From True Blue Liberal
By Walter Brasch

The Americans are revolting!

All across the country—from Boston to Atlanta to San Antonio—thousands of Americans, inspired by Fox News and radio conservative talk show hosts, took to the streets to protest.

They protested a fascist government that has restricted their freedom of speech and freedom of religion, protected by the First Amendment. They protested thousands of instances where the government infringed upon their rights of privacy, protected by the Fourth Amendment. They called out the government for violations of the rights of due process, protected by the fifth and sixth amendments. They protested the use of about $1 trillion to fight an unnecessary war in Iraq. They protested the apparently unregulated policies of the banks, money lenders, and Wall Street financiers who brought this nation into the current recession that has led to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate and several hundred thousand to lose their homes to foreclosure actions. They protested the fact that about 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance, that as many as five million Americans are homeless, about a fourth of them veterans. They protested the use of torture, of the destruction of the environment, of the awarding of no-bid sweetheart deals worth hundreds of million dollars to companies that do business with the President and Vice-President.

Actually, they didn’t do any of that. Not now and certainly not during the Bush–Cheney years.

What they protested was taxes. For these protestors, April 15, the deadline for paying taxes, was Tea Day. Read the rest of this entry »

From The Washington Post
By Eugene Robinson

The cool, cerebral White House might logically conclude that Wednesday’s decidedly uncool, uncerebral “tea bag” protests were intellectually and politically incoherent, and therefore not worth a second thought. That would be a dangerous mistake.

The made-for-television demonstrations in cities across the country were generally small, and the only thing they proved conclusively is that — you might want to sit down — some Americans don’t much enjoy paying taxes. What the rallies suggested, however, is that opposition to the Obama administration is coalescing into what I would call a Howard Beale Faction, in honor of the choleric anchorman in the movie “Network” whose signature line now seems to have been elevated into philosophy: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

Not going to take what anymore? Well, whatever. The occasion was Tax Day, April 15, and clearly there was a lot of anger about taxes. That can’t have been the only source of ire, however, since President Obama’s policies mean that the vast majority of Americans will be paying less in income taxes, not more. In terms of logical self-interest, only the wealthy should have come out to dump their tea bags and wave their pitchforks.

There was anger at hemorrhagic government spending, and this plotline in the mad-as-hell narrative at least made sense. A neutral observer might point out that the president who should have to answer for this year’s astronomical $1.7 trillion deficit is George W. Bush, since this is his budget — and since he’s the one who hid the costs of our two faraway wars and demanded a king’s ransom to bail out the banks. But it’s not as if Obama is some kind of tightwad, given his decision — which I support — to push ahead with new spending on health care, education and energy. And anyway, in the worldview of the Howard Beale Faction, the important distinction isn’t between one president and the next. It’s between “us” and “them.”

Read more Teatime

From The NY Observer
By Joe Conason

If conservative leaders no longer even try to offer serious solutions to national problems, nobody should underestimate their capacity or their will to mobilize angry Americans. Behind the April 15 “tea parties” rallying against President Barack Obama’s economic program - promoted as a new phenomenon by Fox News Channel and right-wing bloggers - stands a phalanx of Republicans whose ideology is all too familiar.

At the apex of the tea-party movement, aside from such Fox revolutionaries as Rupert Murdoch, there is a well-funded organization known as FreedomWorks, headed by a former politician named Dick Armey. His past career should be instructive to any starry-eyed citizens who believe that they have at last found the true right-wing revolutionary path.

Back when the Republicans first gained control of Congress more than a decade ago, Mr. Armey, a former economics professor at a small Texas college, was hailed as the author of the Contract with America and led the Republicans as House Majority Leader until his retirement. Having risen to power on the strength of a “tax revolt” against President Bill Clinton’s first budget, which raised rates on the wealthiest Americans to trim the enormous deficit he had inherited from the first Bush administration. That summer Mr. Armey warned of an economic apocalypse - and his party won the midterm election before his predictions could be proved utterly wrong.

As anyone with a functioning memory should know, the Republicans under the leadership of Mr. Armey and his cronies Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay proceeded to rack up excesses in spending and boodling that made the old Democratic Congressional leaders look quite stingy. When he was asked once why he and his G.O.P. comrades were chomping so much more federal pork than the Democrats ever did, he replied bluntly: “To the victors go the spoils.”

