Newsmax - U.S. Tax Revenue Hit All-Time High in April

Amid calls from some for tax increases to deal with the deficit, the federal government collected $406.72 billion in April — the all-time noninflation-adjusted high for a single month.

Overall federal tax receipts in April were up 28 percent from April of last year, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement from the U.S. Treasury.

April is almost always the peak month for tax revenue, since tax returns — and payments of taxes owed — are due on April 15.

The previous monthly high was $403.8 billion in April 2008.

The Treasury collected $240.2 billion in individual income taxes in April, about 36 percent more than the $178.5 billion collected in April 2012.

Other revenue included about $96 billion in employment and general retirement taxes, $36 billion in corporate taxes, $9.8 billion in unemployment insurance taxes, $6.9 billion in excise taxes, $5.8 billion in estate and gift taxes, and $2.5 billion in customs duties.

Due to the record tax revenue, the federal government ran a surplus of $112.9 billion in April. But in the first seven months of fiscal 2013, October through April, the government has run a deficit of $487.6 billion.

Outlays totaled $293.8 billion in April. The largest amount went to the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicare — $75.3 billion.

Next were the Social Security Administration ($71.7 billion), Department of Defense-Military Programs ($46.5 billion), and Interest on Treasury Debt Securities ($35.9 billion).

Interest on the debt is expected to cost taxpayers more than $420 billion this fiscal year.

House Republican Conference - Obamacare Job Losses

Yesterday, the House Republican Conference had fun spoofing Arrested Development to point out the absurdity that is ObamaCare.  But ObamaCare is no joke.  It is destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs for Americans.

Today, we are releasing another video that rolls the detrimental effect ObamaCare has had on jobs.  Please consider watching and sharing this new video – shared first with bloggers.

“Headlines”  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7tTWasXw_g

Newsmax - Fruit Tree Farmers’ New ‘Tormentor’: The FDA

The Food and Drug Administration is proposing costly new regulations for growers of apples, pears, and other tree fruits — even though they have a virtually flawless safety record.

“For decades, America’s farmers, ranchers, and fruit growers have become grudgingly accustomed to dealing with onerous regulatory schemes emanating from the Environmental Protection Agency,” according to the CFACT (Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow) website.

“But now the people who grow apples, pears, and other tree fruits have a new tormentor: the Food and Drug Administration,” which is backing standards “that many growers are convinced will put them out of business.”

The new regulations emerge from the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, passed by Congress and the Obama administration, which directed the FDA to prevent foodborne illnesses rather than simply react to outbreaks.

This year the FDA designated which items of produce would be included in the new regulations. Those usually consumed raw (including apples, blueberries, bananas, pears, and peaches) would have to abide by the new regulations, and those that are usually cooked or processed (sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas, pumpkins, artichokes, winter squash, etc.) would be exempt, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Growers subject to the new regulations would face an array of new responsibilities, including regular testing of irrigation water, sanitizing canvas fruit-picking bags, and keeping animals away from crops, The Journal explained.

Tree fruit farmers argue that the FDA should focus more on items that have caused deadly outbreaks in the past, such as spinach, instead of items that have never posed a health threat.

An apple farmer in Virginia told The Journal that the compliance costs “would end up getting passed on to the consumer, if we didn’t go out of business first.”

The FDA has said the new requirements would cost American farms about $460 million a year.

Also, some farmers fear that foreign products will not be subject to the same regulations, and foreign competition will drive American farmers out of business.

Farms with average yearly sales of $25,000 or less, and certain other farms that average less than $500,000 in annual sales and sell mostly to consumers within a 275-mile radius, would be exempt from the new requirements, the FDA says.

CFACT reports: “Hoping to avoid the mass shutdown of fruit-tree operations, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Fresh Produce Association are urging the FDA to redraft its proposed regulations.”

Newsmax - Singles Now the Majority of Taxpayers

The sweeping demographic changes in America over the last half-century are strikingly evident in the changes in the status of federal income tax filers.

In 1960, 65.2 percent of taxpayers were married, filing jointly or separately, and 34.8 percent were single filers or unmarried heads of households.

Fifty years later in 2010 — the most recent year analyzed on the IRS website — 61 percent of filers were single and just 39 percent were married.

Back in 1960, married couples were the majority in every income quintile except the lowest. In the middle quintile, comprising “middle-income” taxpayers, 68 percent of filers were married and 32 percent were single, the Tax Foundation disclosed.

In 2010, however, singles accounted for 68 percent of middle quintile filers, while married couples accounted for 32 percent. Singles also dominated the first and second quintiles.

