Eye on Freedom» Democrats

Obama and Democrats taxing tourists too

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:38:15 +0000

Planning a trip to the United States? Tuesday is the last day for citizens of some countries to dodge a new travel fee.

Starting Wednesday, travelers from 36 nations will be required to pay $14 to register through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, required for travelers using the Visa Waiver Program.

Four of the $14 will cover ESTA operating costs, and $10 will go toward promoting the United States as a tourist destination.

Charging tourists to promote tourism doesn’t make sense, critics say.

“It’s like inviting a friend over for dinner and then charging them a fee at the door,” said Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines around the world.

“If the idea is to make the United States more welcoming and to increase tourism, raising the entry fee seems to be counterintuitive to what you’re trying to do,” Lott said. Instead, more effort should be made to improve the cumbersome entry process, he said.

IATA voiced opposition to the fee to members of Congress before it was established by the Travel Promotion Act, which was signed by President Obama in March.

Democrats U-Turn on Obamacare

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:00:55 +0000

Who do Democrats think they are kidding?!?!

Last week, Wyden sent a letter to the Oregon Health Authority encouraging the state to seek an exemption from the individual mandate allowed under section 1332, because “the heart of real health reform is affordability and not mandates.”

Wyden, who was influential in getting section 1332 included in the national health care bill, said he “wrote Section 1332 specifically with Oregon in mind.” He has been an ardent supporter of individual mandates in the past, authoring the Wyden-Bennett health care bill that included such a requirement.

Fewer Young Voters See Themselves as Democrats

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:14:25 +0000

Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.

Democrat’s $31 Billion Tax Revenue Fantasy

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:18:08 +0000

Those who make $200,000 a year are 3% of all taxpayers but pay 52% of all income taxes.

Speaking of the economy, Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation recently dropped a study claiming that millionaires will pay $31 billion of the $36 billion in revenue that it expects will be raised next year if tax rates rise as scheduled on January 1. Naturally, Democrats are saying this proves the tax hike is a free lunch for everybody except the rich. Yada, yada, yada.

If you believe that, you probably also believed Joint Tax when it predicted that the rich would gain a huge tax windfall when tax rates were cut in 2003. Let’s go to the videotape.

According to the most recent IRS data on actual tax payments, total revenues collected over the period 2003-07 were about $350 billion higher than Joint Tax and the Congressional Budget Office predicted when the 2003 tax cuts were enacted. Moreover, the wealthiest taxpayers paid a larger share of all income taxes from the beginning to the end of this period. The IRS data show that in 2003 those with incomes above $200,000 paid $313 billion in income tax. By 2007 they paid $610 billion.

When the recession hit, the payments fell to $537 billion in 2008. But even accounting for that decline, payments by the rich were still 65% higher five years after the rate cut that was supposedly a giveaway to the rich. The share of federal income taxes paid by the $200,000-a-year club was 42% in 2003 but 52% in 2008. (The IRS doesn’t adjust these annual numbers for inflation.)

Guess what income group paid the most in higher taxes after tax rates were cut? Millionaires. From 2003 to 2008, millionaires increased their tax payments to $249 billion from $132 billion. One reason for the big increase in payments: the number of returns declaring $1 million or more in income increased 76% to 319,000 from 181,000 as the economy expanded.

The IRS data are a useful reminder of how dependent Uncle Sam is on the rich to pay the government’s bills. Those who earn more than $200,000 a year in adjustable gross income, the group that Mr. Obama and the Democrats want to tax more, accounted for 3% of all taxpayers in 2008 but paid more than the bottom 97% of all taxpayers.

In part this reflects the fact that the share of income received by the top 3% of taxpayers rose to 37% in 2008 from 28% in 2003. But this is typically what happens when tax rates go down and reported income goes up. The lower the rates, the less incentive there is to avoid taxes. It's also what happens in a rising economy. If everyone’s income rises by 10%, the income “gap” between rich and poor widens by definition.

We’re not saying that tax cuts “pay for themselves.” What we are saying is that the 2003 tax cuts proved again, as we should have learned in the 1960s and 1980s, that rich people are the most responsive to changes in tax rates. When tax rates are high, the wealthy invest less, hire accountants to protect more of their income from the IRS, and park more of their money in tax shelters, such as municipal bonds. Thus their contribution—in total dollars and as a share of total income tax payments—is smaller than it would otherwise be. The government soaks the rich less.

That’s why it’s a fantasy to think that raising income and capital gains and dividend tax rates on the rich is going to pry $31 billion out of millionaire households. History teaches that the best way to soak the rich and reduce the deficit is to promote rapid economic growth. But that’s less likely to happen in 2011 if the economy is rear-ended with the biggest tax increase in at least 16 years.

If Democrats want to raise more revenue and have a better chance to hold the House and Senate in November, they’ll extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax rates.

Democrats Abandon Claims Obamacare Will Reduce Costs

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:08:03 +0000

Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit, and instead stressing a promise to “improve it.”

Democrats Who Voted Against Obamacare And Higher Spending Leading In Polls

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:36:13 +0000

Troll through the voting rolls, and you’ll find an exclusive club of three House Democrats running for re-election who voted against the more controversial pieces of the Obama agenda: the $862 billion stimulus, Mr. Obama’s $3.5 trillion budget, cap and trade and, of course, ObamaCare. Troll through the polls today, and you’ll find a near-exclusive club of three House Democrats who are beating every electoral expectation. Were history, incumbency and the economy the main factors this fall, Idaho’s Walt Minnick, Alabama’s Bobby Bright and Mississippi’s Gene Taylor would be packing up. That they aren’t is a resounding statement on a failed Obama vision.

Democrats Robbed Poor to Pay Teachers

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:41:36 +0000

Democrats Give $26 Billion To Unions By Taking $12 Billion From Food Stamps

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:38:45 +0000

The bill cuts $11.9 billion from the food stamp program, ending part of last year’s economic stimulus plan that temporarily increased the aid given to poor families each month to buy groceries. It rescinds advance refunds of the earned income tax credit, a break given to poor families, as well.

House passes state aid bill; Obama signs into law – Yahoo! News.

Federal workers earning double their private counterparts

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:29:25 +0000

At a time when workers’ pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees’ average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.

The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year.

GM “Donates” $41,000 to Democrat Lawmakers’ Pet Projects

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:13:11 +0000

When General Motors went through bankruptcy last year, it suspended its political donations. Now that it’s owned by the U.S. government, it’s donating to lawmakers’ pet projects again.

The carmaker gave $41,000 to groups associated with lawmakers, the vast majority of it — $36,000 — to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the company reported on a disclosure form last week. The CBC Foundation is a charity with 11 members of the Congressional Black Caucus on its board.