Policy decisions about borrowing and spending have generated out of control deficits and spiraling debt at all levels of government. Partisan politics have frequently led to impasse as one-side refuses to compromise with the other. If a sensible non-partisan tax policy is not enacted, high tax rates and profligate spending will continue to drive individuals and businesses into the red and leave Americans without jobs.
Creative destruction, as any economist knows, is a healthy feature of a capitalist economy, especially when it comes to the eradication of failed ideas.
Though he was ridiculed in the media (for no other reason than his boring demeanor), Al Gore was on to something with his 2000 Presidential campaign promise to put Social Security money in a “lock box” where politicians couldn’t touch or spend it.
It’s been a successful week for supporters of cannabis taxation: the recent news of strong support for an initiative (09-0024, or the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010) to tax and regulate marijuana has spread quickly.
Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing the implementation of Automated Speed Enforcement, or ASE, systems across the state to offset proposed budget cuts to state trial courts.
It appears that recent government-proposed solutions to staggering financial circumstances are not working. At the federal level, the Obama administration must deal with a pessimistic report that TARP funds aren’t lifting the struggling institutions it promised to help (TARP funds intended to assist in relieving the inflated ho
Governor Schwarzenegger’s independent streak, celebrated by some as a sign of his nonpartisan and judicious political philosophy, and lamented by others as an inability to deal harshly with people outside his own party, has once more begun to reappear.
Extra taxes on such goods as alcohol and tobacco are sometimes referred to as “sin taxes,” since, as the name suggests, they are seen as vices. When buying a loaf of bread at the market, you may have noticed that you will not be charged an additional tax, whereas if you go to buy a bottle of wine or a pack of cigarettes, you will incur that charge.
Earlier this week I was reading AB 347, a bill that is currently circulating in Washington DC. The summary reads as follows: “Allows an individual or a corporate taxpayer to deduct a charitable contribution made for the relief of victims of the earthquake in Haiti on the taxpayer’s 2009 tax return, instead of the 2010 tax return.”
According to Tom Herman at the Wall Street Journal, if Congress does not pass legislation this year, then millions of additional Americans will be caught in the throes of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Last year, Congress was able to pass legislative relief, but the legislation was only valid for one year.
Did you expect taxes to increase or decrease for 2010? If you are a homeowner and/or formerly unemployed, and the governor is successful in a new initiative, you may receive a tax credit of up to $10,000. Brace yourselves for it: Californians who own homes may indeed get a break during 2010.