Read more Tea Party

From TruthDig
By Marie Cocco

There’s nothing like tax-filing season to remind Americans that the only things certain in life are death and taxes—or that few public outcries are considered more patriotic than grousing about paying up.

What’s an ornery tax filer to do? Have a tea party, of course.

With all the simplistic bombast that we’ve come to expect from partisans who are locked out of power and floundering with low public approval, conservative and Republican activists around the country have staged quite a number of these media events over the past few days, and already have begun organizing for more on July 4. The nation, they claim with straight—if angry—faces, is being strangled by high taxes, heavy-handed government and profligate spending. If only we could sweep away all this excess, we’d return to the shining prosperity we enjoyed … when?

Well, they don’t say.

There is little anyone can do about these rants except worry they will be believed by a wider public. So, on the theory that the truth may one day—some day—set us free, it is worth examining exactly what we’re all paying, and what for.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office keeps track of this sort of thing. Just days ago, it released an updated analysis of the effective federal tax rate—that is, what individuals and businesses pay after they take exemptions, deductions, credits and so forth. And it turns out that the effective federal tax rate that households across the income spectrum pay is lower now than it was 30 years ago, with an average rate of 20.7 percent. That encompasses all federal taxes, including excise and payroll taxes.

The effective rate is now lower than it was during Ronald Reagan’s second term, lower than during George H.W. Bush’s term, and lower than it was during Bill Clinton’s tenure—which is a period most Americans remember pretty fondly as one of robust economic growth. By the time Clinton left office, the deficit had been eliminated and Congress was debating whether it would be beneficial to pay off every dollar of the public debt.

Read more Tea Parties

From The NY Times
Editorial

Warren Buffett knows there’s something very unfair about the American tax system. He’s often complained that while his 2006 tax rate (for federal income taxes and Social Security withholding) on $46 million of income was 17.7 percent, his secretary’s combined tax rate was 30 percent.

There are effectively two tax systems in America: one for the very rich and one for the rest of us. Income from stock dividends and capital gains, which makes up a disproportionate amount of the earnings of the very rich, is taxed at 15 percent. But the bulk of what the rest of us earn — wages and interest from savings accounts — is taxed at up to 35 percent. Though President Obama’s recent tax proposals are progressive and comprehensive, his reforms don’t do nearly enough to address this significant disparity.

Yes, President Obama’s plan would eliminate the loophole that has allowed hedge fund titans, whose income comes in no small part from management fees, to be taxed at just 15 percent instead of the ordinary income tax rate.

Families earning more than $250,000 and singles earning more than $200,000 would likewise see taxes on their wages and interest increased to a top rate of 39.6 percent from 35 percent. And the rate on both capital gains and dividends on the sale of stock would increase, but only to 20 percent from 15 percent. These changes lessen the unfairness in our tax system; they don’t eliminate it.

The gap between the tax rates for the rich and the rest of us is relatively recent. Until 1921, capital gains were taxed at the same rate as ordinary income. Then Congress enacted a law that taxed capital gains at 12.5 percent while ordinary income was taxed at as much as 58 percent.

Read more Two America’s

From The Virginian-Pilot
By Daryl Lease

Leave it to the dullards at the IRS to scrub all of the romance out of the Swiss bank account.

I’ve never had one, of course, but I’ve always imagined what a grand and elegant experience it must be just to open an account.

I pictured myself striding confidently into a big old marble building, strolling nonchalantly across a big old marble lobby to a big old marble teller window, where I’d hand the teller - probably not marble - a big old Samsonite suitcase stuffed with all my pre-rolled pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

After completing the transaction, I’d suavely nod my approval and help myself to a piece of Swiss chocolate from a big old marble bowl as I departed. Two pieces, if I was quick about it.

But, alas, it appears the experience is far more furtive and stealthy than I’d envisioned.

I know this after reading a 305-page IRS affidavit outlining allegations of wrongdoing by the Swiss banking giant UBS AG.

The IRS, as you may know, is waging a battle against wealthy Americans who hide their assets in overseas accounts to avoid paying taxes.

Read more Hunting

From AlterNet
By Chuck Collins and Sam Pizzigati

We’ve seen, in recent weeks, an outpouring of public outrage over the mega millions that keep flowing – despite the escalating economic meltdown – into the pockets of America’s top bankers and corporate executives.

