Eric Cantor is the Majority Leader of the House of Represenatives from the 7th District of Virginia. His elitist left wing horn rimmed glasses belie his aggressive attitude on Tax Reform and anti-Obama perspective. The story is always the same: “We need a simpler, more equitable tax system in this country!” “The 44,000 pages of sweetheart tax write-offs for special interests are patently unfair!” “We can’t continue to stiffle innovation with excessive regulation with a high or higher Corporate Tax structure!”
His appearance on C-Span today was right out of the “stuck in the 60’s” Republican playbook! They haven’t changed their act in all these years. The sad part is they actually had an opportunity to change things back in the Reagan and Bush the Younger years. Instead in 2012, a spirit of bi-partisan rape exists, as citizens again we find ourselves on the brink. Remember 1986? That was the year that Tip O’Neil told Reagan that he had to screw the middle class or the country would go bankrupt. Reagan fought and fought and held off for only half of what O’Neil wanted. The black economy, waiters and waitresses, single moms and small business got the royal weenie. Then came the Bush the Elder pledge: “No New Taxes!” in 1988, and sure enough in 1990, the big lie came to pass and everyone that Reagan had not screwed in 1986, got screwed big time in 1990. Then came Clinton! The fix was in from the beginning and in 1994 was one of the biggest tax hikes in American history. The middle class was really put against it. Clinton, wanted to make sure he did it good and in 1998….this was the final, final answer when the Glas-Steagal was thrown out and futher tax hikes occurred to our last remnants of the middle class. Clinton, dared not touch the upper 1%….he knew better. They could put up with Lewinsky and even his lost Nuclear Football codes…but never raising the tax on the upper crust.
Then in 2000, came George and Laura and all the above was suddenly swept away for everyone. Hey, the 1% were assured and the 99% were given the eight year ride to lower small business taxes, tax credits and the like. Thank you George and Laura….you did good. You made our lives worth living and our feet were not buried in the hot coals of Federal and State taxes. Things seemed to be going great. Real Estate values were ramping up faster than a speeding bullet, State and Federal borrowing were totally unfettered, 3% at 50 became a regular practice for all public employees, retirement benefits, medical insurance, bonuses ….what could go wrong? So, we had a couple of major wars to contend with? So, we spending like drunken sailors (with all due respect for drunken sailors) with an open credit card that was making those Masters of War, billions and billions and billions of Carl Sagen bucks!
“Something happened on the way to the Forum” was about Rome. Well, something happened along the way, in the name of a Global Debt Crisis and Real Estate Bubble from hell. All those phony instruments that someone was trying to lip sync to, either broke, fell apart or never worked in the first place. The giant collapse ushered in the end of “the Bush dynasty” and brought in “the Obama by day and night” constituency. When Bush left office our staggering $6 trillion dollar debt, plus the $3 trillion bailout funds provided to banks, companies and foreign banks brought the total to just about $9 trillion. It was much akin to trying to hold back the tide and Obama and his team of proven “Banking Team Players” had to bail out Fanny, Freddie and of course General Motors. Today that debt number has reached closer to $16 trillion, just to keep the doors open. The rumor mill has it that the real number for next year will raise the debt ceiling to $23 trillion dollars.
Enough of this nonsense regarding debt. We have an election this year. Either Romney or Obama is going to win. But, as people might say: “How is that going to effect me!” Well folks it goes like this: All the Bush Tax Cuts expire this year. All those reductions in payroll holding tax are also going to expire. That means that unless some is done – an average family of four making $50K a year, is going lose $5,000 to $6,000 dollars in income for 2013. Eric Cantor, remember him? He wants the taxes to go up for EVERYONE…not just the upper one percent that make over a million dollars a year, as the Obama Administration wants. Rand Paul also wants those taxes to go up for everyone. What other Republican Majority Members want taxes to go up for EVERYONE. Almost EVERYONE of them. What are these Republican great minds thinking?
The accumulated World Debt clock is quickly heading for $150 trillion dollars. When might that happen? Well, there are only three reasonable and realistic solutions to debt. One: You can grow your way out of it, by creating new markets, new products and providing zero unemployment. (2) You can borrow your way out of it which immediately creates more printed currency and reduces the value of the accumulated currency in the system – resulting in inflation of a size dependent upon the amount of injected cash into the system. The good news is that Inflation takes about six months to two years to fully kick in. However, when it does – it is a mean demanding master that either allows a total crash or provides for serious shortages of products and services. (3) You can also utilize the final frontier: Default on all debt! Nationalize all fundamental industries and commodity businesses. Regulate folks you don’t like out of existence. So which solution will the country use? That all depends on which candidate gets elected in 2012!
