Why America Is Going To Miss The Bush Tax Cuts

[clevergirl]

According to official IRS data, the top 1% of income earners paid $84 billion more in federal income taxes in 2007 than in 2000 before the Bush tax cuts were passed, 23% more. The share of total federal income taxes paid by the top 1% rose from 37% in 2000, before the Bush tax cuts, to 40% in 2007, after the tax cuts.

In contrast, the bottom half of income earners paid $6 billion less in federal income taxes in 2007 than in 2000, a decline of 16%. The share of federal income taxes paid by the bottom 50% declined from 3.9% in 2000 to 2.9% in 2007.

Why America Is Going To Miss The Bush Tax Cuts - Forbes

 

[waltky]

Small business could suffer from sequestration...

Budget Cuts Could Force Small Businesses to Close Doors
February 11, 2013 – President Barack Obama said clean energy and privately owned small businesses would suffer if the automatic cuts in federal spending in the sequester take effect, starting on March 1, potentially blocking some small businesses from the resources they need to stay open.

The sequestration cuts were orchestrated by Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in late July 2011 as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling and will lead to an estimated $1.2 trillion in spending reductions over 10 years. “If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off,” Obama said during his weekly address on Saturday.

The president talked about public sector workers, such as firefighters and food inspectors, who could potentially lose their jobs if the across the board $1.2 trillion in cuts occurred. But without fully explaining, he said privately funded small businesses would be affected. “Small businesses could be prevented from getting the resources and support they need to keep their doors open,” Obama said. “People with disabilities who are waiting for their benefits, could be forced to wait even longer.”

Source

See also:

Sen. Rand Paul: 'The Sequester Is a Pittance'
February 11, 2013 - While President Obama and many Republicans are now "caterwauling about the sequester," tea party conservatives say the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over ten years is only a start:

"Tea Party people are saying the sequester is a pittance," Sen. Rand Paul told CNN's "State of the Union" host Candy Crowley on Sunday. "One trillion dollars, and we're increasing spending $9 trillion. So really, even with the sequester, spending goes up $7 trillion or $8 trillion over the next 10 years. We're not getting close to scratching the surface of the problem." Unless Congress replaces the indiscriminate spending reductions with specific cuts by March 1, spending automatically will be cut by $1.2 trillion over ten years, with half of those cuts coming in defense and half in discretionary domestic spending.

But the national debt now stands at $16 trillion, and Sen. Paul said that's the nation's number-one problem: "I think the debt is the number one. I think the debt is costing us a million jobs a year. The economy slowed in the last quarter. I really that think we have to do something about how enormous government is. And the way tea party folks see this is, we see it like our family budget. I have to balance my budget at home, why shouldn't government?" The only way to avoid the sequester’s meat-axe spending cuts is for Congress to pass a budget, and then pass 13 appropriations bills to fund the government as it is supposed to do. Republicans have twice passed a plan to replace the sequester, but the Democrat-led Senate hasn’t passed a budget in the last four years, and President Obama recently missed the deadline for submitting his.

Sen. Paul told Crowley there's nothing divisive about his plan to deliver the tea party response to President Obama's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is delivering the official Republican response. "I think really there are some things that I will emphasize maybe Marco doesn't," Paul told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday. But, he added, that "doesn't mean that we necessarily disagree." Paul called his speech "an extra response" -- "not necessarily divisive."

Paul said the tea party still generates a "lot of energy," giving an "independent voice" to conservatives who often disagree with the Republican establishment. "But I would say that there are things that I will talk about -- you know, the president likes to talk about a balanced approach for things. We'll talk, for example, about a balanced budget and how that would be good for the economy. The president likes to say everybody needs to pay their fair share, which means he wants to raise taxes. I'll talk about the Republican message, which is we believe you stimulate the economy by reducing taxes, not revenue neutral, I mean really reducing taxes, cutting corporate tax in half, cutting the personal income tax, and the fact that you actually sometimes bring in more revenue when you cut tax rates."

More http://cnsnews.com/news/article/sen-rand-paul-sequester-pittance

 

[BreezeWood]

Why America Is Going To Miss The Bush Tax Cuts


Working Americans are already missing the Obama withholding tax cuts ... funny how they were not included by Bush and the Republicans.

 

[jwoodie]

Is there a point to this thread?