TAX POLITIX
The Politics of Taxes
IRS Hard Drives Gone
Now we've gone from yes, we have emails ---> no we don't have emails because of a computer crash ----> the hard drive may have been recycled. Politico reports: "Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive has been recycled, making it likely the lost emails of the lightning rod in the tea party targeting controversy will never be found, according to multiple sources. What's more, "On Wednesday, the White House retorted that for the time frame in which Lerner’s emails are missing, there are...
How The Media Was Complicit in the VA Scandal
We now know that the state of affairs within the VA system was abhorrent for years — and that Obama, like his predecessor, knew there were problems. And yet, several well known left-leaning columnists spoke highly about the VA health system anyway, especially ramping up the rhetoric right at the time Obamacare began to take shape in Congress in 2009. Obama's objectives regarding the VA were laid out in the Obama Transition Plan for when he took office. Obama had been warned about the problems...
Obama’s Federal Student Loan “Help” is Adding Rapid Debt to Our Economy
Do you know who is on the hook for many student loans? You, the taxpayer. From CNS News: "Since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, the cumulative outstanding balance on federal direct student loans has jumped 517.4 percent. The balance owed as of the end of May was $739,641,000,000.00. That is an increase of $619,838,000,000.00 from the balance that was owed as of the end of January 2009, when it was $119,803,000,000.00, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement" The largest...
Did A Failed Medical Scheduling Project Contribute to the Development of Secret Waiting Lists at the VA?
Did a failed medical scheduling project at the VA contribute to the development of “secret waiting lists”? At least one attempt to implement a scheduling system at the VA never got off the ground after nearly a decade of trying. Apparently a medical scheduling project for the VA was begun in 2000 and was discontinued in 2009, 9 years after it the project began -- and it remained utterly unfinished. Nothing seems to have been done for another 3 years until 2012, when the Secretary of Veteran's...
The Tea Party and Immigration
I joined the Tea Party in my locality when it began because I sincerely believed in its simple, but extremely powerful and direct message: Low Taxes Limited, Constitutional Government Individual liberty and nothing else. The Tea Party was not to be a political “Party” with positions on every subject under the sun. It would only be involved in its particular concerns, so as not to dilute its message. Then what is this nonsense regarding certain Tea Party groups espousing substantial...
IRS Purported to Have Lost Two Years of Lerner Emails
From Committee on Ways and Means Chairman, Dave Camp: "Due to a supposed computer crash, the agency only has Lerner emails to and from other IRS employees during this time frame. The IRS claims it cannot produce emails written only to or from Lerner and outside agencies or groups, such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices". This revelation comes a year after the IRS scandal broke. Commissioner Koskinen stated that he would turn over all documents...
Quickly Noted: IRS Sent Taxpayer Info to the FBI
From National Review Online: "The Internal Revenue Service may have been caught violating federal tax law: In October 2010, the agency sent a database on 501(c)(4) social-welfare groups containing confidential taxpayer information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to documents obtained by a House panel. The information was transmitted in advance of former IRS official Lois Lerner’s meeting the same month with Justice Department officials about the possibility of using...
New Executive Action on Student Loans
Obama issued an Executive Order today that brought extra relief to some student loan borrowers. A 2010 law allowed for repayment caps at 10% of a borrower's income, though some loan holders were ineligible. This Executive Order expanded those who could qualify for the income repayment plan. From the NYT: "Mr. Obama’s main action will be to expand on a 2010 law that capped borrowers’ repayments at 10 percent of their monthly income. The intent is to extend such relief to an estimated five...
Unemployment Stays Flat, Both Short and Long Term
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 217,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services, health care and social assistance, food services and drinking places, and transportation and warehousing. Household Survey Data The unemployment rate held at 6.3 percent in May, following a decline of 0.4 percentage point in...
Productivity Decline Greatest Since 2008
This is a tad worrisome: Nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased at a 3.2 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as hours increased 2.2 percent and output decreased 1.1 percent. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.) The decrease in productivity was the largest since the first quarter of 2008 (-3.9 percent). And this: In the first quarter of 2014, nonfarm business...
TAX
Tips
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.