Right now, the Republicans are playing the Tip O’Neil, Loyal Opposition…..which are “just doing these things for the good of the country”. The reality however is nothing of the case, just as it was in 1986. O’Neil supported Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, Big Chemical, Big Banking and Big Military. Sound familiar? The players have changed, but the reasons that we have a deminishing middle class have not. The wonder of the Clinton years and the ramp up of NAFTA made sure that manufacturing and middle class well paid jobs would flee this country in a heartbeat. Ross “the Boss” Perot said it best: “That giant sucking sound…is what you will hear loud and clear when NAFTA passes!” True Ross – and we are still hearing it. The only way new manufacturing jobs will come back to the United States is by serious tax breaks for emerging businesses that are truly based here. Big companies cannot simply put up a Post Office Box address and claim that they are an American based company. They cannot send their cash to off-shore banks that is untraceable. They cannot hire Congress folks and Government Bureaucrats to make sure they are protected from their egregious unethical and in some cases criminal activities!
Romney is obviously going support big business, that is who he is! Obama, is going to do whatever he has to do to maintain power and be re-elected. It is our hope that our next President protect the small middle class that remains in this country. It is our hope that the next President does not allow the rich to get richer on the backs of the few working folks left. It is our hope that the future of the United States will not be determined by sell out politicians from both sides of the aisle. It is our hope that “the people” will finally understand the duplicity and stupidity that prevails in government and gets the idea, that whatever is being said – by whoever…..needs to be checked and re-checked.
Finally, we need to save the middle class tax cuts. We don’t need an overhaul of the current tax code – what can go wrong – will go wrong if you mess with it! We don’t need a Flat Tax that can be jacked up, year after year after year. We don’t need a VAT that can be jacked up, year after year after year! We do need a 20% across the board cutback structure for Local, State and Federal Government employees. We do need to utilize technology to accomplish these goals. We do not need people just to fill an empty chair without doing anything. We do need to keep innovation and efficiency for all things related healthcare. We also need affordable and comprehensive healthcare which encourages providers to keep people alive! We need affordable pharmaceuticals for those that need them!
The Republican Tax Reform Boondoggle is just that – a boondoggle of astronomical proportions! Reducing the debt? Door number 1, 2 or 3? Before we do that however….we do need to stabilize the Global Real Estate Market. Until values fall to the appropriate 1995 or 1989 levels……not much good can happen, trying to use any of the proscribed methods available as solutions for the situation.
“That means that unless some is done – an average family of four making $50K a year, is going lose $5,000 to $6,000 dollars in income for 2013″…can you explain your math on this? I am coming up a few thousand short on what a family of 4 would see their taxes increase by compared to your $5K to $6K figure.
If someone can tell me what the “middle class” is now a days that would be great also? If we are to save their tax cuts, we first probably should define them in terms of tax positioning which is usually based on income levels or some other defined criteria.
Right. Conservatives routinely scoff at the criteria used to define poverty, yet somehow a criteria should be used to define the middle class.
The minute you try it, they’ll dispute you’re figures. It’s a fools errand.
Go drive around most neighborhoods in Anaheim, Santa Ana, Orange, Tustin, etc. That’s the middle class. It doesn’t need a freaking income figure attached to it.
I don’t think you will really ever hear me speaking of scoffing at a poverty level criteria…although, hopefully I doubt I am a typical “conservative” (provably self professed socially middle to liberal and fiscally conservative). Since so many people talk about saving the middle class tax cuts, I figure that we should know what that actually means. The original author of the post used the terminology and figure that we should be on the same page…is there really something wrong with that?
I doubt that we will have tax brackets defined by neighborhoods that people live in, although maybe it is not a bad idea but good luck defining it. There are many people who make a lot of money who live in neighborhoods far below their income level. Conversely, there are those who live in neighborhoods who are probably stretching their income levels way too much also. Sorry if I offended you Anon by wanting to get some income figures since so many items in taxation are tied to income levels.
OK then, set aside your faux naivete for a minute and YOU tell US what you think the income criteria should be for defining the middle class?
