United Liberty
Bush Tax Cuts
Cutting Taxes = Increasing Revenue
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 7:22am | posted by Matt Chancey
Around 150 BC, Emperor Ching Ti came to power in China and immediately faced a major problem: his treasury was empty.
Taxes were very high, but no real revenue was coming in. That’s because the system of taxes at that time was an early form of income tax that centered on the government taking a large percentage of a farmer’s crops.
So Ching Ti did something bold and innovative: he cut taxes.
Overnight, taxes went from over 50% down to about 3%. Farmers, who had fled to the hills to escape draconian tax rates, now came home and began farming again. To make a long story short, Ching Ti’s greatest problem while governing was trying to keep all the grain in his barns from spoiling.
It seems that ancient Chinese history is good for more than just cutesy script on a fortune cookie.
Obama’s $1 trillion tax increase
Tue, 02/02/2010 - 11:00am | posted by Jason Pye
The budget submitted by President Barack Obama for FY 2011 contains a tax increase of $1 trillion:
Taxes on high-income earners would rise by nearly $1 trillion over the next 10 years, under the budget plan put forward by President Barack Obama on Monday.
The bulk of that increase comes as tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush expire at the end of 2010.
The top two income-tax rates, which affect people earning more than $200,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples, will return to 36% and 39.6%, from 33% and 35% now.
Under the budget plan, capital gains and dividends would be taxed at 20%, up from 15% now, for people at those income levels.
In a time of economic uncertainty, increasing tax rates is asking for more problems. This tax increase by default. Simply by letting the Bush tax cuts expire, will hit small businesses that file individual income tax returns.
When you’re sitting at 10% unemployment, with some economists predicting a worsening of that figure, increasing taxes is the opposite of what the president and leaders in Congress should be doing.
Obama: Lets “Hold Off” On Tax Hikes
Mon, 09/08/2008 - 5:36am | posted by Austin Wilkes
The uber-tax-and-spend-liberal Obama is now on the defensive since being shoved to 2nd place after the nomination of quasi-libertarian Sarah Palin. Whether her nomination had any major effect or not, there is a shift in the Democratic Nominee’s position on taxation. He is sliding back on his promise to immediately attempt to rescind the “Bush Tax Cuts” and is also stating any new tax hikes should be put on hold, pending the current condition of the economy. This is a shift that is layered on top of a previous tax shift concerning subjecting payroll taxes to wealthy Americans, which he now says “should be put off until years down the road, like ten years”.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama says he would delay rescinding President Bush’s tax cuts on wealthy Americans if he becomes the next president and the economy is in a recession, suggesting such an increase would further hurt the economy.
