Tag: taxes

I am so happy that Congress passed Obama’s tax package. Taxes won’t be raised for the wealthy; taxes won’t be…

by John Lawrence / Will Blog for Food / December 20, 2010 The recent bill that passed Congress that extended…

Originally appeared in the Dec. 14 issue of City Times, the campus newspaper of San Diego City College. Admittedly, the…

by John Lawrence / Will Blog for Food / November 27, 2010 Republicans are set to throw sand in the…

by John Lawrence/Will Blog for Food

I can think of no more apt metaphor for what voters did to themselves than the title of this post. Dissatisfied with the economy, voters voted in a party dedicated to the destruction of the economy as far as the middle class is concerned. They voted for a great economy for Wall Street bankers and billionaires. Obama, despite his failure to get the economy back on track in two years and despite his Republican lite tendencies and seeming inability to take a strong stand, is vastly preferable to the Republicans who now control the House. Obama, who already was governing from the right of center, is continually accused of being a left wing socialist and told by Republicans that he now must move to the right. If he moves to the right any further, he might as well resign from the Democratic party and join the Tea Baggers.

Some basic facts:

* Obama has passed 25 separate tax cuts.

* Obama’s stimulus package included $300 billion in middle class tax cuts — one of the largest in history.

* The recent healthcare reform law includes tax credits and savings for small businesses and working people.

* Unlike President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts, which went to the wealthiest 2.2%, President Obama’s tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit working and middle class families — 95% of all Americans.

Here are some of the new tax credits available through the Recovery Act alone that you may be eligible for: (SEE INSIDE FOR LINKS)

April 15th marks the first year of the Tea Party Tax Day protests, brought to you by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Rick “Let’s Have a Tea Party” Santelli. The original purpose was to protest “high taxes and big government”.

On Thursday, a reprise is scheduled to take place across the country, but I can’t help but wonder exactly what they’re protesting. This page lists the average tax cuts for the nation, and then breaks them down by state.

Overall, everyone got a little piece of the tax cut pie this year. In Arizona, home of newly-conservative John McCain and the even more conservative John Kyl, the average combined tax cut was -$1,023. In Oklahoma, that state threatening to declare war on overtaxation, the average tax cut was -$1,098. In Alaska, -$1,096.

98% of working families received a tax cut in this country.

“Perfectly Legal” by David Cay Johnston and “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” by Thomas Frank – great starting points on what’s f’ed up with our current tax system and why the wealthy have been able to sell a good chunk of the middle class on keeping things in their current atrocious state. I’ll lend either to anyone who’s interested, wouldn’t mind swinging by to pick them up, and promises to either return them or pass them on to someone else.

Class warfare isn’t about rich vs. poor, it’s about middle class vs. poor. The people who are truly rich don’t really care one way or another, they have enough for themselves and that’s all that matters. Look at Barron Hilton – he’s ran the hotel chain his family built into the ground but he’s got enough money that he’ll never run out and his kids don’t even have to bother trying to make anything of themselves ever. And if (shudder) they have kids, same deal.

Bloomberg reports that, according to recently released IRS data, “the average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million.” Much of their income came from capital gains resulting from the Bush tax cuts:

The drop from 2001’s tax rate of 22.9 percent was due largely to ex-President George W. Bush’s push to cut tax rates on most capital gains to 15 percent in 2003.