Are taxes higher today than they were a few years ago, under the last President, or the President before him? In this discussion, I'll be using dollar amounts adjusted for inflation.
Tax rates were higher in 2002 and have been at current, lower rates from 2003 until today.
In 2002, someone making $50,000 a year would have paid a 27% marginal tax rate (tax rate of the income in the highest bracket) while that rate today is 25%. In 2002, someone making over $382,967 would have paid 38.6% on their income over $382,967 while that rate today is 35%.
Last time we had a highest tax bracket equal to or lower than our own: 1931.
Last time tax rates were as low as they are now for what is today's average income ($50,000): 1945 when the highest tax rate was 94%.
In 1986, the Tax Reform Act decreased taxes for higher income earners and raised taxes on those making less than $75,339. Thanks, Reagan. The amount of income one could earn before that income got taxed 50% was more than doubled (from about $80,000 to $180,000). In 1987, the top rate dropped to 38.5% while everyone making less than $106,659 saw their taxes increase.
For tax years 2009 and 2010, the Obama administration and Democrat-controlled Congress provided a Making Work Pay tax credit of up to $400 for individuals and up to $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns. That credit expired in 2011, and a split Congress replaced it with a 2% payroll tax cut which experts say hasn't been quite as effective.
From the facts, it's apparent we're enjoying tax rates as low as the lowest rates in 67 years, meaning that taxes have been on a downward slide for sixty some years. Not only has President Obama not raised taxes on Americans, but he's signed into law tax deductions for every year he's been in office. It's true that he'd like to eliminate the 2003 tax cuts that applied to those making over $250,000 (eliminating the Bush tax cuts for higher income Americans would affect 2% of taxpayers); however, the Making Work Pay credit he gave to all Americans was prevented from renewal by a Republican-controlled House. I rather wish Republicans would stop raising my taxes. I guess it's their Reaganomics strategy of lowering the top tax rate while raising taxes for everybody else.
There's a claim that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a $500 billion tax. Over the next 10 years, the government will have to spend $500 billion less to fund Medicare than predicted without Obamacare because Obamacare will slow the rate of the price increase of Medicare. However, the government will still be increasing how much they spend on Medicare, just less than predicted. So unless the government saving money is the same thing as a tax, the person making that claim is a liar and twister of words. I know, that seems unheard of for a politician, right?
The individual mandate is of course a tax for not carrying health insurance; however, the penalty tax is less is expected to hit 3-5% of taxpayers or less. In 2009, only 1 percent of Massachusetts residents paid the penalty tax for the Romneycare mandate. Additionally, Obamacare states that there can be no criminal penalties for not paying the penalty tax. All the IRS can do is keep part of your refund to cover the cost if you choose not to pay it. So, the mandate is a tax for a specific behavior and therefore isn't a general tax increase.
Some people will tell you that because cigarette taxes have gone up and because the health care law adds tanning bed taxes that this means Obama has raised taxes. However, they usually just claim that Obama has "raised taxes" which gives the impression that your yearly taxes have increased instead of the price of cigarettes and tanning increasing. It's deceitful. Under the Bush administration, both Republicans and Democrats were fine with raising cigarette taxes. Taxes on unhealthy luxury items have often been taxation targets for both parties. However, pointing the finger at the other guy for doing what you've done yourself is politics as usual.
Links:
History of Income Taxe Rates: Adjusted for Inflation
http://taxfoundation.org/article/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2011-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets
Why Congress should bring back the Making Work Pay tax credit
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Tax-VOX/2011/1206/Why-Congress-should-bring-back-the-Making-Work-Pay-tax-credit
Romney’s claim that Obama has raised taxes on ‘millions of Americans’ gets two Pinocchios
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/romneys-claim-that-obama-has-raised-taxes-on-millions-of-americans/2012/04/12/gIQA3P9aDT_blog.html
Fact-Checking Romney: Does Health Reform Cut Medicare, Levy $500 Billion Tax?
(data comes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Kaiser Family Foundation)
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/fact-checking-romney-does-health-reform-cut-medicare-levy-500-billion-tax/
"both political parties seem inclined to pay for it through a tax on an unpopular group, cigarette smokers." - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298663,00.html
Obama, the Tax-Cutter
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/11/obama-tax-cutter-he-has-slashed-more-than-bush-did-in-first-term.html
Why The Individual Mandate Is Not A ‘Massive Tax Hike’ On The Middle Class
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/28/508062/fact-check-mandate-tax-hike/?mobile=nc
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
How Dare They
I can't believe my health care premiums went up this year either. They've only gone up a combined 300% over the last 10 years. Obviously, this last year was Obama's fault. I can't believe gas is high either. It's not like gas shot up to $4 a gallon after 9/11 and we started wars in two countries.
I also can't stand that Obama has added to the debt after Bush wasted Clinton's surplus, the nerve of someone doing something so unprecedented. I also can't stand that we currently have the lowest taxes in the last several decades thanks to these Bush and Obama guys. They should've raised taxes like Reagan did. As a middle class American, I protest the $400 tax credit I got that Obama shoved down my throat.
I can't wait until the Republicans have full control again. Then they can do real things that will create jobs. We can reduce government spending, that way nobody will be spending money here. That consistency should be good for the economy.
We can ban abortions, creating jobs by putting abortion doctors out of work and increasing the future population that will compete for jobs. A surplus of workers should cause wages to rise.
We can reinstate Don't Ask, Don't Tell so gay soldiers can't fight for their countries and put a Constitutional ban on gay marriage so that gay people can't spend money on weddings. Gay money hurts the economy.
We can ban Sharia law in this country so that Muslims can't pray five times a day and are forced to drink alcohol.
