Much has been written about last week's Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare - specifically the compulsory portion known as the "individual mandate." Reactions have largely focused on the tax hikes coming in 2013 that will pay for it, speculation about how (un)affordable health care may be in the future and the headwind likely facing the [...]
According to recently released tax returns President Obama and his wife paid a 20.5% federal tax rate on $789,674 in Adjusted Gross Income ("AGI") for 2011. This level of income lands the Obama household in the top 1% of US households when compared to the median income of just under $50,000. And what will President [...]
Last year President Obama proposed that no household earning more than $1 million per year pay a smaller share of its income in taxes than middle-class families. In support of his proposal he called for the imposition of a minimum effective tax rate of at least 30%. This year in his State of the Union [...]
In his weekly radio address President Barack Obama said vehicle fuel economy standards set under his administration and better cars built by a resurgent U.S. auto industry will save money at the gas pump. "Automakers are on track to build cars that average nearly 55 miles per gallon by 2025. That means folks will be [...]
Later today President Obama will make a speech in New Hampshire aimed squarely at voters who can't help but notice the recent rise in gasoline prices. But will his words reflect his policy (lack thereof to be precise) or his politics? President Obama is expected to call for increased domestic production. Similarly he's expected to [...]
In a move that makes eminent economic sense the Obama administration is set to ask Congress to reduce the corporate tax ratefrom 35% to 28%. In doing so a number of so-called "loopholes" will be reduced or eliminated. Reduce the rate and broaden the base? Bingo! That's how to increase revenue. That's precisely the type of [...]
The year-end battle between President Obama and Congress yielded a two month extension of the rate reduction for the employee portion of Social Security taxes. For January and February the rate remains at 4.2% instead of returning as scheduled to the traditional 6.2% rate. Under the terms negotiated by Congress, however, some employees won't fully [...]
For all the talk of class warfare dominating Beltway politics and the popular press an equally important issue seemingly gets little to no mention - war between the generations. No, we're not talking about the old man yelling at the kids to stay off his lawn nor do we mean the teenager who knows everything [...]
Here's a situation sure to make President Obama's head spin. In his assault on and vilification of "millionaires and billionaires" (you know, all of us "rich" folk who fly around in our private jets) there's been a call for the payment of our "fair share" of taxes. The operative word is PAYMENT. Does a millionaire's RECEIPT [...]
According to IRS data for 2008 nine of the ten most heavily taxed neighborhoods in the U.S. were in and around NYC. Neighborhoods ranging from Manhattan to Fairfield County, Connecticut accounted for 0.2% of all federal income tax filers. These folks paid Uncle Sam $16.5 billion representing 1.6% of all individual income taxes collected by [...]