Category: taxes

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Donald Trump Politics taxes

NY Daily News Calls for IRS to Stop Auditing Trump’s Taxes – #ReleaseYourTaxes

Did you know that the Trump campaign has said he will NOT be releasing his taxes before the November presidential election? Imagine that! A presidential candidate who has decided to stick it to the American people and keep his taxes secret. The Daily News asks, what is Trump hiding? If Trump was a straight-up businessman like he claims, then releasing his taxes should be easy.

“Supported by President Obama, the IRS should declare Trump’s tax audit settled,” the editorial board wrote Wednesday. “The benefit of preventing him from further politicizing the tax agency would far outweigh collecting however many millions of dollars he may have shorted the U.S.”

Trump has frequently cited the audit as the reason for not being able to release his tax returns. But the IRS has said Trump can still release his returns despite an audit.

“Trump’s returns might well show that he is worth far less than he has boasted; that he has given next to nothing to charity; that he has finagled to reduce his tax payments to zero; that he has tapped American taxpayers to subsidize his lavish lifestyle, or something even worse,” the editorial continues. “Voters should shame him, hound him and harangue him — and the IRS should cut its losses by cutting him loose.”

Trump would be the first presidential candidate in 40 years to not release his income taxes.

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Politics taxes

Donald Trump Proposed “the Biggest Tax Hike… in History”

I love the way Yahoo News put this. They said if Trump had his way, his tax hike proposal would have made Bernie Sanders proud.

In classic Trump fashion, the plan was big and bold. If enacted, Trump’s plan would have been biggest tax hike, in total raw dollars, in history. In a word, it would have been huge.

The year was 1999 and Trump was toying with the idea of running for President as a third party candidate. The idea, which Trump says he no longer supports, was to impose a one-time tax of 14.25 percent on every American worth more than $10 million and raise exactly enough money to pay off the debt.

Trump himself would have had to pay more than $700 million. But he didn’t care. He calculated his plan would erase the entire national debt and save the government millions in interest payments, allowing tax cuts for everybody else.

Here’s how Trump described the plan on “Good Morning America” on Nov. 10, 1999:

“Well, basically, this would be a one-time tax, 14.25 percent against people with a net worth of over 10 million,” Trump said. “It would pay off in its entirety the national debt of $5.7 trillion, and you’d save $200 billion a year. So taxes for the middle class would go way down, the estate and inheritance tax totally wiped out, and the Social Security system would be saved.”

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Politics taxes

Fox News Willfully Misleads – Implies That Obama is “Raising” Taxes on The Middle Class

One of the many specifics proposed by President Obama in this year’s State of The Union Address was lowing the taxes on middle class workers. To pay for this, the president has proposed closing tax loopholes and increasing Capital Gains taxes on the top 1%. But over at Fox News, they are hearing a completely different thing as they willfully mislead their audience into believing that what the president proposed will raise their taxes.

Look at their onscreen graphic. It asks the audience if Obama’s tax plan amounts to “Raising Your Taxes?”

Or maybe Fox is right. Maybe the only people watching their network now is the top 1%

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Politics taxes

Report: Poor Families Pay Double The Tax Rate as Rich Families

And the Republicans rejoice. They have been working for this outcome for decades!

Middle- and low-income Americans are facing far higher state and local taxes than the wealthy, according to a new report assessing tax data from all 50 states.

In all, the analysis by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds that the poorest 20 percent of households pay on average more than twice the effective state and local tax rate (10.9 percent) as the richest 1 percent of taxpayers (5.4 percent).

ITEP researchers say the incongruity derives from state and local governments’ reliance on sales, excise and property taxes rather than on more progressively structured income taxes that increase rates on higher earnings. They argue that the tax disconnect is helping create the largest wealth gap between the rich and middle class that has ever been recorded in American history.

“In recent years, multiple studies have revealed the growing chasm between the wealthy and everyone else,” Matt Gardner, executive director of ITEP, said. “Upside-down state tax systems didn’t cause the growing income divide, but they certainly exacerbate the problem. State policymakers shouldn’t wring their hands or ignore the problem. They should thoroughly explore and enact tax reform policies that will make their tax systems fairer.”

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Politics taxes

John Boehner Getting Crucified on His Facebook Page For Telling Another Lie

The Republican Leader of the House of Representatives thought he was on safe ground when he decided to write a post on his verified Facebook page, claiming “House Republicans have protected 98% of Americans from permanent tax increases.”

