by Linda Beale Politicians’ wealth and the tax policies they support A story in the Boston Globe by Britt Peterson on Feb. 19, 2012 explored “Why it matters that our politicians are rich” (available here on Boston.com). A key point–the four remaining GOP presidential candidates all are millionaires, with most making more than a million […]
by Linda Beale Links worth noting Lynn Parrymore (Alternet, Naked Capitalism) on the difficulties in putting a stop to congressional insider trading: Can Rep. Bacchus and his money-crazed congressional colleagues be stopped from insider trading? OMB Watch BudgetBlog, Small Biz Owners: Big Businesses, Millionaires Not Paying Fair Share (showing that small businesses are more aware […]
by Linda Beale The relation between high college tuition and low state funding of higher ed: the right’s austerity agenda As certainly everyone should be aware by now (after almost 20 Republican candidate debates and months of negative campaign ads), the GOP candidates all think that we need to prescribe an austerity budget for state […]
by Linda BealeSantorum’s Tax Returns Out News Sources report Santorum has released tax returns. I’m on my way to San Diego for the ABA Tax Section meeting, so haven’t had a chance to peruse. But a tax rate of around 25-27% for 2007-2010 on income ranging from $659,000 in 2007 to more than a million […]
by Linda Beale Misleading Tax Rhetoric Abounds I got the same piece of mail that my colleague and fellow blogger Jim Maule got–a disturbingly misleading rant trying to make a case for zero taxation of unearned income. I started to write a post about it, since this is the kind of material that gets my […]
by Linda Beale U.S. Chamber and corporations fighting for low preferential capital gains rates A coalition of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and large multinational corporations such as Altria Group Inc. and Excel Energy Inc. is trying to pressure Congress to retain the extraordinarily low current tax rates on unearned income that will expire at […]
by Linda Beale The 1% are the only beneficiaries of Greek austerity, not ordinary Greeks An interesting post over on Naked Capitalism on the Greek austerity measures being demanded by the EU leaders (Germany, mostly) and the IMF: Marshal Auerback: Greece and the Rape by the Rentiers (Feb. 10, 2012). The austerity demands, in order […]
by Linda Beale Finance moves transportation bill–revenue sources at issue Senate Finance committee approved on a 17-6 vote the transportation financing proposal (13 Dems and 5 GOP voting yes; the GOP were Snowe, Crapo, Roberts and Thune).The GOP –Jon Kyl a favorite spokesperson–claimed that the Committee’s rush had “lost the opportunity to have a truly […]
by Linda Beale Why we don’t need corporate tax “overhaul” GOP poormouthing on behalf of rich corporate allies(Part I in a series) These days, one hears a great deal from politicians on the right about how a corporate tax “overhaul” is needed because our taxes are “too complex” and/or “too anti-competitive” or because our tax […]
by Linda Beale Obama’s State of the Union vs Romney’s Tax Returns Obama took the high ground in his state of the union address, where he pointedly noted the importance of applying fair tax rules to ensure that millionaires pay taxes at rates more similar to those paid by secretaries and firefighters. He wants a […]