It's equally important that we deport young people who were brought into this country illegally by their parents who are tax-paying otherwise law-abiding citizens who have even served in our military to protect this country. We have to make them pay for the crimes of their parents without giving them a chance to make things right.
We can further reduce taxes on the rich. That way, corporate executives can have more money to spend on private islands outside the country. It's the corporate tax rate that matters for big businesses, not the personal income tax, but we needn't worry about that.
We can go to a completely laissez-faire capitalism, even abolish unions, so that businesses can pay workers as little as possible in order to pay their CEOs as much as possible, turning America into another third world country so that we can compete with foreign labor. Obviously, charity will feed and house all the hungry, un-housed people and cover their medical expenses. After all, charity has had thousands of years to work. Just look at how it's success now means nobody has to worry about food, housing, or medical bills.
It's not like the USA is a country with a sense of community where everyone should pay into some sort of social safety net in case they might someday need it. It's not like there should be some sort agency to protect consumers, to protect us from poisons in the air and soil, to keep roads open for transportation, or the internet open for information.
Obviously, the Democrats were wrong for using the Republican idea that everyone who can afford insurance must buy insurance so that the cost goes down for everybody. That this part of the law hasn't yet gone into effect and health care costs have continued to rise is obvious proof of the failure. We should have continued with the model that hospitals must provide un-reimbursed aid to the uninsured, the costs of which they pass on to everyone else who does pay.
Also, the crazy health care reform bill requires that most of the money collected on premiums actually be used for health care. This is an insult to the excellent business model of using every tactic to deny health care claims so that health insurance CEOs can get richer. I saw nothing unethical, immoral, or evil about that.
Lastly, how dare small businesses get a tax credit for buying their employees health insurance and more impoverished people get access to Medicare. We don't need a social safety net because as we know today, a time where the rich are richer than ever and taxes are low for everybody, impoverished people get all the help they need in the form of charity. All their needs are met.
It's not like the government should use some sort of tax incentive to fix the economy by increasing domestic hiring and increasing wages. Although, that would be simple and the only real fix.
If you agree with this as I do, vote Republican. Otherwise, I guess you could vote Democratic if you think that makes sense.
[Update: I received notice that my health care premiums have lowered for 2012. Also, some insurers have been lowering their projected increases due to the health care law's requirement that most of our premiums be used for health care. How dare they indeed.]
I also can't stand that Obama has added to the debt after Bush wasted Clinton's surplus, the nerve of someone doing something so unprecedented. I also can't stand that we currently have the lowest taxes in the last several decades thanks to these Bush and Obama guys. They should've raised taxes like Reagan did. As a middle class American, I protest the $400 tax credit I got that Obama shoved down my throat.
I can't wait until the Republicans have full control again. Then they can do real things that will create jobs. We can reduce government spending, that way nobody will be spending money here. That consistency should be good for the economy.
We can ban abortions, creating jobs by putting abortion doctors out of work and increasing the future population that will compete for jobs. A surplus of workers should cause wages to rise.
We can reinstate Don't Ask, Don't Tell so gay soldiers can't fight for their countries and put a Constitutional ban on gay marriage so that gay people can't spend money on weddings. Gay money hurts the economy.
We can ban Sharia law in this country so that Muslims can't pray five times a day and are forced to drink alcohol.
It's equally important that we deport young people who were brought into this country illegally by their parents who are tax-paying otherwise law-abiding citizens who have even served in our military to protect this country. We have to make them pay for the crimes of their parents without giving them a chance to make things right.
We can further reduce taxes on the rich. That way, corporate executives can have more money to spend on private islands outside the country. It's the corporate tax rate that matters for big businesses, not the personal income tax, but we needn't worry about that.
We can go to a completely laissez-faire capitalism, even abolish unions, so that businesses can pay workers as little as possible in order to pay their CEOs as much as possible, turning America into another third world country so that we can compete with foreign labor. Obviously, charity will feed and house all the hungry, un-housed people and cover their medical expenses. After all, charity has had thousands of years to work. Just look at how it's success now means nobody has to worry about food, housing, or medical bills.
It's not like the USA is a country with a sense of community where everyone should pay into some sort of social safety net in case they might someday need it. It's not like there should be some sort agency to protect consumers, to protect us from poisons in the air and soil, to keep roads open for transportation, or the internet open for information.
Obviously, the Democrats were wrong for using the Republican idea that everyone who can afford insurance must buy insurance so that the cost goes down for everybody. That this part of the law hasn't yet gone into effect and health care costs have continued to rise is obvious proof of the failure. We should have continued with the model that hospitals must provide un-reimbursed aid to the uninsured, the costs of which they pass on to everyone else who does pay.
Also, the crazy health care reform bill requires that most of the money collected on premiums actually be used for health care. This is an insult to the excellent business model of using every tactic to deny health care claims so that health insurance CEOs can get richer. I saw nothing unethical, immoral, or evil about that.
Lastly, how dare small businesses get a tax credit for buying their employees health insurance and more impoverished people get access to Medicare. We don't need a social safety net because as we know today, a time where the rich are richer than ever and taxes are low for everybody, impoverished people get all the help they need in the form of charity. All their needs are met.
It's not like the government should use some sort of tax incentive to fix the economy by increasing domestic hiring and increasing wages. Although, that would be simple and the only real fix.
If you agree with this as I do, vote Republican. Otherwise, I guess you could vote Democratic if you think that makes sense.
[Update: I received notice that my health care premiums have lowered for 2012. Also, some insurers have been lowering their projected increases due to the health care law's requirement that most of our premiums be used for health care. How dare they indeed.]
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