Can a Soda Tax Save Us From Ourselves?
New York Times: “a national soda tax was briefly considered by the Senate Finance Committee as a way to help pay for President Obama’s health care overhaul. But is a soda tax a good idea?”
House Tax Bill Could Hurt Many Businesses
Phoenix Business Journal: “Retailers may like the House’s latest tax bill, but real estate developers and venture capitalists hate it. U.S.-based multinational corporations and small professional services firms that operate as S corporations also are upset.”
DC Increases Cigarette Tax & Revenue Falls by $4.9 Million First 7 Months
Increasing taxes to get more revenue frequently does not work. The District of Columbia raised it tax on cigarettes from $2 a carton to $2.50 a carton. As a result, DC collected $4.9 million less during the period October 2009 through April 2010 than it did the prior period covering the same months. Extrapolating this number to a year equates to an annual decrease of $8.4 million. The brain-trust idiots who passed the increase predicted that revenue would go up $9.7 million a year.
See “Wealthy Fleeing Tax Happy New Jersey – $70 Billion Lost 2004 – 2008” for another example of increasing taxes with the result of less revenue collected.
Rich Pay 40% of Nation’s Tax Burden, Hillary Clinton Says Its Not Enough
The Tax Foundation: “The chart below shows estimates by the Tax Policy Center for 2010 of the distribution of income compared to the distribution of all federal taxes (personal income, payroll, and corporate) by percentile. It shows that households earning over about $212,000 earn about 30 percent of the nation’s income but pay more than 40 percent of all federal taxes. By contrast, those earning less than $105,000 collectively earn about 46 percent of the nation’s income but pay 32 percent of the taxes. The bottom quintile pays nothing.
Taxpayers Face Uncertainty in 2011 As Bush and Obama Tax Cuts Expire
The Tax Foundation: “Polls show that many Americans are anxious about their taxes and believe their payments are rising. At first glance this seems like a public misperception because tax policy at the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration has been dominated by a blizzard of tax cuts, most narrowly targeted at a few taxpayers but some broadly benefiting low- and middle-income people. But paradoxically, the people are right to be worried about high taxes. With federal deficits growing and the U.S. debt mounting to alarming levels, Congress will soon need to cut spending or raise taxes to shore up the long-term fiscal outlook.”
- the tax policies that prevailed before President Bush was elected;
- all Bush-era tax policies extended to 2011 (with no Obama changes); and
- combined Bush and Obama policies, as outlined in the President’s FY 2011 Budget.”