For those of you following politics, you already know that the only “Americans” Republicans have fought to protect are the top 2% – the millionaires and billionaires among us. Republicans have, however, gone out of their way to make sure the middle class and poor suffer!

After posting his lie on Facebook, informed Americans began letting the Republican speaker know their feelings, some of them even calling him a “liar,” and seeing their response is a wonderful sight to behold.

Here are some of what these Americans had to say;

And there’s more! Page after page of informed Americans telling Boehner what they think of him and the Republicans in Congress!

I bet he wouldn’t try that again!

My day just got a lot happier!

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Politics taxes weekly address

President’s Weekly Address – Ending Tax Loopholes For Tax Evaders Like Walgreens

In this week’s address, president Obama called on congress to close the tax loophole that allow some American companies to adopt the leaching mentality. The leachers sell their products to the American people, collect huge amounts in profit, but avoid paying taxes on their income by claiming overseas tax status.

Walgreens, the company that calls itself “the pharmacy America trusts,” is one of these companies, currently considering moving their operations to foreign shores to avoid paying taxes here in America.

The President;

Even as corporate profits are as high as ever, a small but growing group of big corporations are fleeing the country to get out of paying taxes.  They’re keeping most of their business inside the United States, but they’re basically renouncing their citizenship and declaring that they’re based somewhere else, just to avoid paying their fair share.

I want to be clear: this is only a few big corporations so far.  The vast majority of American businesses pay their taxes right here in the United States.  But when some companies cherrypick their taxes, it damages the country’s finances.  It adds to the deficit.  It makes it harder to invest in the things that will keep America strong, and it sticks you with the tab for what they stash offshore.  Right now, a loophole in our tax laws makes this totally legal – and I think that’s totally wrong.  You don’t get to pick which rules you play by, or which tax rate you pay, and neither should these companies.

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Celebrities Music taxes

Brian McKnight in Tax Troubles – Files Lawsuit Against His Accountant

Now this one here is a shame. Clean cut R&B artist Brian McKnight, known especially for his 1997 hit “Anytime” and another hut in 1999 “Back At One,” apparently hasn’t paid taxes in a decade, and he is blaming his accountant.

McKnight has filed a lawsuit against Vernon Brown and Company, claiming Brown ruined his life by not paying ANY of Brian’s taxes for close to a decade … resulting not only in more than a million bucks in back taxes, but more than $500K in penalties and interest.

Here’s how bad McKnight says it got … In the lawsuit he claims Brown knew he screwed up and secretly contacted Congressman Henry Waxman and gave him a phony sob story that got Waxman to contact the IRS and get McKnight back on an installment plan.

McKnight says Brown was so bad he screwed up the installment plan and the taxes were never paid.

McKnight says his credit is now crap, his house has a lien, his music royalties have been frozen and his life is in shambles.  Not only that, McKnight says his driver’s license has been suspended for failing to pay back taxes, and because his son shares the same name HIS license was suspended as well.

And here’s an honor no one wants … McKnight says he landed on California’s Top 500 Delinquent Taxpayers.

Something he can put on his mantle … next to his Soul Train Music Award.

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Politics taxes

New Data – Rich People Paying Less Taxes Under Obama

This, despised the fact that Republicans and those in the top 10 percent huddle together to convince low information Americans that President Obama is waging a war on the rich.

New data is out from the IRS, showing the share of federal income taxes paid by those in each economic strata. Bruce Bartlett points out that the richest Americans have seen their share of taxes declining rather significantly under Obama. Specifically, the richest 1% paid 37.5% of taxes in (recession-damaged) 2008; in 2011, their share was down to 35%. (Their share peaked in 2007, during the boom times—and the Bush administration.) The top 5% of earners also saw their share of taxes decline by a similar margin. So, under the first three years of the Obama administration, the very rich saw their share of taxes go down. This is the class warfare that Republicans are always complaining about.

This is happening, remember, during a time with a disparity between the rich and poor that has not been seen since the Gilded Age. This is not the legacy that Obama wants to leave. Two easy ways to address this worrisome trend are to cut or abolish the (highly regressive) payroll tax and to just go ahead and tax the hell out of absurdly high incomes. Also, tax investment income, which flows mostly to the rich, as what it is: income.

Obama says all the right things. In his speech, he said that this issue “drives everything I do in this office.” Fine. I hope it shows up in the numbers next year.