“I’m angry,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) of Missouri told her Senate colleagues late last month, as she introduced a bill to cap pay for bailed-out CEOs at $400,000 a year. “Wall Street [is] kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer.”

“I will not tolerate it,” President Obama added a few days later, as he announced a $500,000 executive pay cap at firms getting substantial bailout dollars.

The amount of money that goes into executive pockets is staggering. So is the amount that comes out of those pockets in taxes: precious little. America’s super-rich are paying far less of their incomes in taxes than average Americans who punch time clocks. This is grossly unfair. The good news: Under Mr. Obama’s new plan to cut the deficit in half, the very richest Americans will start paying something closer to their fair tax share.

It’s been a while since they’ve done that. As recent IRS data show, these elites are paying less in taxes – much less – than their deep-pocket counterparts used to pay. In 2006, the 400 highest-income Americans together reported $105 billion in income, an average of $263 million each.

Read more Accountability

From TruthOut
By Joe Brewer

Something as simple as a metaphor can mean the difference between shared prosperity and widespread suffering.

It’s time to tell the truth about tax cuts. This phrase dominates political discourse and is coughed out every time a conservative public figure opens his mouth. It is treated like the basis of sound reasoning, yet no one points out what should be obvious - that “tax relief” and “tax cuts” are just code words for destroying the capacity of government to serve the public.

We’ve heard over and over again that the source of society’s problems is the government. The solution that follows is to “trim the fat,” “cut out the waste,” “shrink the government” and provide “relief” to millions of citizens who suffer the burden of exploitation by Washington elites. This story flies in the face of the facts, yet it makes sense to a significant portion of the US population. How can this be?

The answer has to do with how we make sense of things in the world. Our experiences shape what seems legitimate by reinforcing (or undermining) our ideas about the way things work. So, for example, a progressive politician may speak honestly and forcefully about the positive role of government in our lives. But this will fall on deaf ears if our typical experience is at odds with such claims. This observation demonstrates a key element of what George Lakoff and I have dubbed the Cognitive Criterion for Public Support:

An effective policy must be popular if it is to stand the test of time and it must be popular for the right reasons, namely because it promotes the right long-term values in the minds of citizens, reinforced through the lived experience.

Read more Tax Cuts

From Global Research
By Andrew Hughes

The Stabilization of the Financial Sector: The Holy Grail of Economic Salvation

Idiocy is usually described as “endlessly repeating the same process, hoping for a different result”. Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden et al are straining at the leash to get the Bailout Ball rolling once again. The stabilization of the financial sector, as elusive as it has been so far, has become the Holy Grail of Economic salvation. That makes $8.5 Trillion worth of trying and $0 of result. The Knights of the Oval Table are gathered to plan their mission as their beleaguered subjects are trying to batter down the castle gates. It’s no small wonder that Geithner wants to get the money out the door as soon as the end of this week.

The most recent report from the Comptroller of the Currency seems to have gone unnoticed in Washington and the press. If banks are not lending because of increased capital requirements in the face of Credit Default Swaps, other derivatives and loan defaults then the report goes a long way in describing exactly why.

Credit Exposure to Capital ratio. Amounts in $Millions

Read more Derivatives

From AlterNet
By Marie Cocco

Of all the ailments sapping the U.S. economy, failure to cut taxes isn’t one of them.

The Bush administration has been an extravagant orgy of tax-cutting. Taxes were cut in 2001 by $1.35 trillion over 10 years. In 2003 they were reduced by $350 billion more. Tax cuts came again in 2004 ($146 billion) and, for good measure, in 2006 ($142 billion).

This tally doesn’t include the one-time tax “rebate” that went to 130 million households last spring, part of a stimulus package that was supposed to keep the economy from falling into a dark pit. The fall came anyway.

The lesson of the Bush era is that relying on tax cuts as the centerpiece—often the only piece—of economic policy is just plain bad policy. Now the candidate of change is about to become president, and he wants to spend a big chunk of his new economic stimulus package on—well, on more of the same.

No doubt Barack Obama eventually will put forth a tax package that is not so heavily skewed toward helping those who are most comfortable and who need money the least, the chief beneficiaries of tax cuts over the past eight years. And there is some merit in the president-elect’s idea of refundable tax credits for the working poor, who would be most likely to quickly spend the few extra bucks in their paychecks.

Read more Tax Cuts