ALG's Daily Grind - Will markets crash without a capital gains and dividends tax fix?

Dec. 4, 2012

Will markets crash without a capital gains and dividends tax fix?

Many investors would sell their stocks now to lock in the lower tax rate, and each day that goes by without resolution to the fiscal cliff, the more likely a selloff becomes.

Top 12 Big Gov't Busts of 2012: #8 Drones In Our Air

Those things that we used to use to round up members of the Taliban are being used in our country now!

The missing link

Taking away 3 to 5 percent of the incomes of top-earners won't really hurt most of the so-called "wealthy" all that much, but it sure will hurt those who depend upon the expenditure of their discretionary income.

Hedges: Three Men Who Wouldn't Let the NSA Get Away With It

"[W]histle-blowers such as Kirk Wiebe and William Binney, both of whom worked at the National Security Agency and then left because of mismanagement and corruption, have warned that intelligence agencies are abusing the Constitution and lavishing private companies with expensive contracts in exchange for subpar data processing and analysis systems."

Gov. Gary Johnson Video: Eliminate Income/Capital Gains Tax To Create a Job Boom

August 13, 2012, Santa Fe, NM – In a new video, "Job Boom," Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for President, explains that getting rid of our current tax system is the key to ensuring a speedy economic recovery.

"If we really want to put our people back to work, we have to provide a level playing field and give business a reason to hire American workers again," Johnson says in the video. "I'll give it three great reasons: No personal income tax. No corporate income tax. No capital gains tax."

Watch video here

The former New Mexico Governor is campaigning in Texas all week, including stops in Midland, Odessa, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

CEI Today: Surveillance state, capital gains tax, and religious profiling

DIGITAL AGE PRIVACY - WAYNE CREWS   

Forbes.com: Is Privacy Dead? Yes, If America's Surveillance State Drones On

Today’s convergence of privacy-invading technologies and Washington‘s appetite for surveillance could send civil liberties packing if we’re not careful. New developments are particularly provocative.

One is the House-passed cybersecurity legislation called CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act), now wrapped into the Senate’s noxious Cybersecurity Act of 2012. It’ll be considered in June, to the consternation of many on both the left and right who see it as a conduit for inappropriate information sharing between business and government.

 > Read the full analysis on Forbes.com

> Interview Wayne Crews


 

CAPITAL GAINS TAX - MATTHEW SINCLAIR & IAIN MURRAY Spectator.org: Tax Equity for Real President Obama has repeatedly called for a fairer tax system. Last month he told a crowd, "Keep in mind, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle class households. You've heard me say it: Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary." This is, of course, a political stunt rather than a serious proposal, but we should learn from it. If you really want to tax all income at the same tax rate independently of how it is earned -- whether via dividends from a company you invest in or wages from your employer -- the last thing you should do is hike the tax rate on capital gains.  > Read the full commentary on Spectator.org   > Interview the authors

RELIGIOUS PROFILING & AIRPORT SECURITY - DAVID BIER Openmarket.org: The Futility of Religious Profiling at Airport Security Checkpoints While religious profiling may not seem like a hot campaign topic, America’s intrusive airport security process will force the question into debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney this fall.  Religious profiling is dangerous because complex security rules lower efficiency and create new avenues for attack. The impossibility of reducing the error rate for such a profiling system is compounded by the principle agent problem. Even a relatively successful profile wouldn’t provide significant security benefits. To these problems, we must add bureaucracies’ inflexibility. If government creates a profile, terrorist organizations will adapt within months. Consider the fact that al Qaeda was already planning methods to thwart presumed U.S. racial profiling within months of 9/11. Any profile wouldn’t be able to adjust as fast as a potential enemy could.  > Read the full commentary on Openmarket.org >Interview David Bier

Also featuring... Long Commutes Will Kill You? A Brief Response to Matt Yglesias’s Post Causes of Public Pension Underfunding Are Not Hard to Identify CPSC Commissioner Challenges Precautionary Principle

New! Ten Thousand Commandments 2012 An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State By Clyde Wayne Crews May 15, 2012 The scope of federal government spending and deficits is sobering. Yet the government’s reach extends well beyond the taxes Washington collects and its deficit spending and borrowing. Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations cost hundreds of billions—perhaps trillions—of dollars every year over and above the costs of the official federal outlays that dominate the policy debate.

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

RNC - Not A Great Day For Obama's Buffett Tax...

With Vice President Biden heading to New Hampshire tomorrow to promote the Buffett Tax, I wanted to draw your attention to some of yesterday’s headlines. Also, reminder, the RNC is hosting a press call on Biden’s trip to NH today at 1:15 p.m.:

RNC Press Conference Call With RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, NH GOP Chairman Wayne MacDonald and Rep. Frank Guinta (NH-1)

Today, 1:15 p.m. ET

Call In Number: 800-369-2122 

Password: GOP

The Buffett Tax’s Bad Day…

National Journal: The Buffett Rule Won’t Get You a Job. “On the seventh and final page of its background report on the Buffett Rule, out this morning, the Obama administration finally dives into what it calls “the economic rationale” for imposing a new minimum tax rate on millionaires. If you’re an unemployed American, that placement should be your first red flag. The second should be the rationale itself. Once you read it, you’ll realize the Buffett Rule has nothing to do with helping you, or 13 million other Americans looking for work as of March, find a job.” http://bit.ly/HYu2HH