Anon, I think it is ironic that I asked two questions and no one answers it yet you want me to define the middle class for you. This is especially true in the context of my question where I am trying to determine who the original poster is trying to help when they want to save the middle class tax cuts. In that instance, it does not really matter what I define the middle class as b/c I was not the one in the original post asking to save the tax cuts for the middle class. And no, that does not mean that I believe we should raise taxes on the middle class (I certainly do not)…just wanting to know who the Winships are targeting with their tax cut request.
My questions stands as it was originally posted. Hopefully the original poster (Winships) can respond to my questions regarding their claim on a $5K to $6K tax increase for a family of four making $50K and also letting me know how they are defining the middle class since their post indicated that we need to save the middle class tax cuts.
Pretty simple request as I am sure that the original author had to do some math on the $5K to $6K calculation as well as determining whose taxes they want to save. For the record, my calculation of the savings for a family of 4 (presuming mom/dad, 2 kids) who makes $50K (presuming all from wages) is $3,170 if the 2 kids are 17 or under in both 2012/2013. This is determined as follows: income tax increase due to rate and standard deduction changes as well as inflation adjustments- $1,170; decrease to the child tax credit- $1K (2 @ $500 per child); increase to social security tax- $1K (2% x $50K of wages).
Sorry for my horrible grammar and use of plurals by the way…wow, some of that is pretty ugly but hopefully the concept comes through.
1) 90% of jobs created in the US and California are created by small and medium sized businesses (SMBs).
We need to provide targeted incentives in collaboration with private venture funding partners, and technical assistance to these SMBs.
2) We need to refine the Enterprise Zone credits program…It does not work the way it is currently structured, but there are opportunities to improve it so that it does work as intended and creates jobs.
3) The IRS needs to engage in more LOBs (Limitation of Benefits) agreements with other countries and the PE (Permanent Establishment) rules need to be applied closely to reduce or prevent the off-shoring of American and Californian jobs.
SEE the links below:
http://fedtaxdevelopments.foxrothschild.com/2010/06/articles/federal-taxation-developments/the-permanent-establishment-of-a-foreign-person-in-the-united-states-under-us-income-tax-convention/
http://www.osler.com/NewsResources/Details.aspx?id=1098
4) See Tax Me if You Can…by Frontline PBS…in particular “Uncovering the Schemes”.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tax/
Francisco Paco Barragan
For State Assembly 2012 – 69th AD
http://www.linkedin.com/in/franciscobarragancpacia
Thanks for the links…probably some good reading tonight. I know that I brought this up a while back but did not hear back, so maybe you can address it now. Regarding your CPA license status. Can you explain why it is expired? It looks like it expired well over 2 years ago…what happened? I am sure you worked so hard to get that license and then to let it expire. I know that it is “renewal in process”, but it is over 2 years old which since they require to be renewed every 2 years, it just makes me wonder what is going on. This is from someone who actually is in the 69th also.
@TJLocalSA:
Sorry, I missed your question.
With respect to the lapse in renewal of my CPA license, there is NOTHING related to any disciplinary action.
We are required to have 80 hours of CPEs Continuing Professional Education credits) in TWO years of very specific types of courses. I have never had any problem renewing in the past.
Two issues:
First of all, my portfolio containing my past CPEs (was stolen together with a backpack of mine.)
I have continued taking courses and earning CPE credits through my professional involvement with various professional organizations.
a) The Institute of Internal Auditors – OC Chapter (TheIIA-OC) of which I have been a member since 1998/1999. Attendance at the annual 2-day fraud conferences which I started when I was the President back in 2005-2006. I continue to be on the board. For the last two years I have also been a fraud panel moderator/presenter.
b) The IIA’s CFO/Chief Audit Executive (CAE) Quarterly roundtables. I have been a CAE for 4 multinationals. I used to chair these roundtables.
c) The monthly professional meetings where I attain about 1-1.5 CPE hours.
d) Attendance at professional monthly meetings or special types of meetings ie. as the WOMEN of ALPFA of ALPFA-OC (The Association of Latino Professionals in Finance & Accounting). A member since 2002 and the President from April 2007-September 2009.
e) and also attendance at NSHMBAs (National Society of Hispanic MBAs) professional meetings or conferences i.e. as the one held in Anaheim last summer.
