Taxes and taxation
Myth: estate taxes are evil
Fact:
Estate taxes reduce other taxes (helping farmers and small businesses), provide initiative, encourage charitable giving, and are fairer and more American, than any other tax.The Myth of the “Bush Tax Cuts”
Fact: These are tax HIKES, not cuts. If you decide to stop paying your bills and buy a lot of stuff with credit cards, is that saving? So why is outrageous spending with borrowed money called a "cut"?
Rather than take responsibility for our common future, Bush has shifted costs to states and communities, who then pass them on to you. Across the country, people are seeing their property taxes skyrocket. State college tuition at 4-year schools has increased this year by an average of $579 nationwide. Half a million children have been deprived of health coverage. States and local government have cut vital services, and we’re all having to pay more for less. That’s the Bush Tax.
Bush is largely to blame for the fiscal crisis that has forced states and communities to raise taxes and slash services. According to the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), “A conservative estimate suggests that federal policies are costing states and localities about $185 billion over the four-year course of the state fiscal crisis.” Bush has shifted health costs to states and forced states to pay for unfunded mandates for homeland security, election reform, and No Child Left Behind. As a result, states and communities have had no choice but to raise taxes and cut services. That’s the Bush Tax. (For details, see the link below to the CBPP report.)
Our children and grandchildren will be paying the Bush Tax. Bush promised, "I came to this office to solve problems and not pass them on to future presidents and future generations." Yet as a direct consequence of his tax policy, over six years an American family of four will take on $52,000 more in its share of the national debt. That’s the Bush Tax.
How is Bush paying for his tax cuts? To pay for his tax program, Bush raided Social Security Trust Funds and made off with $500 billion, eroding our protections for the elderly. Then he borrowed another $500 billion from foreigners, putting our future in their hands. For every $100 you got back in tax cuts, $40 was borrowed from foreigners, $20 was borrowed from Americans, and $40 was taken from Social Security.
The Bush Tax is huge – many times greater than most people’s income tax cut under Bush. For the bottom 60 percent of Americans, the average tax cut was just $304. The median tax cut for all Americans was only $470. In contrast, the average tax cut for those making over $1 million a year was $112,925.
Sources:
"What Tax Cut? States Are Using Higher Taxes and Fees to Take Back What Uncle Sam is Giving Away," U.S. News & World Report, 2/2/04 “Federal Policies Contribute to the Severity of the State Fiscal Crisis,”Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 12/3/03 "Decline in Federal Grants Will Put Additional Squeeze on State and Local Budgets," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/3/04
"Up to 1.6 Million Low-Income People - Including About Half a Million Children - Are Losing Health Coverage Due to State Budget Cuts," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 12/22/03
Figures on the incidence of the Bush tax cuts were provided by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Figures showing that national debt owed to foreigners have increased from $1 trllion in January 2001 to $1.5 trillion currently are from the U.S. Treasury International Capital System website.
Figures showing that the total assets of the Social Security Trust Funds borrowed by the federal government have increased from $1 trillion in January 2001 to $1.5 trillion currently are from Social Security Online.
Figures showing the $1.3 trillion increase in the national debt under Bush are from the U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt.
Bush Tax Data
› CBPP State Initiative
› Citizens 4 Tax Justice
› Tax Policy Center
The Bush Tax hikes: State by state:
Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | District of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North DakotaSteve Kangas’ myths about taxes:
Myth: Taxes are theft.
Myth: I earned that money; it's mine!
Myth: Tax cuts increase tax collections.
Myth: Tax cuts spur economic growth.
Myth: Tax cuts for the rich shift the tax burden upward.
Myth: A capital gains tax cut will spur economic growth.
Myth: A capital gains tax cut will help the little guy.
Part of the "Critiques of Libertarianism" site.
Dan Evans' outstanding set of responses to the amazingly lengthy and looney claims of tax protesters.
Progressive and Regressive Taxes and Taxation Explained.Doug Bashford explains some of the rudiments of why unequal taxation can be considered just.
Seven Nobel Prize Winners Endorse Land Value TaxationLibertarians who like quoting their own Nobel Prize winners might find it hard to reconcile these brief economic statements with their ideology.
An Analysis Of The Cato Institute's "The Case Against a Tennessee Income Tax"Citizens For Tax Justice lay open the shoddy errors behind this typical example of the claims Cato makes. The Tennessee Senate finance panel also identified a large number of other errors.
Question 1: Eliminate the State Income Tax? The Real Facts.Carla Howell and Michael Cloud have gotten a proposition onto the 2002 ballot in Massachussetts. This refutes their outrageous claims.
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