TAX POLITIX
The Politics of Taxes
Thousands of New Regulations Released, Again
In recent years, President Obama has issued his Fall Unified Agenda right around Thanksgiving, as most of the country is preparing for the holiday season. This year was no different. This past Friday, the 2015 regulatory list was released. According to Forbes, "the Fall 2015 Agenda reports on 3,297 rules and regulations at the 'active,' 'completed' and 'long-term' stages, many of them holdovers from earlier volumes. This is down from 3,415 last year. Active (these include pre-rule, proposed...
New Law To Tie Taxes With Passports
The State Department, in tandem with the IRS, will soon have the ability to "block Americans with 'seriously delinquent' tax debt from receiving new passports and will be allowed to rescind existing passports of people who fall into that category." This new law will likely begin in January 2016. The roots of this new law began back in 2012, a report issued by the GAO suggested the possibility of tying tax collection to passport issuance, in an effort to collect revenue. Soon thereafter,...
HHS Attempting to Frame Obamacare Losses to Insurers as a Government Obligation
A must read from the Washington Examiner today on the subject of Obamacare, insurance companies, and bailouts. I republished the article in full. The Department of Health and Human Services attempted to reassure private insurers on Thursday that they'll be able to recover losses from participating in Obamacare by claiming it was an "obligation" of the U.S. government to bail them out. At issue is a provision within the law known as the risk corridors program. Under the program, which runs from...
NYT: Affordable Care Act Becoming Unaffordable
In an effort to encourage people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, the Obama Administration has boosted the low cost of premiums -- the part that is subsidized. What they aren't mentioning is that in exchange for low monthly costs, enrollees face high deductible costs. “Most Americans will find an option that costs less than $75 a month,” President Obama said. Additionally, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, issued a report analyzing premiums in the 38...
The FORM Act, the Fed, and Monetary Policy
Congress is slated to take up the Fed Oversight Reform and Modernization Act (FORM Act) this week. The FORM Act. It includes four key policy changes. A summary from the Daily Signal: 1) Require the Federal Reserve to Operate Under a Rules-Based Framework. Throughout its history, the Fed has operated within a purely discretionary policy framework. Rules-based monetary policy, on the other hand, gives a central bank a clear set of guidelines that credibly commit it to future policy actions....
De Blasio’s Commuter Tax Scheme Is Another Burden For NYC Businesses
De Blasio recently announced the implementation of the NYC Commuter Benefits Law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2016. This law "requires for-profit and nonprofit employers with 20 or more full-time employees in New York City to offer commuter benefits. Employers can save by reducing payroll taxes and employees can lower their monthly expenses by using pre-tax income to pay for their commute." What De Blasio's press release doesn't say is that companies face costs associated with this...
Obama Administration Has Added Nearly A Half-Trillion in Debt in 10 Days
As previously noted, the government debt skyrocketed $339 billion the first day after the debt ceiling was lifted via the spending deal. Now, after 10 days (Nov 12), the total new debt has reached $462 billion. The initial spike was the result of replenishing the funds that have been total new debt">"frozen". "The government began bumping up against the debt limit in March and was borrowing from other funds — using “extraordinary measures” — to keep from breaching the $18.1 trillion level....
Former GAO Chief Points Out Unfunded Liabilities Debt
David Walker was a former head of the Government Accountability Office under Presidents Clinton and Bush. He recently spoke out about the crippling US debt, pointing out that the national debt is far greater than what is understood -- more than three times the amount. Walker told radio host John Catsimatidis, “If you end up adding to that $18.5 trillion the unfunded civilian and military pensions and retiree healthcare, the additional underfunding for Social Security, the additional...
Record Spending at the Social Security Administration
The Social Security Administration had record spending in fiscal year 2015, totaling $944,143,000,000. This total includes Social Security payments, disability payments, Supplemental Security Income payments, and the costs to administer these programs. From CNSNews: "As of September, there were 59,737,817 beneficiaries getting Social Security or disability benefits, according to the SSA. At the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 148,800,000 people who had either...
The Incredibly Shrinking Workforce
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest monthly report today. The October numbers women's employment retreated just slightly from the record it set in September: 56,540,000 women over the age of 15 were unemployed. Overall, 94,513,000 people in America were out of work during the month of October. This is the lowest it has been in 38 years; only 62.4% of Americans age 16 and above were either looking for work or working. The Obama Administration still continues to tout the...
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