It's up to the House: fiscal cliff faces Republican-controlled territory. By Dana Bash, Dana Ford, and Josh Levs, CNN January 2, 2013 -- Updated 0408 GMT (1208 HKT) NEW: House approves the deal late Tuesday nightThe vote was an up-or-down vote on the Senate compromiseLawmakers were under a tight deadline; A new Congress is set to be sworn in Thursday With the fiscal cliff deal in limbo, what's your New Year's message to Washington? Go to CNN iReport to share your video. Washington (CNN) -- The House of Representatives voted Tuesday night to approve a Senate bill to avert a feared fiscal cliff.
The measure that sought to maintain tax cuts for most Americans but increase rates on the wealthy passed the Democratic-led Senate overwhelmingly early in the day. There was discussion about amending the Senate bill by adding spending cuts, but in the end, House lawmakers voted on the bill as written -- a so-called up or down vote. Cole: House will pass Senate fiscal bill Can deal be reached before congress ends? GOP House members blast cliff bill. Fiscal Cliff Deal: $1 in Spending Cuts for Every $41 in Tax Increases. Norquist Verdict Empowers Boehner in Cliff Talks. “And when you think about what we've gone through over the last couple of months -- a devastating hurricane, and now one of the worst tragedies in our memory -- the country deserves folks to be willing to compromise on behalf of the greater good, and not tangle themselves up in a whole bunch of ideological positions that don’t make much sense.” -- President Obama at a press conference telling reporters why Republican House members should accept his proposal for higher tax rates.
The biggest thing that happened Wednesday in the “fiscal cliff” battle wasn’t President Obama using the Connecticut school shootings to bash Republicans on taxes. It wasn’t the announcement by the head of the IRS that as many as 100 million taxpayers wouldn’t be able to file their returns on time if there is no deal. It wasn’t even the latest veto threat from Obama. This is why conservatives opposed the original Bush-era idea of making the tax rates temporary: Automatic rate increases provide a tax pledge loophole.
$1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting on Jan. 1. Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The five major Obamacare taxes taking effect on January 1 are as follows: The Obamacare Medical Device Tax: Medical device manufacturers employ 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. The Obamacare Flex Account Tax: The 30-35 million Americans who use a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) at work to pay for their family’s basic medical needs will face a new government cap of $2500. There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children.
The Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income: This is a new, 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). 'Milk Cliff' Could Make Prices $8 Per Gallon. Is the U.S. Tax Code Holding Back Our Economic Growth? Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that more U.S. companies are moving their operations overseas in order to avoid the high corporate tax rates they face domestically. The U.S. has the highest marginal tax rate of developed nations, with the top federal rate for companies reaching 35 percent. Once state and local taxes on corporations are factored in, the combined rate is 39.2 percent. Meanwhile, the average corporate tax rate for developed nations is only 25.4 percent. But, while government officials have proposed lowering the corporate tax rate to stimulate economic growth in the U.S., businesses are still uncertain about whether or not these reforms will go into effect anytime soon.
And with Congress delaying on issues such as the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and defense cuts, who can blame them? As they wait, American companies are forced to compete with developed nations offering a lower tax rate for companies producing the same products. Don't Die in 2013: Confiscatory 55% Death Tax Set to Take Effect. This content is provided by the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation. Current Law The 2001 tax relief bill (EGTRRA), drastically reduced the impact of the death tax over the course of a decade, so that it was eliminated entirely for one year in 2010 — a good year to die, joked a number of pundits. The bill lowered marginal rates and increased the applicable exclusion amount, but it also included a provision allowing individuals to carry over exclusion dollars that were unused by their spouse at the time of his or her death.
This “portability” measure effectively increased the applicable exclusion for many households, in some instances putting millions of dollars beyond the reach of the federal government. The death tax rose from the grave at the end of 2010, with a Bush-era top rate of 35% and an applicable exclusion amount of $5 million ($5.12 million in 2012). Scheduled Changes In 2013, the death tax will revert to its antiquated, pre-2001 form. ATRF Analysis 10 Year Cost to Taxpayers. Obama launches election-year tax offensive against Republicans. President Obama on Monday called for extending Bush-era tax rates for family incomes below $250,000 for a year, reopening a tax battle with Republicans just before the last stretch of the presidential election.
