When President Obama and the new Congress begin to tackle important legislation and federal policy in January, one of the key issues will be how to reform America’s byzantine tax code.
Obama campaigned on a platform to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, declaring that millionaires and billionaires need to “pay their fair share.” The president proposed the highly controversial “Buffett Rule,” which would make sure those individuals earning more than $1 million a year would pay at least 30% of their income in federal taxes.
The top individual tax rate is currently 35% but few U.S. households and individuals actually pay that much; various tax deductions and loopholes reduce one’s tax burden.
According to the Obama campaign, the richest 400 taxpayers in 2008 (who each made more than $110 million that year) paid an average income tax rate of just 18%. In 2009 over 20,000 U.S. households with more than $1 million in income paid a federal tax rate of less than 15%.
Obama has vowed to raise the top income tax rate for individuals to 39.6% and let the Bush-era tax breaks end for the highest income earners. The majority of Americans – those who are lower to middle class – could also see a 2% tax increase if Congress allows the temporary payroll tax holiday to expire at the end of the year.
Related: Here’s Why Your Taxes Are Going Up 2% Next Year: Just Explain It
Nearly half of voters support raising taxes on incomes over $250,000, according to Tuesday night’s exit polls.
Len Burman, a professor of public affairs at Syracuse University and a co-founder of the bipartisan Tax Policy Center, believes hiking income rates is just one part of the equation to resolving the nation’s budget woes.
“In the long term [Obama] is going to need to raise taxes on more than just the rich,” Burman says in an interview with The Daily Ticker. “The budget problem isn’t going to be solved without broader-based tax increases, preferably done in the context of tax reform and also serious entitlement reform. We’re not going to be able to solve this on the tax side alone.”
Burman, who recently co-wrote the new book “Taxes in America: What Everyone Needs to Know,” says tax rates do not need to be raised for any income group if Congress and the White House would agree on one simple change: raising the capital gains rate, i.e. the profits from the sale of an investment. Assets, such as stocks, art or real estate, that are held for at least a year are currently taxed at a special 15% rate; Obama wants to raise that to 20%.
“The problem with a low tax rate on capital gains is not that it allows Mitt Romney and Warren Buffett to pay very low taxes but that it creates this huge opportunity for tax sheltering,” he notes. “There’s a whole industry that’s devoted to coming up with these schemes. [Raising capital gains rates] could make the tax system more progressive and allow for lower tax rates” and a reduction in the deficit.
Obama’s tax proposal also targets the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Estate Tax and as well as many personal tax credits and itemized deductions. Obama would make permanent the 2007 AMT patch and index it for inflation. He would raise the estate tax to 45% from 35% on estates worth more than $3.5 million. He would lower the corporate tax rate to 28% from 35% and provide a refundable $3,000 credit per added employee for companies that expand their workforce. He would tax carried interest as ordinary income.
A divided Congress refused to compromise with Obama during his first term and could very well dismiss the president’s tax reforms for the next four years. Republicans are loath to raise taxes by even a penny and Obama has said he would veto any budget bills that did not include tax increases. Neither party wants to raise taxes in a weak economy. But the options available for reducing the deficit and generating new revenue are few and far between.
Source: THE TICKET
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
It don’t mean nothin. Obamacare will wipe out any progress
BSD
Discussion with Moishela
(with his family)part 3
A handicapped child
Chof Cheshvan 5773 (Nov 412)
Jews all over the world are in big danger
I just want to say that the world is falling apart and the United Stated of America no longer exists. Im not a prophet and I cant say for sure, but I believe whole heartedly, that Barak Obama will be president once again. And I also believe that American Jewry is in big danger. I also believe that European Jewry is in big danger, and probably Jews all over the world are in big danger. But even though we went through the Nazis and suffered so much; so many Yidden were killed in very gruesome and sadistic ways, so many homes abandoned, so many lives destroyed, so many people suffering just because they were Jews.
Soon the Jews will be targeted again, and this time it will be even worse, because it will be the Jews all over the world and there will be no place to run. And when every Yid (that can get there) has arrived in Eretz Yisroel, at that point or near that point all the nations of the world will come against Eretz Yisroel. And thats when Hashem will show His might. He will show that He is the Ribbono Shel Olam, the Creator and the Ruler of the world forever. Until then I beg my fellow Jews, I beg you come close to HaKodosh Boruch Hu. Its the only way to save yourself. Do it with all your heart and soul and try, try very hard to leave the countries that you have been guests in for two thousand years and come back to your home, come back to Eretz Yisroel the land that Hashem gave to Avrohom Avenu and to his descendants.
The time is coming very soon! If you dont make a move soon then it will be infinitely harder afterwards. True, Hashem will save all true Jews but it will be so much harder. The Yid that now picks himself up when he still has some gashmius left, and rejects it, and comes to Eretz Yisroel, has an enormous Zechus and Hashem will never abandon him. If he cries out to Hashem and puts himself in danger by coming to Eretz Yisroel, Hashem will never abandon him.