Second of all:
Since I lead or serve on other non-profit organizations such as
i) advocating for survivors of human trafficking,
ii) prevention of domestic violence,
iii) prevention of commercial and sexual exploitation of children,
iv) advocating for the mentally ill or other susceptible individuals, or
v) advocating for greater mental or healthcare for our veterans because of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
More so in the last two year, I have attended one or two-day conferences specific to each of these areas, or I have been a presenter at churches or universities related to these areas. When I have attended these one or two-day conferences I receive CPU (Continuing Professional UNITS) which may or may not qualify as CPEs for purposes of renewing my CPA license.
But I made a conscious decision to attend these events or earn these CPUs even if it delayed my completion or submission of my CPE hours for purposes of CPA license renewal, especially given that these are critical issues affecting our community.
@ TJLocalSA, I do need to spend some time to compile and summarize my CPEs for CPA renewal…I am probably there by now, or may have exceeded the number, but other priorities have also “gotten in the way” ie. continuing to advocate for our community, presenting to thousands of students or implementing solutions in the areas of education, housing, veterans, and professional development of others, and now the campaign.
Francisco “Paco” Barragan
For State Assembly 2012 – 69th AD
Business, Veterans and Community leader
Thanks for the update…obviously keeping your professional licenses in good order is of the utmost importance especially for someone who seems to take so much pride in your CPA experience. i would highly encourage you to get this taken care of NOW. It looks like you received your license in Aug of 2005 and probably renewed it one time in Oct of 2007, but then you have not renewed since Oct 2009 which means that you did not provide support to renew for the 2 years ending Oct 2009 (CPE is a look back measure) and presumably also have to provide support for the 2 years ending Oct 2011…wow. Good luck in gathering all of that information. CPE is such a large part of your license renewal that hopefully you do take it seriously as so many other CPA’s in this state do.
Do you have enough CPE for both the 2 years ending Oct 2009 and Oct 2011 or is the licensing board letting you just do the 2 years ending Oct 2011? It looks very strange that your license is pending renewal for so long which is why I am glad that you are addressing the issue and especially letting us know that it is not a discipline issue.
TJLocalSA – Good investigative reporting. You know nothing about the tax code and have not studied any history, or read the original post in full. Check with your buddy Bill Clinton….he was the master of Crime on how to rob the middle class.
R&AW- You obviously do not know me at all. I have a better than average grasp on the tax code- some may even say having some manner of expertise by both education and profession. Although, I may not be a history expert I certainly have studied some history as apposed to not studied any as you claim. I did read the post in full, although it was difficult to do so although it was probably more because of the style versus the content. Clinton was definitely not my buddy. Regardless of whether you want to try to disparage me for no apparent good reason, I am still interested in your answers to my original questions.
If you don’t want to answer the middle class questions, that is OK especially since it is such a good talking point for everyone just to use an undefined middle class that way it can be a moving target; although I really am interested. I for one would rather see everyone’s taxes kept as low as possible. I am especially interested on how you get to your $5K to $6K figure for a family of 4 making $50K…if I don’t know anything about tax code, please prove me wrong. I am humble enough to admit if my grasp of the situation is incorrect and I presume that you are too. I look forward to your response.
“…that whatever is being said – by whoever…..needs to be checked and re-checked.” quote from your original post which I personally find ironic, although I am kind of strange like that. Check and re-check those figures for me…thanks!
TJLocalSA – Sorry, but we answered your questions in detail, only to have the remarks evaporate before we could post them.
OK….They did a great job of screwing the middle class during the Clinton years, with two major tax bills, while adding NAFTA to balance that all out…..(are you kidding?)
First off, they did away with the Reagan years Indexing. So that all the numbers were frozen in spite of the rise of the CPI. This meant that the tax rate for $25,000 dollars you were taxed on in 1980….remained the same for 1981 when it became $28,000. You had to love the Carter years. At any rate, Clinton cut those. So each and every extra dollar was always taxed at the higher rate, in spite of the loss of the buying power.
How about those Mortgage Tax Credits? Rich folks do two things: One, they buy their house and immediately put it into a Family Trust. They buy 10 houses, 20 houses, 4 apartment complexes and then send the deeds and paperwork to the Cayman Islands. They used to send it to a “cash box” on Bahnhof Strasse in Zurich, Switzerland. The Treasury Dept. and the FBI are not on to those folks and about 35,000 had to file for immunity and pay a small percentage of what they owed -so they could stay without going to jail.
