News
Bloomberg | Obama Plan Uses Three Numbers With Four Definitions for $250,000 Tax Line
Obama’s simple 2008 campaign pledge to prevent tax increases for all but the highest earners has been transformed into tax-code arcana. The dividing line in his speeches - -$250,000 a year for married couples and $200,000 for individuals -- is established in his policies with four separate definitions and three different numbers.
Politico | Hill weighs tax trade-offs
To judge from the Republican presidential field, the answer is “no.” But converging political and economic forces could yet lead to a swap: raising capital gains and dividend rates for shareholders while lowering the corporate rate to help U.S. companies compete in global markets.
National Journal | Donovan Says Bank Tax Could Be Dropped to Advance Refi Plan
The administration would consider other ways to pay for the latest effort to improve the housing market by broadening refinancing opportunities, Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Shaun Donovan said on Wednesday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Virginia’s taxing governor
With the Republican National Convention less than six months away, candidates vying for the GOP nod are starting to give thought to possible running mates. In discussions of how best to achieve geographic and ideological balance on a ticket, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s name frequently pops up. Based on his recent actions, it shouldn’t.
WSJ | The Other GM Bailout
President Obama appeared at a United Auto Workers tent revival meeting Tuesday, and he made several notable claims. Critics of the Detroit bailout of 2008-09 are motivated, apparently, by their antipathy to American workers. The alternative to a government rescue was letting the entire auto industry "die." But one particular claim stood out.
AEI | Puzzling cheers for higher taxes
I have long been puzzled by the enthusiasm with which many young liberal bloggers cheer on proposals to raise tax rates on high earners. I can understand why they might favor them, but not why they seem to invest so much psychic energy in the issue.
CATO | Spain Becomes One of Europe's Highest Taxed Countries
The main reason for the tax hikes, according to Spain's new leadership, was that the government would miss its budget deficit target for 2011. While the previous Socialist Party government had promised the figure would be 6 percent of GDP, the revised data showed a budget deficit of 8 percent, a difference of approximately 20 billion euros ($26.3 billion).
CATO | Minnesota's Cigarette Tax: Trouble from the Beginning
Earlier this month, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that it had broken up a ring that smuggled millions of packs of cigarettes from Virginia to New Jersey, where state officials estimate that bootleg cigarettes constitute 40 percent of the market.