This Hurricane Sandy was a great warning, but the warning is only beginning. Within the next week or two there will be very shocking things happening. Hopefully more Yidden will wake up. Hopefully we wont have to wait too long for the Geula. I Daven every day and every night that our Yiddishe Folk will see the truth and will prepare themselves, really prepare themselves for the coming of Moshiach.
Im very sad. In this last storm Jewish lives where lost and also homes where lost. People are destitute. People have gotten a very big shock, and I feel bad for the Yidden who suffer, but they just arent listening! They dont listen to Hashem. They are not being what they are supposed to be. Many have gone so far afield, that their Yiddishkeit is almost unrecognizable except for the fact that they still wear Tefillin put on Tzitzis Talisim and so on………
Mother: I heard about long gas lines. Why arent they giving out the gasoline in the areas affected by the storm?
Moishela: They want the suffering to be great. They want riots to begin. They want everyone to be unsettled. They want everyone to be miserable, and then they can take over.
Father: How come the Rabbonim dont tell the people to come to Eretz Yisroel?
Moishela: I dont know, the Rabbonim are interesting in America. Most of them are just as much in the Gashmius as anyone else. Dont forget the Divrei Chaim zl said clearly that at the end of time most of the Yidden and even the Rabbonim will be Erev Rav.
I want to tell you that the tragedies have not ended. I want you to understand that America has become an ugly place. The United States has lost its beauty. Its lost its freedom and it has become a dangerous place, especially for people who believe in Hashem. But not only are the Jews in danger but believers of all kinds that believe in G-D are in danger Christians, Muslims, Jews. But as in every society where Amalek and Edom rule, there is a special enjoyment and feeling of elation from persecuting Jews and this is soon going to be in the United states as well.
The camps are ready. All that has to happen is Martial law, and from that moment the real suffering begins. And dont think that if you are in Israel the long arm of the New World Order the American-style New World Order, wont try to persecute the Jews in Israel. They will probably start with American Jews for all kinds of reasons.
I want to explain that wherever we are in the world we are in danger, however I want to reiterate that the only place now for a Jew, is in Eretz Yisroel. Because here Hashem will protect all those who cry out to Him for help, and sacrifice to be Yidden. Those people who believe very much and trust HaKodosh Boruch Hu will come to Eretz Yisroel and they will get much credit for coming because its not easy. There are those who live here already, but dont trust Hashem. If they start to trust Hashem, they will also be given special treatment from Shomayim. All those who believe and trust in Hashem, all those who cry out to Hashem for help, and live in Eretz Yisroel, will have special treatment.
I also want to say that the Erev Rav which have taken control Kivyachol of our communities, of our cities, of the government of the Zionists, of the Knesset, those people even if they cry out to Hashem will not be helped. They are not really crying out to Hashem because they are not really believers in Hashem .The minute that things settle down, The Erev Rav will go back to their treachery so they are lost! But the true Jew whose Neshama was at Har Sinai will always be Hashems special son or daughter, always be closer to Hashem than any other people of the world.
BSD
Discussion with Moishela (and his family) part 4
A handicapped child
21 Cheshvan 5773 (Nov 612)
Read the signs Am Yisroel
We shall continue from last night BSD.
We are now on the threshold of a new type of world. Where as once people would wake up in the morning and jump out of bed, run to Daven or run to work with some kind of enthusiasm, with some kind of hope that today would be the day that their learning would go very well or theyll get a promotion in their job or theyll soon be making a Shidduch or Bar Mitzvah or a Bris. Something that would make a person excited, excited to live, excited to face the world. Once the world seemed just, and with rules and regulations, and the main thing is that most of the world was a democracy at least most of the western world. This meant that as Jews we could live quietly, and even if there was a certain amount of anti-Semitism still it wasnt anything to be afraid of and besides it was not the accepted thing to do even among the Goyim.
In Europe and in America in England and in Australia, South Africa, Singapore, and many other places the Jews managed to rise, to sky rocket to the top of the financial world. More and more Baalai Teshuva came on the Frum scene so it seemed that we had everything going for us, material wealth and spiritual wealth. We had almost achieved Gan Eden in this world. Even more than that, we could take trips to Europe and Daven at all the Kevorim of all of our great Tzaddikim and of course the phenomenon of Breslev and Rabbi Nachman and Uman that thousands of Yidden come to Daven every year, makes Yidden feel that we really are getting somewhere spiritually also.
