Paul Buchheit has an article at Alternet that spells out the core problem underlying our systemic federal debt problem and the way the tax burden has been shifted away from wealthy corporations and toward individual taxpayers. Some of these numbers are pretty astonishing:
Category Archive: Budget and Taxes
May 10 2013
NJ Gives Millions to Jewish School
The Chris Christie administration in New Jersey has approved a grant worth over $10 million to an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbinical school to build a new library and other buildings, as part of a larger bill that funds construction projects at the states colleges and universities.
May 07 2013
Fix the Debt: Fiscal Responsibility for Thee
ThinkProgress links to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies and the Campaign for America’s Future about a group called Fix the Debt, which is made up of the CEOs of many large and powerful corporations. While demanding fiscal responsibility, they all make far more money both personally and for their companies because …
May 02 2013
Bipartisan Push to Buy Tanks Army Doesn’t Need
If you want a perfect microcosm of what is broken about our political system, look no further than this story about a push in Congress to continue funding the production of a tank that the military says it doesn’t want or need. Why? Because it brings jobs to a key swing state.
Apr 26 2013
No, Religion Doesn’t Get You Out of Paying Taxes
A Nevada tax protester named Bret Ogilvie has apparently been using the Kent Hovind strategy to defend himself against criminal charges for tax evasion. A federal district court in Nevada has rejected his claim that paying taxes is a violation of his religious freedom. From the ruling:
Apr 23 2013
Texas Legislators Suddenly Love Federal Aid
A pair of Texas lawmakers who were opposed to federal aid for Hurricane Sandy relief suddenly love the idea of federal aid to help West, Texas recover from a massive explosion at a fertilizer factory. That includes Tea Party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz and the congressman who actually represents West.
Apr 14 2013
Dumbass Quote of the Day
Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia may have pulled into the lead in the competition for the title of Dumbest Right Wing Legislator with this argument for why the health care reform bill should not pay for sex change operations (which it doesn’t do, by the way):
Apr 11 2013
US Tax Burden Compared to Other OECD Countries
To hear the right tell it, the United States is horribly overtaxed. But compared to other industrialized nations, our tax burden is among the lowest in the world. Citizens for Tax Justice looked at taxes collected as a percentage of GDP in the OECD countries and found exactly that.
Mar 30 2013
Cruz Plays Pretend on Reagan
Sen. Ted Cruz may be new to the senate, but he’s apparently well-schooled in the mythical version of Saint Ronald Reagan. FactCheck takes a look at a recent statement by him that stands history completely on its head in claiming that Reagan reduced spending and debt.
Mar 28 2013
Another Study Shows Tax Cuts =/= Jobs
Here’s another study that shows that one of the central ideological arguments of conservatives and Republicans, that tax cuts are the key to spurring job growth, is false. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities tracked the effects of state tax cuts in the 90s and found that the states that cut taxes had less …
Mar 19 2013
Total Cost of the Iraq War Over $6 Trillion?
As we “celebrate” the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, a new report says that the total cost of the war is over $2 trillion when you add together not only the immediate expenses but the ongoing expenses of caring for the veterans who came back with massive physical and psychological injuries. And that’s …
Mar 14 2013
Sequestration May Lead to Leaner Military
During the ongoing fight over the sequestration deal, I’ve said several times that I was okay with those cuts going through because it may be our only real opportunity to force reductions in defense spending. The New York Times reports that those cuts may be doing exactly what they should so, force the Pentagon to …
Mar 06 2013
What the Defense Spending Cuts Really Mean
At its best, satire can reveal truths that have remained obscured, often deliberately so. Such is the case with Andy Borowitz’ column about the real damage that the miniscule cuts in defense spending as part of the sequester deal will do to American policy:
Mar 05 2013
The Sequestration Lies Just Keep on Coming
I’m one of those who is fine with the sequestration kicking in (no, I don’t think it will have some horrible impact on the economy), so all the absurd theater around it over the last few weeks is particularly amusing to me. But the baldfaced lies coming out of the Republicans have reached a fever …
Mar 04 2013
High Tax States Have More Economic Growth
A new study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that, contrary to the claims of Republican politicians, states with high income tax rates actually experience more economic growth per capita than states with lower or no state income taxes.
About the Author
Recent Comments