Other IRS facts uncovered by the Tax Foundation include:

• Among 67 percent of married couples, both spouses are working, up from 47 percent in 1965, and the percentage of sole-earner couples has fallen from 40 percent to 27 percent.
• The number of millionaire tax returns fluctuates wildly from year to year, due mostly to changes in the business cycle. In 2007, there were 392,220 millionaire returns, but just 168,977 in 2002, and 236,883 in 2009.
• Many people become millionaires as a result of a one-time event such as the sale of stocks or a business. Between 1999 and 2009, 50 percent of millionaire filers were millionaires for only one year; 4.4 percent filed million-dollar returns five times in that period, while 5.6 percent filed nine times.
• 33 percent of millionaire taxpayers are 45 to 55 years old, 28 percent are 55 to 65, and 18 percent are over 65. Just 0.3 percent are 18 to 26 years old, and 3 percent are 26 to 35.

Does the Obama Government Really Want to Catch Anyone Involved in the Benghazi Attack?

Posted By Bryan Preston On May 2, 2013 @ 11:25 am In Politics,Terrorism | 

A day after the FBI released photos of individuals it says it’s seeking in connection with the Benghazi terrorist attack, I’m still scratching my head. Eight months after an attack that left four Americans dead, this is all the FBI has?

These grainy photos are obviously from security cameras posted at or near the scene of the attack. The images are sufficiently grainy that it’s difficult to discern any close details of the individuals in them. The men have all had eight months to cut or grow their hair, cut or grow their beards, dispose of the clothing they’re wearing, and alter their appearance in other ways. They could have traveled to any place on the globe by now.

Meanwhile, this guy has been clearly celebrating the Benghazi attack on the Internet for months. This photo was taken during the attack, obviously on the scene.

Here he is in another photo of him, attributed to Getty Images. He has been all over the net and cable TV — well, Fox anyway — for months now.

He was obviously involved in the attack. Who is he? What’s happened to him in the eight months since the attack? Beats me. Beats the FBI too. They’re apparently not looking for this clearly seen guy, and are focused on the individuals in the grainy surveillance cams. Maybe they were leaders and this guy was not. But he may know who the leaders were. His clear image started appearing online with a day or two of the attacks. As far as its public communications go, the FBI never sought him. The Bureau didn’t even investigate the attack scene itself until a month after it happened. By then, the media and anyone else who wanted to had had the opportunity to traipse all over the unsecured crime scene and contaminate evidence to their heart’s content.

What else is on those surveillance cameras the FBI pulled its useless stills from? Beats me. The FBI isn’t saying. But surely there’s more evidence on the recordings than nearly useless still frames of three fairly nondescript men who could be anywhere in the world, or dead one way or another, by now. The FBI appears to be sitting on that evidence.

The FBI is part of the Justice Department. Over in the State Department, the bureaucracy is foot dragging. State employees with knowledge of the attack want to talk. At least one will testify in the House next week. But the State Department, all the way up to Secretary of State Kerry, are not helping these employees talk. Instead, from Kerry on down State is saying nothing. The employees have legal counsel, Victoria Toensing. Toensing needs to be granted a security clearance so that she can learn what her client(s) know. But State, all the way up to Kerry, are not granting her that clearance or even beginning the process of granting that clearance, effectively cutting Toensing off from her client(s) and silencing them. If they speak to her before she has the security clearance, they can be charged with mishandling classified information. They face termination and possible prison time.

Toensing is no security risk. She was the first head of the Justice Department’s Terrorism Unit. She has undoubtedly held security clearances in the past. She has supporters and friends on both sides of the aisle.

State’s inertia resembles the FBI’s over in the Justice Department. Neither has acted quickly at all, on the night of the attack or at any point afterward.

I realize that none of this is a revelation to anyone who has followed Benghazi closely. But it is startling to realize that the FBI really may be complicit in the ongoing cover-up. Yesterday’s photos show us a couple of things. One, the FBI apparently hasn’t gotten past square one in its Benghazi investigation, after eight months. Two, the government appears to have a policy of keeping the investigation from ever getting past square one. Why?

Set the effort to blame a YouTube movie aside for the moment. Set whether a “stand down” order was given during the attack or not aside for a moment. Why wouldn’t the U.S. government that pledges to bring the Benghazi terrorists to justice do so little to actually bring those terrorists to justice? What do they know that they’re still not willing to tell about that attack?

We’re going to need a select committee, maybe a special independent prosecutor, to get to the bottom of Benghazi. It will take strong subpoena power and needs to be outside the usual House or Senate committee processes and investigations. What we know or can surmise about Benghazi at this point indicates that the cover-up involves at least two cabinet level departments, Justice and State, a former cabinet official and two current ones, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Eric Holder. This indicates that the intentional failure to investigate is ultimately being ordered and coordinated above both — in the White House. Jay Carney said as much this week when he dismissed Benghazi, saying it happened “a long time ago,” and said that State has told the White House that it knows of no one who has come forward wanting to talk. If they weren’t aware of it before this week, which is implausible, they certainly are now.

But they still have yet to act. The FBI went all the way to Benghazi, and all it got was a few lousy photos. We need to know why the White House wants it this way.

URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/05/02/does-the-obama-government-really-want-to-catch-anyone-involved-in-the-benghazi-attack/