No problem to hop a plane, get to Uman for a day or two, and come back, and even some manage to go to Uman and the rest of Europe and even to get to Eretz Yisroel to Miron, to the Kosel, to Kever Rochel in less then a week. This has been our lives. Spiritual jet setting Chessed parties and other celebrations, and we feel that we are good Jews. However we forgot one thing, and that is HaKodosh Boruch Hu. Somehow He wasnt really included in our new life, our jet setting life. Somehow He was left out. We became influenced in the worst way by the Goyisha life style, by the Egel HaZahav and this brought us down terribly in Kedusha.
Where there is little Kedusha, Hashem cannot be, and by my telling you this youll reproach me and say how dare you say such a thing? We are Am Kodesh! I must say, no we are not for the most part Am Kodesh any more. We have fallen very low and our communities are full of spiritual rot, we have fallen very low. In business we are not always very honest. In Kedusha, Hashem Yishmor, the troubles that the Frum Am Yisroel suffers from is very similar to what the goyim suffer from. Yes the Frum Am Yisroel has lost its Kedusha. Hashem said Kedoshim Tihiyu. How can we be Kedoshim when we sit and glutton in a pizza store on Motzai Shabbos? How can we be Kedoshim when on Chol Hamoed we go to bowl in a bowling alley with men and women scantly dressed? How can we be Kedoshim when our wives are definitely not dressed as Yiddishe Mammas should be dressed, maybe they are dressed in a style that they have made everyone believe is Kodesh. But its not. Its not Kodesh.
Our wives and our daughters are dressed in a way that our forefathers would faint if they saw this kind of so called Kedusha, this kind of so called Tznius. Oy Lonu! And the men encourage this from their wives. They encourage the makeup, they encourage the jewelry they encourage the Sheitels, the short dresses and so on. They are no less at fault, even more at fault. If the husbands would not want their wives to dress with a lack of tznius then most of the problem would be solved. Unfortunately these husbands want their wives to be noticed by other men because for some reason it lifts the husbands ego. This is absolutely forbidden!
When a lady like this takes a Tehillim in her hands and Davens with all her heart and soul, but continues on her untzniusdik path, then her Tehillim can never reach the place that she is aiming at. And unfortunately she doesnt even know where she is aiming and where its supposed to go, and what it really means. If she has troubles in her life so shell cry and ask Hashem to straighten out her troubles, but very often she is also Davening for troubles that are connected to the Egel HaZahav, to something not kosher. If someone in the family is ill or someone is off the derech then her tears are real but they cant get to Shomayim because she is not Kodesh and she is not even trying to be Kodesh, because everyday when she walks out of the house men look at her and desire her, and this is absolutely forbidden and she blatantly ignores this fact. And every man that looks at her will be a curse on her in Shomayim and on her husband who is sitting and learning Torah, Kivyachol and he still wants his wife to be noticed by men. So the curse will be on him as well as on every man that looks at her, every man that looks at her even without desiring her.
Therefore Am Yisroel, this hurricane came and hit all the centers of Yiddishkeit in the northeast of America which means most of the Frum people in America. The vast majority of Frum were affected one way or another. Houses where brought down and the electricity, which is the main connection to the Egel HaZahav, has been cut off. Just think of all the things that you cant do without electricity. No computers, no DVDs, no movies, no air conditioner or heating, no cooking, no light, no refrigeration, no anything that can bring you to the great depth that you have fallen to spiritually.
Look and see and understand what Hashem is telling us. No electricity, no fuel, no cars, no airplanes, no nothing. Even food is hard to get. Read the signs Am Yisroel, because if you dont the next time will be ten times worse. I am not talking only about so called natural disasters. And by the way, temperatures will get to be freezing in the next few days and still many Yidden are without heating, without electricity to warm their houses.
Dont you understand Am Yisroel, dont you understand? Hashem is telling us, not to depend on the United States government or the Israeli government, not anything not the army and not the navy, not anything, not social security, not anything, not the doctors, not the nurses, nothing. We can only depend on Hashem. Thats all youve got so you better shape up and you better be true Erlicha Yidden and not as if because thats not going to be good anymore. The lie is going to disappear. All of your extreme Gashmius is going to disappear and when it happens youll remember my words.
I want to tell all of you that what I am saying now is straight from Hashem, and confiding in you Mommy and Tatti. All of that I have been writing relieves me very much because what Im saying is extremely important.
I want you to know that very soon we will be in a world that is totally different than the one we know today and remember in the past. The base of everything will be totally different and we will need to be very strong in Bitachon in Hashem. Whoever is worried about money or how to pay bills or if they will have financial success in the future etc. just calm down! You wont have that kind of false security but it wont matter. Hashem will take care of us and thats what you have to trust.
The world doesnt have to be the way we think it has to be. Hashem makes it how He knows its best for us. Even if what Hashem does seems uncomfortable for us, we must always be sure that it is the best way for us and thats what we have to know and believe. Ultimately we will be very very happy.
.
Why does he think that the answer to everything is taxing the wealthy? (They, for the most part, actually worked hard to get to where they are.)This country is mamish going to turn into a communist one!