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Now the 47% number only tells part of the story: most of those “non-payers” pay payroll taxes, gas taxes, state and local taxes, etc. And in an ironic twist, the phenomenon is almost entirely a result of Republicans’ own enthusiasm for tax cuts. In the 1980s and 1990s, GOP lawmakers demanded that any programs aimed at helping poor and middle-income households be structured as refundable tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, rather than as direct payments like welfare. President Bush added to the trend by lowering marginal rates across the board. Then Obama structured large chunks of the stimulus as tax breaks in order to garner bipartisan support. The non-payer rate, which had hovered around 20% – 25% since the 1950s, shot over 30% in 2002 and never looked back. And because the tax credits are refundable, many taxpayers aren’t just paying nothing, they’re actually gaining a net positive on their income tax.
via A Taxing Situation: Why The GOP Is Advocating A Tax Increase On The Middle Class | Election 2012.
Wikio
But a new study comparing 54 nations found that flattening the tax risks flattening social wellbeing as well. "The more progressive the tax policy is, the happier the citizens are," says University of Virginia psychologist Shigehiro Oishi, summarizing the findings, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Oishi conducted the study with Ulrich Schimmack of the University of Toronto at Mississauga and Ed Diener, also at University of Illinois and the Gallup Organization.
The researchers analyzed the relationship between tax progressivity and personal well-being in 54 nations surveyed by the Gallup Organization in 2007 — a total of 59,634 respondents. Well-being was expressed in people’s assessments of their overall life quality, from "worst" to "best possible life," on a scale of 1 to 10; and in whether they enjoyed positive daily experiences (such as smiling, being treated with respect, and eating good food) or suffered negative ones, including sadness, worry, and shame. Finally, the analysis looked at the participants’ satisfaction with their nation’s public goods, from schools to clean air.
The degree of progressivity was measured by the difference between the highest and lowest tax rates, [...]
How does the Republican Party continue to win elections? The Associated Press is reporting that GOP legislators are opposing the extension of a payroll tax cut that will expire on Jan. 1. The clear, unavoidable message: Americans workers should pay more taxes, while the rich should pay less.
That’s not a joke, and it’s not an Onion headline. The very same Republicans who have fought tooth-and-nail to keep George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy from expiring are now in favor of doing away with a tax cut that will primarily hit wage-earners — people who actually have to work for a living, people who are struggling to pay their mortgages and wincing every time they fill up their gas tank.
There’s not even any attempt to hide the hypocrisy.
via GOP: No tax hikes — except for the poor – Taxes – Salon.com.
Wikio
“Partly as a result of the Bush tax cuts of 2001, 2003 and 2005 (shamefully extended by Barack Obama), taxation of the wealthy, in Obama’s words, “is at its lowest level in half a century.” The consequence of such regressive policies is a level of inequality unknown in other developed nations. As the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz points out, in the past 10 years the income of the top 1% has risen by 18%, while that of blue-collar male workers has fallen by 12%.”
The State of America through European eyes : a “Billionaires’ Coup” and U.S. is no longer a “Western” nation.
Wikio
The Town of East Fishkill Planning Board, as lead agency, has accepted a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Montage at East Fishkill. A public hearing on the Draft SEIS will be held on June 7, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. at the Town of East Fishkill Town Hall, 330 Route 376, Hopewell Junction, New York. Written comments on the Draft EIS will be accepted for an additional ten (10) days following the close of the public hearing. Copies of the Draft SEIS and the site plans and proposed subdivision plat are available at Town of East Fishkill Town Hall and online at: www.montageateastfishkill.com.
The action involves a proposal to subdivide a 385.5 acre parcel into 122 new single family residential lots located on approximately 341.5 acres, with five open space lots, two utility lots, and one lot for an existing home and one 44 acre lot. The preferred plan is a conservation subdivision, serviced by central water and sewer services. The project is located along the south side of NYS Route 52 and opposite the intersection of NYS Route 216 in the Town of East Fishkill, New York.
Contact: Pam Baier, Town of East Fishkill, 330 Route [...]
![IMG_0887a[1]](http://www.planputnam.org/ntm/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMG_0887a1-150x150.jpg "IMG_0887a[1]")
(I agree with the NRA: You can’t ever trust a yuppie. I hear they tend to get angry and come after you with an organic, locally grown bean sprout and as bean oil is near impossible to remove from camo outerwear, shooting them is your only defense.) [...]
I read your account of the Katz/Hayworth meeting in the Putnam County Times, which was held at the Patterson Town Hall on March 19, 2011.
According to the article Jeff Green of Kent stated “that there is a correlation between increasing jobs and increasing the taxes on wealthy people and corporations.” Assemblywoman Nan Hayworth responded by stating the Italian Economist Alberto Alesino conducted a study of “20 Nations that were in fiscal crisis [such] as we are facing.” Hayworth further stated that Alesina’s study concluded that “countries that cut taxes and cut government spending did well.”
First, Alesina has conducted numerous studies and the only study I could find that closely approximates that dates of the fiscal crisis was published in 2009 and the data used for the period ended in 2007, well before the 2008 collapse.
In addition, Congresswoman Hayworth, at least according to the article, did not identify which 20 countries Alesina studied. However, a review of Alesina’s study demonstrates that the countries studied were members of the OECD. A review of the statistics of the OECD countries, while not exactly contradicting her claim, does not support her contention that lower taxes leads to higher growth. The [...]
A Note to Rich People: You Should Probably Be Thinking Ahead Right About Now:
If the Rude Pundit were a really, really rich motherfucker, like in the several hundred million and above club, he’d call a meeting of all his fellow really, really rich motherfuckers and he’d tell ‘em that we’ve crossed a line, and, unless we want our houses burned down, our assets confiscated, our dogs raped, and our children killed like they were the brood of the Tsar, we better stop acting like such greedy pricks and demand that the people we all own in the government stop licking our taints clean for a little while and start acting like we’re regular Americans, not First Class Black Card Americans.
The really, really rich Rude Pundit would point out that the filthy masses are getting all squirrely about collective bargaining rights and budget cuts on programs for the poor and middle class in order to pay for our tax cuts and the failure to prosecute a single person for shitcanning the economy. He’d then inform everyone that once the income gap gets more fully into the rhetorical mix, well, we really, really rich motherfuckers would be fucked and [...]
In other words, Putnam County government is bereft of a single progressive idea nor do they have any desire whatsoever to make county government smaller, less intrusive in our lives and cut spending to make life more bearable for the 100,000 people who live here. In other, other words, they just don’t get it. [...]
Nan Hayworth and her fellow Republicans present themselves as budget hawks eager to control runaway spending. But the fact of the matter is that Republican policies over the last decade, along with two costly wars, have added far more to the federal d… [...]
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The State of America through European eyes : a “Billionaires’ Coup” and U.S. is no longer a “Western” nation
“Partly as a result of the Bush tax cuts of 2001, 2003 and 2005 (shamefully extended by Barack Obama), taxation of the wealthy, in Obama’s words, “is at its lowest level in half a century.” The consequence of such regressive policies is a level of inequality unknown in other developed nations. As the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz points out, in the past 10 years the income of the top 1% has risen by 18%, while that of blue-collar male workers has fallen by 12%.”
The State of America through European eyes : a “Billionaires’ Coup” and U.S. is no longer a “Western” nation.
Wikio