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Politics taxes

Man Files 122 False Income Tax Returns – Gets $92,000 in Returns

Here’s something original. Barry made over $92,000.00 filing 122 false income tax returns using the information of dead people.

In other news, Republican Senator Rand Paul recently defended Apple’s decision to cheat the American Government out of billions in taxes, by shipping their income overseas. Paul was heard saying that everyone game the system in some way, so Apple did nothing wrong.

I guess what this guy did is okay, using Paul’s standard.

The U.S. attorney’s office said in a release John M. Berry Jr. of Dunkirk, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Buffalo to making a false claim against the United States. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, said between Sept. 3, 2008, and March 25, 2009, Berry filed 122 false income tax returns for the tax years 2007 and 2008 with the IRS.

During that time, Berry obtained the personal and identifying information for 122 recently deceased individuals and then used that information to file federal tax returns. The defendant created fraudulent income and withholding information for the dead taxpayers and filed the returns electronically, Mango said.

The 122 tax returns sought refunds totaling $217,520 from the IRS, of which the defendant received $92,462.12. The refunds were deposited directly into Berry’s bank account, Mango said.

“This case should serve as a warning that our office, working with our law enforcement partners, will not tolerate attempts to either steal the identities of individuals, or the money of the taxpayers of this country,” U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. “That this defendant would rob the identities of deceased individuals is concerning, and could have brought additional grief and pain for their loved ones.”

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26.

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News Politics taxes

Acting IRS Chief Resigns, Obama Condemns ‘Inexcusible’ Targeting of Tea Party Groups

President Obama announced on Wednesday that the Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner Steven Miller has submitted his resignation for his agency’s “inexcusable” targeting of conservative groups who had applied for tax-exempt status.

“I reviewed the Treasury Department watchdog’s report and the misconduct that it uncovered is inexcusable,” Obama said in the East Room of the White House. “Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I’m angry about it.”

“I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially at the IRS given the power that it has and the reach it has inside of our lives,” he added.

His comments come after the Treasury Inspector General released a report on Tuesday implicating “poor management” for allowing the practice to singling out groups with names like “tea party” or “patriot” in their names for additional scrutiny.

Obama said that he intends to hold the “responsible parties accountable” and pledged to work with Congress and the Treasury department to investigate the problems at the IRS and ensure that it never happens again.

h/t/ – ABCNEWS

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Politics taxes

Republican House Bill: Federal Workers Owing Taxes Must Lose Their Jobs

The House will mark April 15, the day federal taxes are due, by passing a bill that would require the government to fire federal workers with “seriously delinquent” tax debts.

Thousands of federal workers are cited each year for failing to pay their taxes on time. Last month, the IRS said more than 300,000 workers still owed $3.5 billion to the IRS for 2011.

In response, the House is expected to take up H.R. 249, the Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act, under a suspension of House rules. In addition to  firing federal workers who still owe taxes, it would prohibit the government from hiring these people.

The bill, from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), would require federal agencies to take “appropriate measures” to ensure no one is hired with a “seriously delinquent tax debt.”

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bill o reilly Politics taxes

Bill O’Reilly And The Liberal On Taxing The Rich – Video

Although rich folks in America have been the only benefactors of a Republican policy called Trickle Down Economics – a policy earning them trillions in wealth since it was implemented – there are those who still believes that asking these same people to contribute to the economy by paying a fair share of taxes is the wrong thing to do.

Bill O’Reilly tonight express his outrage with the Congressional Progressive Caucus over a budget proposal that includes taxing billionaire at 49 percent. O’Reilly squared off with Demos co-founder David Callahan over whether it is “morally right” for the government to impose that level of taxation on any American citizen. Callahan told O’Reilly that taxes were that high during the Reagan years, with O’Reilly dismissing that argument as irrelevant and asking if the government has any right to “take half your stuff.”

O’Reilly declared that if the CPC budget actually went into effect, it would “absolutely destroy the American economy, predicting that billionaires would have to hand over their personal information to the IRS. Callahan said, “Donald Trump and his dermatologist shouldn’t be paying the same tax rate.”

O’Reilly asked Callahan if it is “morally right” for the government to tax any American that much. Callahan pointed out that the top tax bracket under Reagan was around 50 percent, though O’Reilly shot back that no one really paid all of that due to deductions and tax shelters. He dismissed the Reagan argument as “not relevant to our discussion,” saying the real issue is if “the federal government in a free nation… [has] the right to take half your stuff, no matter how much money you earn.”

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