Forums: Tax

House Republican Leader John Boehner onWednesday proposed a two-year freeze on all tax rates and a cut in government spending to the levels of 2008, before a deep recession took hold of the economy. In a broadcast interview, the Ohio Republican said he was offering a "bipartisan" alternative to the package of business tax incentives and infrastructure spending that President Barack Obama was slated to announce later Wednesday in Cleveland. Obama has charged that the GOP criticizes him harshly, without offering any policy alternatives. Boehner touted his freeze-and-cut roadmap to recovery as an option instead of a catchall spending bill...

New York has the highest cigarette tax in the nation, but about a third of the cigarettes sold in the state aren’t taxed at all — they’re purchased over the Internet or at smoke shops run by the state’s American Indians on tribal land. Tribes in New York are supposed to collect sales tax from any nonnatives who come onto tribal land to buy cigarettes. But the tribes have long refused to collect the tax. When the state announced that it would begin collecting the money on Sept. 1, the two sides ended up in court. A state judge last...

WASHINGTON — As part of his emerging program to jolt the economic recovery from its stall, President Obama will call this week for allowing businesses to deduct from their taxes through 2011 the full value of new equipment purchase, from computers to utility generators, to increase demand for goods and create jobs. The upfront deduction would allow businesses of all sizes to keep more money now and would give large corporations, many of which are sitting on cash because of uncertainty about the economy, an incentive to spend and invest.

Legalized RobberyCollecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery. ~ Calvin Coolidge By: Larry Walker The question of the day: Why is making $250,000 a year suddenly considered wealthy? The Obama's made $5.5 million last year. Is that wealthy?Contrary to popular belief, $250,000 in 2010 had the same buying power as $20,722 in 1926. Annual inflation over this period was 3.01%. An income of $250,000, adjusted for inflation, would have placed a taxpayer in an 11% tax bracket in 1926. In order to have been considered in the top tax bracket back then, in today's dollars, would have...

Small businesses feel squeezed by Obama policies By V. Dion Haynes Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 6, 2010; 12 Last year, even as he struggled through the worst of the recession, Chris Upham said revenue at his District-based real estate and construction businesses doubled -- allowing him to hire two agents. But Upham said he hasn't increased his staff thus far in 2010 and he doesn't expect to for the remainder of the year. That's because his taxes rose sevenfold. And he said he anticipates they'll increase again if the Bush tax cuts for people earning $250,000 and above...

President Obama will ask Congress to pass a $100-billion plan to expand and permanently extend the tax credits for businesses that invest in research and development, part of a larger plan for spurring the economy that he is to unveil in greater detail Wednesday. In an address at a Cleveland-area community college, Obama will call for an increase to 17% from 14% in one of the credit options available to businesses, an administration official said Sunday. Obama will propose paying for the plan in part by closing corporate tax breaks for multinational corporations and some energy companies. The president will...

Barack Obama obviously wanted to be President of the US. Unfortunately, Obama wants none of the responsibilities of the office. The buck is always stopped somewhere else, usually at the doorstep of George Bush. Obama blames George Bush for everything ad nauseum, recently extending the blame period from "the last eght years" to "the last ten years." For the moment we'll ignore that the economy went into the tank only after Democrats took office. We'll ignore the fact that Barack Obama was a US Senator from 2005 to 2009. We'll ignore the fact that Obama did absolutely nothing to rectify...

(Adds details) WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will ask the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to increase and permanently extend a tax credit for business research as a way of boosting job growth, an administration official said on Sunday. The proposal would cost $100 billion over 10 years, and Obama would pay for the plan by closing other corporate tax breaks, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Obama will call on Congress to increase to 17 percent from 14 percent one of two credit options available to businesses, the official said.

PAUL Hogan is free to leave Australia after striking a deal with the tax office that included the lifting of his Departure Prohibition Order. The veteran actor agreed to provide a "security" that would allow him to return to the US and reunite with his family, wife Linda Kozlowski and son Chance. As Hogan makes good his departure, he knows the stakes have never been higher in the fight to beat the authorities that form Project Wickenby, the nation's $300 million tax fraud investigation. When banned from leaving Australia two weeks ago, on the eve of his mother's funeral, Hogan...

The White House is considering a push for hundreds of billions of dollars in new stimulative spending, focusing on business tax cuts including a temporary cut in payroll taxes. In part, this is good policy. In part, it's necessary policy. Anne Kornblut and Lori Montgomery quote an unnamed Democratic strategist complaining that the White House has let the issues get away from them in advance of November's election. "'We did the mosque, Katrina, Iraq, and now Middle East peace?' said a Democratic strategist who works closely with multiple candidates and spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'And in between you...