Tag: republicans

The Debt Ceiling Crisis

The Debt Ceiling Crisis

The Senate has agreed to put off debt ceiling. Yesterday, the Senate voted to approve a measure that suspends the U.S. debt ceiling which translates to our country being able to at least temporarily pay bills.

However, two amendments touted by Republican Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio) were voted down by Democrats who control the Senate. These were supposed to stop some of the chaos in these debates.

The bill, passed by the House previously last week, suspends the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling so that the U.S. can pay bills. Mid-April is the new deadline to make a budget; if not done by this time, lawmakers do not get a paycheck. The last vote was 64-34.

Portman desired to add two amendments to this bill: the first one would necessitate that Congress would cut spending first before being able to raise the debt ceiling, and the second one was hoping to avoid upcoming government shutdowns. Discretionary programs would still be paid for even if Congress didn’t pass bills to pay for them by the beginning of the fiscal year on October 1st.

There was also an enforcement clause: If Congress missed this fiscal year deadline by 120 days, there would be 1% deducted from money for those programs. An additional percentage point would be taken every 90 days.

In the Senate, the vote was 52-46 to table this clause. Three of the Democrats were in support of this.

Since 1997, Portman claims, Congress has not been able to come to an agreement on spending bills. There were government shutdowns in some years, such as 1996.

Also voted down was a proposal by Portman to require any presidential proposal to raise the debt limit be linked to a proposal to cut spending over the next ten years. With such a request would of course, come a request to raise taxes on at least some Americans.

Portman says his measures are one way to take care of the rising amount of unsustainable debt.

Portman also voted against suspending our debt ceiling in order to reduce spending, and therefore, taxes, and prevent the United States from overspending and casting the burden onto our children and grandchildren.

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Taxes, Santorum, Part Of The Solution Or Part Of The Problem

The Republican candidate Rick Santorum has a tax plan that would cut taxes, for Americans, but increase the budget deficit by nine-hundred billion in a year. This was reflected in a recent study. The more the deficit increases, the less the American dollars is worth. His plan is a short term fix, with no long term benefits.

The taxes 2012 Santorum plan would create a substantial tax cut of approximately seven-thousand and eight-hundred dollars for about sixty-nine percent of Americans. The problem with his proposal is that the households, which would benefit the most, are the richest ones in the … Read the rest

The Republican candidate Rick Santorum has a tax plan that would cut taxes, for Americans, but increase the budget deficit by nine-hundred billion in a year. This was reflected in a recent study. The more the deficit increases, the less the American dollars is worth. His plan is a short term fix, with no long term benefits.

The taxes 2012 Santorum plan would create a substantial tax cut of approximately seven-thousand and eight-hundred dollars for about sixty-nine percent of Americans. The problem with his proposal is that the households, which would benefit the most, are the richest ones in the country. Individuals, who make more than one-million a year, might receive a tax cut package of approximately four-hundred and forty-two, thousand dollars. Most households with an income of fifty-thousand to seventy-five thousand would receive about two-thousand and sixty-two dollars.

Santorum’s tax cuts are extremely beneficial to corporations, by cutting their taxes in half. Corporation that now pay thirty-five percent in taxes, would only pay around seventeen percent. The wealthy would get a lower tax rate on their investment income from fifteen percent to twelve percent. He would get rid of the marriage tax penalties and increase aid for dependent children. Single parent families would conversely receive tax increases. However, none of these tax changes would be fully established until 1215.

Rick Santorum’s budget will increase the deficit, benefit corporations, and the wealthy. It is time to stop writing checks on an empty account. The last thing this country needs is another short-sighted economic agenda.

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California Faces Battle Over Budget

A budgetary showdown is looming in California over taxes 2010 as a constitutional deadline approaches. California which is the eighth largest economy in the world, faces running out of money if no budget is approved by the first of July. This would force California to issue IOUs as was done in 2009. The California constitution requires any tax increase to be approved by two thirds of the legislators. At the present time the Democrats need four more votes to pass the budget but the Republicans are vowing they will block its passage.

Top ranked Republican Jim Neilsen of the Assembly Budget Committee says there is nothing in the framework of the current budget that deserves his support.

Brown who is now 73, took over the position of governor of California in January of this year. He had pledged to repair fiscal problems in California that give it the worst credit rating of all the states according to Standar & Poor’s. At the beginning of the year California had a deficit of $26 billion. Recent government spending cuts and increased revenue have lowered the gap to $10 billion.

The plan for taxes 2010 that Brown is proposing includes keeping a one percent boost in retail sales tax to 8 and a quarter percent. There is also a proposal to raise the fee to register a car to 1.15 percent of the value of the vehicle. The plan extends the reduction of the annual child tax credit to $99 from the previous amount of $309.

Republicans Repeal Tanning Business Tax

Legislation was recently introduced by a committee of House Republicans to repeal the ten percent tax on companies that provide tanning services. The tax, which was introduced under the President’s measures to reform health care, has been widely regarded as being unfair to small businesses.

Michael Grimm, a New York Republican pointed out that middle class Americans and small business owners should not have to pay the bills for Obama’s reform of health care. Grimm went on to say that the tanning tax is just one of several unfair taxes that affect both business owners and customers and ultimately the … Read the rest

Legislation was recently introduced by a committee of House Republicans to repeal the ten percent tax on companies that provide tanning services. The tax, which was introduced under the President’s measures to reform health care, has been widely regarded as being unfair to small businesses.

Michael Grimm, a New York Republican pointed out that middle class Americans and small business owners should not have to pay the bills for Obama’s reform of health care. Grimm went on to say that the tanning tax is just one of several unfair taxes that affect both business owners and customers and ultimately the overall economy.

The tanning tax could adversely affect up to 120,000 people employed by around 18,000 small businesses, points out Phil Roe, a Tennessee Republican. To make his point, Roe stated that just over 3,000 tanning businesses have closed since 2009, because of this tax – a number that represents 15 percent of the overall industry and accounts for 24,000 jobs.

The tax was introduced in July and since then has caused a dispute during debates on health care when discussing both taxes 2010 and 2009. President Obama signed the Act for Affordable Care and Patient Protection (PPACA)in 2010 and supporters of the tanning tax argue that filing business tax such as this helps pay for care under this act.

Repealing the tanning tax is encouraged by the Federation of Independent Business and the organization claims that the PPACA could get rid of 1.6 million jobs by 2014, around 30 percent of which are in small businesses.