think the government is doing such a stellar job of managing things, leave the rest of us alone, and put your money where your mouth is and give all your income and all of your assets to the government. I beg you.

In the meantime, pay up: Berkshire Hathaway Owes Taxes Going Back To 2002

Buffett: I beg you to raise my taxes

Warren Buffett, the third wealthiest man in the world with a net worth of around $80 billion, is demanding the U.S. government make the rich like him pay higher taxes and says they should no longer be protected like endangered “spotted owls.”

Warren’s own spotty logic shines through here: Stop Coddling the Super-Rich because he only paid $6,938,744 in federal taxes last year.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

Well, I’m so glad Warren rounded up to the nearest dollar. However, to the best of my knowledge, Buffett has never made his tax returns public, so who knows?

Warren, dearest, you can stop bellyaching and start preaching by example: Give ALL your money to the federal government. Every red cent. I asked you to do it last year, and you’ve kept me waiting.

Step up to the plate, Warren.

I beg you.

UPDATE,
Here’s the address, Warren,

Gifts to the United States U.S. Department of the Treasury Credit Accounting Branch 3700 East-West Highway, Room 6D37 Hyattsville, MD 20782

If you send it via FedEx they’ll have it by Wednesday morning.

…also known as the Cost of Government Day,
August 12, 2011- Cost of Government Day Has Arrived!

In 2011, Cost of Government Day falls on August 12. Working people must toil 224 days out of the year just to meet all costs imposed by government, a full 27 days longer than 2008.

In other words, in 2011 the cost of government consumes 61.42 percent of national income.

Remember that every time you hear any politician telling you about “paying your fair share”, and the dog that doesn’t bark in the night.

While you make plans for the weekend, ask also, How Much will the Obama EPA Increase the Cost of Government?

Cap and Trade would have increased the Cost of Government by three additional days.

Is anyone surprised, then, about the stagnant economy and the near-10% unemployment rate?

UPDATE,
Linked by Maggie’s farm. Thanks!

Back in October 2008, Argentina nationalized ten bank-owned pension funds – worth over $26 billion in total – in an attempt to bail itself out of a financial crisis.

Now it’s Ireland’s turn: a tax, not a nationalization,
Irish Bombshell: Government Raids PRIVATE Pensions To Pay For Spending

The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today.

Without the ability sell debt due to soaring interest rates, and with severe spending rules in place due to its EU-IMF bailout, Ireland has few ways of spending to stimulate the economy. Today’s jobs program includes specific tax increases, including the tax on pensions, aimed at keeping government jobs spending from adding to the national debt.

The tax on private pensions will be 0.6%, and last for four years, according to the report.

But Argentina and Ireland are not alone: Business Insider lists Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Italy, and Japan as likely candidates to follow their example. Investor’s Business Daily points out that

Britain under Labor Party Prime Minister Gordon Brown did something similar in 2008.

The Irish plan is to tax of 0.06% on 65,000 private pensions to fund a :jobs initiative” for four years.

And when that doesn’t work, what next?