Posts Tagged ‘taxes’

Let’s assume you live in Utah, Hawaii or South Carolina, and you go to Nevada for a vacation. While in Las Vegas, you spend some money in the casinos.

Gambling is illegal in the state where you live, so should the cops in your home state be able to track your activities and arrest you for what happened in Nevada?

The answer, needless to say, is no. Or at least it should be no. Common sense tells us that state laws should only apply to things that happen inside a state’s borders.

But this sensible principle is being tossed out the window by the U.S. Senate, which has approved a proposal that would give states the ability to impose their taxes on out-of-state sellers.

Read more by Daniel Mitchell at Cato.org

The White House pulls a switcheroo on retirement savings accounts.

How many times have you read financial-advice stories lecturing you to max-out on your IRA, save as much as you can in your 401(k), and even pay taxes now to change your regular IRA into a Roth IRA that will be tax-free until you die?

Well, be careful how much you save.

Read more at Wall Street Journal

Tax Freedom Day is the day when Americans finally have earned enough money to pay off their total tax bill for the year. In 2013, Wisconsin taxpayers worked until April 20th (11th latest nationally) to pay their total tax bill.

Read more at TaxFoundation.org

Small-business owners across the U.S. are bracing for the health-care law that kicks in next year, fearing it will increase the cost of providing insurance to employees.

But Rick Levi, a business owner in Des Moines, Iowa, is among those considering the government’s escape hatch: paying a penalty to avoid the law’s “employer mandate.”

Under the Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time workers will be required to provide coverage for employees who work an average of 30 or more hours a week in a given month. An alternative to that mandate is for business owners to pay a $2,000 penalty for each full-time worker over a 30-employee threshold.

Read more by EMILY MALTBY And SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN at WSJ.com

. . . and a tax is a fine for doing well.

Well said . . . by whom?

P.S. So, government will get you either way?

P.P.S. Income taxes are due today!!

A clear majority of Americans have an unfavorable view of the federal income tax system, according to new Washington Post-ABC News polling. But, in a somewhat remarkable finding, a majority of Democrats view the tax system in a positive light while Republicans and Independents carry the exact opposite view.

Fifty-three percent of self-identified Democrats in the Post-ABC survey view the income tax system favorably while 43 percent see it unfavorably. That’s a stark contrast to the 66 percent of Republicans and 62 percent of independents who have an unfavorable opinion of the tax system.

Read more by Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan at WashingtonPost.com

This event has been cancelled.

Tax: a payment to government for doing something good
Fine: a payment to government for doing something bad
Fee: a payment to government for doing business

and you will have tax reform within a year.

Comments?

Because the mainstream media lobbied every bit as hard as Obama to win passage of ObamaCare, they are every bit as invested in doing whatever is necessary to see that it is perceived as a success. Unfortunately for Americans who expect truth from their media, this means the media are having to manufacture a false reality that says ObamaCare is, to steal a phrase, “doing fine.”

In order to manufacture this phony reality, the media must further sell their blackened soul by violating one of their most cherished principals: reporting on how government policy hits America’s weakest the hardest. It’s just a fact that the worst fallout of ObamaCare is already landing hard on the working class, who are losing work hours, jobs, and their insurance.

Read more by John Nolte at Breitbart.com

John Paulson, a lifelong New Yorker, is exploring a move to Puerto Rico, where a new law would eliminate taxes on gains from the $9.5 billion he has invested in his own hedge funds, according to four people who have spoken to him about a possible relocation.

Ten wealthy Americans have already taken advantage of the year-old Puerto Rican law that lets new residents pay no local or U.S. federal taxes on capital gains, according to Alberto Baco Bague, Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce of Puerto Rico. The marginal tax rate for affluent New Yorkers can exceed 50 percent on ordinary income.

Read more by Katherine Burton, Stephanie Ruhle & Zachary R. Mider at Bloomberg.com

Sometimes societies just plod along, oblivious that the world is being reinvented right under their noses. In 2000, one never saw pedestrians bumping into themselves as they glued their noses to iPhones. Thirteen years later, it is almost rare to see anyone on the street who is not stumbling about, networking or texting. Yet most of us are scarcely aware of the collective effect of that odd habit repeating itself millions of times over each day, of millions of books not read, of “hellos” not offered, of brains wired to screens rather than the physical world about them. When cars once drifted into your lane, you assumed a DUI; now their drivers are most likely texting.

Cars, of course, look about the same as they did thirty years ago. But we just assume now that they almost never break down. Up until 1980 I used to see them with hoods up by the side of the road almost every five miles or so. Today, entire notions such as points, plugs, tune-ups, and carburetors have simply quietly passed away for most motorists. The old jalopy with 100,000 miles on it was junk; the new Accord with 150,000 miles has another easy 250,000 to go. The world changes while we snore.

Read more by Victor Davis Hanson at PJmedia.com

Food stamps, welfare, Medicaid and other tax and transfer systems can sometimes penalize people for earning that extra dollar of income

Economists and many policymakers generally agree that our tax and transfer systems should promote opportunity, work, saving, and education rather than consumption. The problem is these programs often penalize people for earning that extra dollar of income. Rather than promoting work and savings, these implicit taxes punish such otherwise positive behavior.

These penalties occur in TANF (formerly welfare), SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), Medicaid, the new health exchange subsidy, Pell grants, student loans, and unemployment compensation. The tax code also is loaded with disincentives to work, save, and study.

Read more by Gene Steuerle at csmonitor.com

Last week, I learned four different friends are doing something that will save each of them tens of thousands – or even hundreds of thousands – of dollars each year.

They’re moving…

And they’re not the only ones. Many of the smartest guys I know are moving this year.

They’re not just thinking about moving… They’re not saying “maybe someday”… They are doing it right now.

The reason why is the amazing part, as you’ll see. And it might make sense for you to consider moving, too. Let me explain…

I spoke with a friend on the phone last week… “What are you doing in Washington state?” I asked him.

“I’m moving here,” he said. “I love California. But moving to Washington state saves me $133,000 a year in state taxes on every $1 million I earn.”

This is not just a millionaire thing…

Read more By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud at DailyWealth.com

Republicans hold a weak hand in Washington but a stronger grip in states where voters have entrusted them with power. Performances there can boost not just the Republican image but bring the party back to power in Washington. More importantly, they can show conservative principles work. The “Red State Model” can, in the Wall Street Journal’s words, “Drive Republican Revival.”

Walter Russell Meade, one of our most brilliant thinkers, has written quite perceptively about the collapse of what he calls “the blue model.” These are states that have been firmly in the hands of the Democratic Party and their allies (unions-especially public employee unions; special interest groups — environmentalists among them). Together they have created a tax, spend and borrow model of governance that is leading to fiscal chaos. Policies have been adopted that have created a hostile business climate that has cramped growth and blighted the future of the middle class.

–SNIP– And therein lies an opportunity for the Republican Party.

While Barack Obama won re-election and the Senate remains in the hands of the Democrats, voters in 30 states put in power Republican governors, and 25 of those states have legislatures controlled by Republicans. The 2012 election sharpened the partisan divide in America between red states and blue states

Read more by Ed Lasky at AmericanThinker.com