The poor middle class kids don’t have these “Unique Investment Vehicle Tricks” and will have to pay for their Rental House or 2nd Vacation house without the Mortgage Tax Credit. There goes the kids education!
Thirdly, they will be lowering the tax tables, by raising the rates for the lower incomes. This is called “ramping”. This is what Eric Cantor was talking about when he said he
wanted for “everyone” to pay their fare share.
Middle Class? You want to know “who” is Middle Class? Come on dude, it all depends where you live and what you have. Do you own your own home or pay $2,000 a month for rent? Do you have two cars? Do each of your family members own an Android or I-Phone? Do they all have a TV and Computer? These are middle class folks no matter how much they make or where they make it.
Yeah, the disappearing response has happened to me before also and it is quite frustrating. I am actually right with you on a lot of what you are saying (especially since you defined the middle class with some figures below…).
What are you referring to when you mention Mortgage Tax Credit? Are you referring to the mortgage interest deduction? Credits and deductions are very different. Maybe you can explain what you are talking about and how the middle/working class will not be able to benefit. I really am perplexed by it, although maybe your terminology is foreign to me (yes, I know a lot of the tax law).
BTW, trusts are something that everyone really should have even if it is from legal zoom or Susie Orman’s free one…it makes it so much easier on your family when you pass away. So especially true if you have any sort of net worth at all or are purchasing a home. Most trusts are not used for income tax purposes but instead for after life issues…avoiding probate and establishing where you want assets to go when you pass away. They are tax neutral. Obviously there are some asset protection type trusts and other specialty purpose trusts too.
The FBAR issue you refer to (the 35K people…) was a huge hassle for most people who were not the actual targeted party…the bar was set so low that it was a huge nightmare for those who have a family bank account for either a family member or a vacation home, or some other purpose. Its target was to get people to report their foreign accounts and bring all of this income into the US, although the real burden fell on the shoulders of those who had an account with more than $10K and a few bucks of interest. Having to pay a penalty on that…crazy. Being threatened to go to jail…even worse. How about those who were signers on mom’s account back in the homeland and may not have even known it. HUGE burden for working families and recent immigrants. Good intentions…bad side effects. The gov’t touts how they got 35K people to report these accounts, but they fail to tell you the number who actually were intentionally hiding the funds. There was absolutely no materiality in these amnesty programs unless you consider less than $1 a materiality threshhold. A lot of hard working people lost a lot of money and paid professionals way too much money just so they could sleep at night. Put a floor on it…and one that is more than $1 of unreported income which is where it is now. Stepping down from the soapbox…
*Part II,
TJLocalSA – OK, with 44,000 pages of tax law….they can change whatever they want and no one may know for three years. The facts are this: The Buffet Tax should be implemented. But that will not be enough for the greed of the politicians. They don’t want to pay down the debt….they just want more money to spend. So, the lion share of real money exists in that tiny group of folks that make $35K to 150K a year. These are what they used to call – working people. These are the folks that spend money and make it. They buy school books, school clothes, take Junior to Soccer practice and spend three days a week at the gym. These are the Middle Class and these are the folks that politicians want to get their grimey hands into the back pocket of…….
You can rest assured that these same folks that wanted to start that “small business” and stop working for someone else are going to have one heck of time when the folks from “both sides of the aisle” keep taking their cash. Obama wants to for these folks to keep the money, but it is lonely at the top. Romney is going to want to keep those folks down – who needs competition?
OK, now on a personal note. Digging into people’s background for cause….is a good thing. Pulling out assertions and casting dark light on anyone….really makes us angry. Don’t do that anymore TJLocalSA…..it is not attractive!
Ahhh…you are talking about my inquiry for Mr. Barragan. Now it makes a little more sense. First, I am not too terribly concerned about being attractive. Secondly, anyone that holds a license that is open to public inspection (and not it is not hard to find…it is on the internet; not much digging) should be prepared to establish the why it has not been kept current. I would think this is especially true for someone running for office and puts a pretty good emphasis on his business experience. Having a CPA license and the experience that goes along with obtaining and maintaining it is a great background for public service…no doubt. I guess that is why I was most intrigued on why it was not current. I don’t believe that I was trying to put him into a dark light…having a CPA license is quite difficult to obtain yet much easier to maintain and as such whenever it is seen that one has a problem with the license, it causes questions. I feel it comes with the territory. Thank you for the scolding…I will be sure to consider your thoughts in the future so as to not make you angry.
