Taxation

The 2 Percent Illusion

Wall Street Journal | Feb. 26, 2009

Take everything they earn, and it still won’t be enough.

President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end “tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans,” and he promised that households earning less than $250,000 won’t see their taxes increased by “one single dime.”

This is going to be some trick. Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can’t possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama’s new spending ambitions. [Read more…]

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OPM – The Socialist Drug of Choice

Breitbart | Endre Balogh | Feb. 19, 2009

When it comes to the wit and wisdom of Karl Marx, it’s likely that his most quoted statement is, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” The perverse irony in that quote is that all of Marx’s pseudo-scientific philosophical and sociological musings are so antithetical to common sense and basic human nature, that in order to believe them one must take a leap of faith far greater than any required for belief in a religious dogma. Certainly, George Orwell had Marx in mind when he famously quipped, “There are some ideas so preposterous that only an intellectual could believe them.” [Read more…]

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The Decline of California

The Wall Street Journal | February 17, 2009

If you thought Washington’s stimulus debate was depressing, take a look at the long-running budget spectacle in California. The Golden State’s deficit has reached $42 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to furlough 20,000 state workers (go ahead, make our day), and as we went to press yesterday Democrats who control the legislature had blocked lawmakers from leaving until they finally get a deal. [Read more…]

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Obama Lets Media Get Under His Thin Skin

The “true” Obama emerges from the propaganda cloud created and promoted by the mainstream media. It’s not a pretty picture.

Pajamas Media | Martha Zoller | Feb. 6, 2009

President Obama has shown the dent in his shield. He’s sensitive about what people think of him. That’s understandable since there was very little negative coverage of him during the campaign. In addition, he had so much money he could drown out any negative questions about him. The networks and the mainline newspapers had to admit after the election they’d been a little slanted towards Obama in their coverage. You can’t blame them. As then-Senator Biden said during the campaign, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” [Read more…]

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California Scheming, How Democrats Destroy a State

Investor’s Business Daily | Dec. 22, 2008

As the financial crisis in California gets worse, it’s pretty clear the real problem isn’t the budget at all, but a political system that has resulted in a dysfunctional one-party state.

California’s $41.8 billion budget deficit expected over the next two years is a record. No other state even comes close. But despite what the state’s politicians say, it’s not because of the recent economic downturn. It’s because of them.

The state has a budget crisis for the second time in a decade largely because the Democratic-held legislature has spent money wildly and without any real purpose. [Read more…]

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EPA Pushing to Impose a Flatulence Tax on Cows and Hogs

AP-FoxNews | Bob Johnson | Dec. 5, 2008

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law.

Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.

“This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do,” said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal. It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog. [Read more…]

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Like Father, Like Son – Obama’s Father: Government 100% Taxation of Income OK

Investor’s Business Daily | Aug. 14, 2008

As a Nairobi bureaucrat, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. advised the pro-Western Kenyan government there to “redistribute” income through higher taxes. He also demonized corporations and called for massive government “investment” in social programs.

Writing in a 1965 scholarly paper, Obama’s late father slammed the administration of then-President Jomo Kenyatta for moving the Third World country away from socialism toward capitalism. He chafed at the idea of relying on private investors — who earn “dividends” on their venture capital — to develop the country’s fledgling economy. [Read more…]

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