Obama said Republicans and Democrats agree that the tax rates on middle-class families should be extended, and called on the two parties to come together on a policy that finds common ground. "Let's agree to do what we agree on. That’s what compromise is all about,” Obama said in the East Room of the White House, joined by taxpayers he said would be hit with a more than $2,000 tax increase if current middle-class rates weren’t extended. “Let’s not hold the vast majority of Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy,” Obama added. “We can have that debate.” Obama ramped up his attacks on his opponent, Mitt Romney, seeking to telegraph a stark contrast between the two presidential candidates on taxes. Interactive Map: Tax Increase by State 2013. Taxmageddon: Massive Tax Hikes on the Horizon. Obama takes 'Buffett Rule' on the road. President Obama is set to hit the road on Tuesday to talk up his “Buffett Rule,” as Democrats push an election year message of tax fairness and economic equality.
Obama is scheduled to travel to Florida, a swing state that pulled the lever for him in 2008, to press the case for ensuring that those making more than $1 million a year pay a higher tax rate than middle class families. “The president believes in standing up for the middle class and making our tax system fairer, where everyone plays by the same set of rules, in order to ensure the economic security of the middle class,” the White House said in a release announcing the event at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Obama will travel to Florida just days before the Senate is expected to take a procedural vote on a Buffett Rule bill introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). Rep. Republicans on Capitol Hill have almost universally ridiculed the Buffett Rule, and the legislation faces a steep climb in both chambers. Gramm and McMillin: The Real Causes of Income Inequality.
Facebook. Facebook. Buffett Rule fails. … and with that, the Buffett Rule is dead. What was all the hub-bub about? This was all an attempt by the Democrats and the White House to ruffle the wealth envy feathers of Americans surrounding tax day. In the end, Democrats admitted that it wouldn’t do a damn thing about our debt, deficits or jobs … its purpose was to antagonize the moochers by pandering to their boundless quest for somebody else’s property. People like Dave “Lando” Landis. Two things for Lando. And another thing for Lando. I doubt that Lando, or your average wealth envy moocher out there, could tell you that the 237,000 millionaires in America pay a greater share of the income burden than every single American earning under $75,000 combined. The Buffett Rule outrage is truly misplaced. Why do we continue to allow these clowns to wield this kind of power? Democrats’ leftward drift is blocking tax reform « » Print The Daily Caller.
Is Washington gridlock the GOP’s fault? That’s what Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution claim in a recent Washington Post op-ed. According to them, Republicans have become “ideologically extreme” and are blocking needed bipartisan reforms. That certainly isn’t true, with respect to tax reform. The landmark Tax Reform Act of 1986, which slashed tax rates in a bipartisan deal, passed both chambers with large majorities. The comments by Harvard University’s Lawrence Summers, arguably the most important economist on the Democratic side for the last two decades, last week at Brookings exemplify this attitude.
First, he stressed the “central importance of revenue raising.” Next, he said he wants to strengthen “progressivity” and ensure that high earners pay a “fair share.” Summers rated the other two goals of tax reform — economic efficiency and simplification — as less important. Gephardt’s third goal was simplification. High taxes burden working people. Americans Making Over $50,000 a Year Paid 93.3 Percent of All Taxes in 2010. This handout image provided by the White House shows the front page of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama's tax return.
The White House says President Barack Obama and his family paid more than $160,000 in federal taxes last year. The president's 2011 federal income tax return shows reported adjusted gross income of about $790,000 last year. About half of the first family's income is the president's salary. The White House says the rest comes from sales of Obama's books. (AP Photo/White House_ (CNSNews.com) – Americans making over $50,000 paid most of the federal taxes that were paid in the U.S. in 2010.
According to statistics compiled from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by the Tax Foundation, those people making above $50,000 had an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, and carried 93.3 percent of the total tax burden. In contrast, Americans making less than $50,000 had an effective tax rate of 3.5 percent and their total share of the tax burden was just 6.7 percent.