Thank you for at least defining for me where you think the middle class is at: $35K to $150K. I can probably agree with you on that although I do wish there could be some regional adjustments. I would probably put it up a higher on both ends for my definition compared to yours.
1 question down…1 more to go: $4K to $5K for a family of 4 making $50K; check and double check.
*TJlocalSA – Sticking to the subject is always attractive. Try it. Your personal appraisals of CPA Credentials we guess are a harmless enough diversion from the reality of “bi-partisan tax boondoggles” – we guess!
We think we said for a family of four: $50,000 dollars of income. Now is this the gross income or the Federally Adjusted Income. Is it done on a short form? Or is it done with Itemized deductions? Can you find your way to the Taco Bell or McDonalds? That is trick question to see if you were paying attention.
$5K to $6K…..so easily done by taking away the Mortgage Tax Credit and Ramping the tax rates…but then you didn’t listen the first time, so why would you be listening now? But that is just the obvious. Lot better ways than that to skin a cat. We get $400 a hour for tax consulting. If you want a private consultation….we do ask for a four hour minimun retainer.
R&AW- Sorry for the diversion into the CPA credentials of Mr. Barragan. There was not a whole lot of activity on the post so figured it was OK to utilize the time to figure out what was going on. Apologies.
I charge a little less than $400 per hour and generally will not sell my services to just anyone willing to shell out $1600 for my time…I want to know more about my clients and how I can help them prior to offering my services. They also expect to know more about me and the others who would be servicing them. At the end of the day I also want to know that my clients are getting the value of my services and as such, if they don’t they don’t pay- I have not had anyone ever not pay for that reason thankfully. I guess not everyone is the same, but thanks for the offer- I will respectfully decline.
Here is your quote since you had to think about what you said and are now twisting it a bit (or maybe you mis-spoke originally and are now correcting it to fit your purposes): “All the Bush Tax Cuts expire this year. All those reductions in payroll holding tax are also going to expire. That means that unless some is done – an average family of four making $50K a year, is going lose $5,000 to $6,000 dollars in income for 2013.”
Your assertion of losing $5K to $6K of income (presuming you meant cash in pocket…i.e. higher taxes) in 2013 vs 2012 is because the Bush Tax Cuts will expire at the end of 2012 and so will the payroll tax reduction. Most people would consider when you say “making $50K a year”, not income of $50K a year, that it means some sort of earned income not after deductions and exemptions. It is pretty easy math if you provide tax consulting services that are worth even remotely close to $400 per hour. I don’t think that you can keep your variables the same and get to $5K to $6K of increased tax by losing the Bush Tax Cuts and the payroll tax reduction. I will take it that you really just pulled that number out of thin air or are putting other variables into the equation thereby exaggerating your claim in the context in which it was used….I know that you have a lot of clients who pay you $400 per hour for your tax consulting services so you probably are quite busy and can’t “check and re-check” everything though. I did just think of how your figures may actually work but it is a very long stretch…maybe you will come back with it and we can be on the same page.
For someone who makes $50K per year with 2 kids, they will see their tax rate go up and lose some of the child tax credit along with the expiring payroll tax reduction. Does not get you to $5K to $6K per year. The so called “Mortgage Tax Credit” which you refer is a mystery to me…if you are referring to the mortgage interest deduction hopefully you and your clients know the difference between a credit and a deduction for $400 per hour. I don’t believe that there is much happening with the mortgage interest deduction with the sunsetting of the Bush Tax Cuts…again, I am humble enough to admit if I am shown wrong too.
I am a big proponent of honesty when people are talking about tax cuts and the numbers that are thrown around. I think that we have to get to an honest starting point before we can start working on solutions. I see way too many people who haphazardly throw figures around that are not backed up by the truth in order to justify their points of view.
TJLocalSA – you are getting the point. There are no rules in knife fight. What do they say: “It is always darkest before it goes completely black.!” When you are talking the big variables: Presidential Election Year, A Very Slow Economic Recovery, A Global Economic Meltdown, Accelerating Growth in previous 3rd World countries, Movement of all of our basic industries to cost effective remote locations, Massive Debt Structure within the winding down Real Estate Market…….well, just for starters – NO RULES…just a bunch of folks grasping straws. The post was intended purely to remind folks that these standard tax increases have been planned for many years. It is the way that the government can control and move Capital to where they want it. Many years ago, a co-worker said it best, after he was asked how they could pay someone a lot of money to simply push a broom over a polished floor. He said: “They could build an expansion bridge to the moon!” “Just keep the money moving!” For a CPA “The Circular Flow of Wealth” is an extremely remote concept. For the Middle Class that is afffected by it, it can hurt a great deal.
