The Associated Press’ Stephen Ohlemacher had a fine item out February 7th noting that federal tax receipts as a percentage of GDP are at their lowest level since World War II. Ohlemacher even properly reported that “the poor economy is largely to blame.” But no where does Ohlemacher clearly explain the difference between tax rates and tax receipts. It is not until the 14th paragraph that he finally reports that “Income tax rates remain unchanged.”

So will federal taxes remain low when the economy improves? Ohlemacher does not tell us. But the Congressional Budget Office does. Thanks to our … Continue Reading

One wouldn’t think a report on slavery and the South’s secession from the Union would mention the tax cut debate but somehow The Washington Post was able to make it happen. James W. Loewen’s piece “Five myths about why the South seceded,” is a very interesting read, but he makes and absurd and wrong statement when he compares non-slave owners’ support for slavery with low-income Americans’ support for an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy. Loewen writes:

Less than half of white Mississippi households owned one or more slaves, for example, and that proportion was smaller still in

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In a fine Reuters “Special Report: California or Bust” posted January 3rd, Nichola Groom reports:

But many in the state say taxes, rather than spending, are at the heart of California’s troubles. For some, the Golden State hamstrung its finances when a 1978 ballot initiative, Proposition 13, capped property taxes at 1 percent. California became more dependent on personal income, sales and corporate taxes, which can fluctuate wildly from good times to bad.
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Prop 13 also limited the ability of California’s towns and cities to raise their own revenues by requiring a two-thirds vote to do so. The idea was to

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Reporting on the fight over the taxes between President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress, CBS News‘ David S Morgan reports parenthetically:

[In an August 2010 article titled "Five Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts," the Washington Post reported that "Less than 2 percent of tax returns reporting small-business income are filed by taxpayers in the top two income brackets."]

It is true that only a small percentage of small businesses pay the highest two tax rates. However, what the November 7th CBS News story fails to report is that those same businesses earn 72 percent of all small business … Continue Reading

A October 29th Bloomberg headline reads Poll: Americans Don’t Know Economy Expanded With Tax Cuts and authors Heidi Przybyla and John McCormick report:

The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past five quarters.

Most voters don’t believe it.

A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 24-26 finds that by a two-to-one margin, likely voters in the Nov. 2 midterm elections think taxes have gone up, the economy has shrunk, and the billions lent to

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Staff writer Lori Montgomery wrote an article in the September 20th Washington Post that says because of Congress’s recent spending streak and our skyrocketing national debt, letting the Bush tax cuts expire will bring in more tax revenue to the government and consequently lower the deficit. She writes:

Today, the economy is sluggish and the national debt is soaring to worrisome levels. As lawmakers bicker over whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, not just for the middle class but also for the wealthy, many economists and budget analysts say there’s a simple way to curb borrowing: Let the

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A USA Today item posted September 21st and titled “How the tax cut debate affects you” reports on the imminent tax hikes threatening American families. Author Richard Wolf does report that: “During his presidential campaign, Obama vowed not to raise income taxes on families with annual income below $250,000. His pledge was coupled with his plan to raise taxes on wealthier Americans who benefited the most from the Bush tax cuts. That plan is at the center of today’s debate.” But then Wolf never tells us if his proposals honor that promise.

They don’t.

First of as The Heritage Foundation’s … Continue Reading

In the August 26th issue of Time, Michael Grunwald has a lengthy article titled How the Stimulus Is Changing America which is filled with half-truths about President Barack Obama’s failed economic stimulus. First, Grunwald gets the cost of the stimulus wrong reporting: “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus — has been marketed as a jobs bill, and that’s how it’s been judged.” As the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has recently confirmed, since the stimulus failed to create jobs the cost of the unemployment measures has risen and the estimated ten … Continue Reading

On January 1, 2011, every American who pays taxes is set to see their tax bill rise. The lowest personal income bracket will see their taxes rise from 10% - 15%. the 25% bracket will rise to 28%, the old 28% bracket will rise to 31%, the 33% bracket will rise to 36%, and the old 35% bracket will rise to 39.6%. But son’t look for the words “hike”, “rise”, or “raise” any where near the word “tax” in Jackie Calmes coverage of the issue for the August 10th New York Times.

Instead of informing readers about who’s taxes are … Continue Reading

David Cho writes in the August 8th Washington Post that businesses are willing to incur enormous sums of debt because of incentives in the tax code, primarily the way businesses can deduct interest expense. Cho says:

Like other U.S. corporations, it also has had a uniquely American incentive for its borrowing habits: the nation’s tax laws. These rules offer extensive tax breaks to companies that borrow money and penalize those that raise cash in safer ways, such as issuing stock. Yet despite the recent financial crash, which exposed the perils of excessive borrowing, the rules are likely to

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National Public Radio’s Chris Arnold covered the Tax Day Tea Party protest in Boston last week, and challenged one of the organizers by repeating the White House talking point that the president had cut taxes for a majority of the country. Here’s a part of the transcript:

The Greater Boston Tea Party is planning a modern-day demonstration. The president of the group, Christen Varley, says that a year ago she was a housewife who decided to get involved in politics….

When it comes to taxes, the Obama administration has actually cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans through a federal income

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There is nothing really positive to say about Steven Pearlstein’s July29th Washington Post article titled Health Reform Threatened by Conservatives’ Anti-Tax Fantasy. Pearlstein opens:

Nothing has been more damaging to rational discourse about economic policy than the notion, peddled relentlessly by Republican conservatives and accepted by too many centrist Democrats, that raising taxes is always and everywhere bad for the economy.

But what Pearlstein fails to tell his readers is that Republicans in Congress have sponsored or co-sponsored no less than three bills that actually raise taxes to help pay for health care reform. It is actually Congressional Democrats, big labor, … Continue Reading