OK, so by your lack of a response on the math of your original claim, I will assume that you made up those figures or pulled them from some other source that cannot back them up either. I get it…just like so many, exaggerating a claim in order to make the basis of your argument that much better. Unfortunately, that is part of what is wrong with our political system- instead of starting at truth, too often we start at skewed and non-truths. Since you were into wanting me to be attractive, you should try honesty and admission of an error- it also is attractive.
I do wish to know what the Mortgage Tax Credit you were referring to though- especially since you are get paid $400 per hour for your tax consulting services…or, were you just making that claim up also? If others pay you for your services, I have to presume you have some knowledge on the matter, although I am starting to wonder. You don’t have to answer any of this as your silence will be telling.
Regardless, yes these changes in the tax code have been planned for some time now. The question is whether we would be better off leaving it all alone or making a systemic change. I can’t imagine that if we were to start from scratch that our current system would be the one we would design. Unfortunately, we are not starting from scratch and we have to make a series of changes without impacting any one group of people too much in any given year. Obviously, the so called rich are the easy target but they also don’t provide enough revenue…there are just not enough rich to solve the problem. I would not mind seeing the corporate rates lowered and then increasing cap gain/qual dividend tax rates to compensate for it…dividend income generally has already been taxed once so it seems fitting that it would have a lower rate although if the corporate rate is lower, I can see a rise in the dividend rate.
Personally and professionally, I would like to see the Alt Min Tax be utilized for what it originally was which was more of a Buffet Rule instead of the current regime. Especially in CA, if you make between $250K and $800K you are very likely to pay AMT whereas if you make over $1MM it is likely will not be very impacted by it.
As Mr. Barragan mentioned, redesigning the Ent Zone Credits and other targeted issues would be great too…so many times, the only time that the companies know about them is when someone is selling a study to them which is not the purpose.
*TJLocalSA- You are extemely good at making accusations! We will talk to Tony about getting you a part time job with the DA’s office………You also might need to take a good logic course first at Orange Coast College however! You never know…it could help! Maybe? In the meantime, you do need to write your own blog entry, in our humble opinion – and defend your thoughts there.
Thank you for your concern with my career…I am always looking to advance my education although there are other courses that will help my career more than a good logic course. I don’t feel that any part time job would be in my future right now.
I don’t believe I am all that great at making accusations, but I am good at trying to understand what others are thinking. I also feel that I am good at letting others explain their thoughts and calling them out when they don’t explain themselves. You seem to be good at not answering questions, which is fine but telling.
One thing they’re right about, is you should be writing articles here. Did you get my e-mail?
TJLocalSA – “Calling people out”…..that is a very interesting choice of words. As we explained in our prior comments which you evidently either dismissed or could not cogetate to: Your logic and accusations are seriously lacking in veractiy. Tell us oh great one what might be the difference between “Calling people out” and firing an unsupported accusation? “Telling”…hmmm. Exactly our thoughts……..you ain’t telling much bucko!
You must be suggesting then that “you know” and no one else has a clue? If that is case our fine friend tell us exactly then how much a $50,000 dollar tax liability might be impacted by the Eric Cantor tax plan? Spinning tops went out in the 3rd grade. Most others raised the bar to checkers, fish and hop scotch after that. You are evidently stuck in a time compression someplace, clinging tenaciously to the last remnants of twisted attack ads from Fox News. Sean Hannity needs you as his week-end replacement. You probably hate country music and can’t throw a football…..too bad.
You are quite right by the way….Tony would never hire you. He has a far better eye than going after someone that takes themselves so seriously. Meanwhile, don’t let Vern’s entreaties blow smoke under your skirt – being entertaining takes longevity and knowing when you broke into a wrong logic system.
What is my unsupported accusation?
Looks like you have gotten over that whole staying on point thing that you found so attractive early on. I actually played college football and grew up in an area that country music was quite popular and is definitely on my list of music likes. Not sure what that has to do with the topic, but whatever.
I will post #2 in a minute….feel free to “reply” to this particular post if you would be so kind to let me know what my unsupported accusation is.
I certainly have never meant to imply that no one else has a clue. In fact, I figure that they do have a clue and can guide the readers to the calculations of their statements. I know that there are many smarter people than I out there- I am fine in saying that you may even be one of them.
I do not know the impact of Cantor’s tax plan on someone who has a $50K tax liability as I have not studied it as of yet…However, unless there is further definition of saying how one arrived at a $50K tax liability pre-Cantor plan, I doubt anyone really could answer that question. Is the $50K tax liability pre-Cantor plan due to someone have all earned income (i.e. W2 wages), 100% investment income (i.e. long term cap gains, qual dividends), do they have zero kids or more kids, what age are their dependents, are they married, etc…
If you meant to say what the impact of someone making $50K of wages for a family of 4 as your initial blog post implied, then it is probably able to be quantified…I do not have the knowledge of his plan to give any guidance at this point though. If you would like to give your take, I am all ears though. Perhaps I will have some time to check into it. Although, one of the things that I have learned in my profession, which is not political, is that until tax policy is actually enacted, knowing all the ins and outs of a particular tax bill until it is signed into law can be head spinning and often a waste of time.
Even more so, if you would like to provide a response to my prior questions, that would be great…I think they are:
1. How do you arrive at a tax increase of $5K-$6K in 2013 from the Bush Tax Cuts and Payroll tax cuts expiring. Again, here is your original claim so you don’t have to look it up: ““All the Bush Tax Cuts expire this year. All those reductions in payroll holding tax are also going to expire. That means that unless some is done – an average family of four making $50K a year, is going lose $5,000 to $6,000 dollars in income for 2013.” I have to imagine that you did some math to come up with those figures…check and double check as you advised us to do.
2. What is the “Mortgage Tax Credit” that you referred to multiple times in your replies?
Not exactly sure where we got off on the wrong foot with all of this bantering. I feel it was when I was asking about Mr. Barragan which honestly was solely because he is up for vote in my district of which normally I would love to have a business person who can make an impact but there was something strange about having a CPA license that was having problems being renewed- it is not the norm in the industry. I do feel that his real life experience is worthy of consideration. Sorry for hijacking your thread.
TJLocalSA – We do truly apologize. We failed miserably to diagnose your argument initially. You are severely suffering and badly from what they call – “Those Repressed Hosility Blues, here in the heartless city……” Your circular arguments at first confused us, thinking that you actually had an idea of your own. Well, we have beaten that dead horse far too long and too far – and as we say: We apologize for keeping you in the doldrums of uncertainty when the lack of clarity and the politicial systemic disease of people like Newt and Mitti is so overwhelming for all of us. Bravo for making us respond to your “Straw Doggie” issues….that was cleaver. OK, that will be $400 dollars which you can send to Dr. Vern for the upkeep and continuing dialogue cost of “the OC Juice” We guess in your own sick way you have brought some intrigue to the party at least! We are now sure that it will clear your conscious completely and leave those that read our noble little rag – “dancing in the streets!”
As far as points 1 & 2 go……those questions have 601’d our computer. You should probably just Google them….like everone else does!
Thanks for taking well over 150 words to not answer the question. You are certainly better at politics than I am.
The problem with Googling those questions is that you don’t get any type of answer that would be close to what we are talking about.
I do congratulate you on beating down someone who actually liked reading a lot of articles on this site and commenting on those that mainly had a tax and finance topic into pure frustration. Good job…
There’s nothing wrong with fighting with the Winships over something, but there is peril in taking the fight too seriously. Seriously, I’m interested in this stuff and my eyes have started crossing halfway through. I’d move on to other stories.
Dr, Diamond, don’t you get it – he can’t take it: NOT to get in the last word? This is a bad case of Repressed Hostility Blues! We were not kidding. It is becoming more and more endemic and apparent in our society. The word “competition” has driven many folks over the edge and they lose themselves when they realize that by getting in the last word – that is not necessarily winning! Neither is NOT getting in the last word. The altered consciousness works that way. What did Lenny Bruce say or was it Sam Kenisen: “You can do anything except not rationalize your position!” He just needs to write his own stuff and put himself out there – where others can pot shot on him and see how he responds – without being cruel or mean spirited. It’s a tough assignment!