Christian Science Monitor: Buffett Rule: Could It Backfire On Democrats? “Yet polling suggests that taxing the rich might not be a winning issue for Obama in November. While the Buffett Rule is widely popular – more than 6 in 10 Americans support the measure, according to a March Reuters/Ipsos poll – the larger economic argument centered around “fairness” may be problematic for the independent voters who are often crucial in presidential elections. Among voters without a strongly held opinion of either Mr. Romney or Obama, 80 percent said they’d be more likely to support a candidate focused on economic growth and opportunity, while 15 percent said they would choose one emphasizing income inequality, according to a poll released Monday by the centrist Democratic group Third Way.” http://bit.ly/HxpT4f

National Journal: The Fairness Agenda Divides Democrats. Seriously. “For a brief moment it seemed that Democrats had become the organized party Will Rogers never knew, orchestrating a seamless campaign against the unfairness they see in the tax code and their support for tax reforms meant to ensure that billionaires like Warren Buffett don't pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries. But as President Obama and other Democrats ramp up for a Senate vote next week on the so-called Buffett rule, the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way is rudely interrupting the unity-fest with a warning that this is the wrong way to lock down wavering independents in swing states. These crucial voters prefer hearing candidates talk about opportunity, the group said. Just a tad off message, but perhaps an inconvenient truth.” http://bit.ly/HwLRo6

Politico: W.H.: Buffett Rule Not Answer To Debt. “The Obama administration is emphasizing “fairness” over deficit reduction in its renewed pitch for the “Buffett rule” ahead of next week’s scheduled Senate vote. Introducing a minimum 30 percent income tax on millionaires “was never our plan to bring the deficit down and get the debt under control,” Jason Furman, the principal deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters on a conference call Monday afternoon. “This is not the president’s entire tax plan. We’re not trying to say this solves all our economic problems, all our budget problems.” http://bit.ly/HpJRtg

Reuters: Obama’s Push For Tax Fairness May Be Falling On Deaf Ears In The Swing States… “But Obama's push on tax fairness may be falling on deaf ears in the swing states where the November 6 election will likely be decided. In 12 battleground states, 80 percent of independent voters lacking strong views on either Obama or Romney said they prefer a candidate who focuses on creating economic opportunity rather than reducing income inequality, according to a poll by the moderate Democratic group Third Way released on Monday.” http://yhoo.it/HEp3jZ

Wall Street Journal: But The Effort Carries Risk For Democrats “But the effort carries risk for Democrats. Congressional estimators say the Buffett Rule would generate about $47 billion over the next decade, or less than 1% of the $6.4 trillion in deficits projected during that time under Mr. Obama's budget.” http://on.wsj.com/IepvmL

Sun Sentinel: Republican Leaders Slam Obama And President's South Florida Visit “In a telephone conference call with reporters, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican who represents part of South Broward, Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, excoriated the president, his campaigning and his policies. The Republicans highlighted the president's long-planned three fundraisers – in Palm Beach Gardens, Hollywood and Golden Beach – and the fact that he added an official stop at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton so the taxpayers would pick up the bulk of the cost of the trip…Priebus said of Obama, ‘He's back in Florida campaigning on fear, division and class warfare. Well I don't think we'll be fooled again.’” http://sunsent.nl/Hvgcm1

Politico: Republicans Push Back on Buffett Rule “Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus called the Buffett Rule a ‘gimmick’ that would damage the core belief in America that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can live the American dream. ‘I think the reality is is that I don’t think Americans are interested in class warfare, number one, but number two, this isn’t just about millionaires and billionaires. This is really about more importantly small biz owners,’ Priebus said in a conference call on Tuesday. ‘Most small businesses file as individuals, and so this is a tax that is going to hurt small businesses at a time when we should be making it easier for people to do business.’” http://politi.co/IBIBF4

Washington Post: Buffett Rule No Silver Bullet “Clearly, Democrats think the ‘Buffett Rule’ is very good politics… But a new survey from a centrist Democratic group suggests that the proposal, which would ensure that taxpayers who make over $1 million pay at least a 30 percent rate on all their income, might not be campaign magic…The Third Way poll found that up-for-grabs independent voters in swing states ‘prefer an optimistic, opportunity framework on the economy over one based on fairness and income inequality’ by 51 to 43 percent. A supermajority of these ‘swing independents’ say the system is already basically fair. The deficit is a bigger priority than income inequality.” http://wapo.st/IBJldm

Weekly Standard: W.H. Contradicts Obama Campaign's Claim That Buffett Rule Is 'A Key Step To Reduce The Deficit' “President Obama is traveling to Florida today to tout the so-called Buffett Rule, as well as to raise money from people who would have to pay more taxes under that same rule. The president's proposal "asks everyone to pay their fair share" of taxes, according to the White House. In other words: It's an increase on taxes for the rich… But the money that would be brought in by the government through this sort of tax increase would hardly reduce the growing federal debt. The debt is too large, and the revenue would be too small. Even Obama's spokesman admitted that fact to reporters today on the plane ride down to Florida. ‘[N]o one ever suggested that implementing the Buffett Rule would contribute in large measure to reducing the deficit,’ said press secretary Jay Carney. However, Obama's own campaign team is touting the Buffett Rule as a way to pay down ... the federal deficit.” http://bit.ly/IxDmn0

Bloomberg: The Buffett Rule Is Back, And Still A Distraction “In the absence of comprehensive tax reform, the Obama administration is again pressing forward with a plan to require a minimum 30 percent tax rate for the highest U.S. earners… The Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated implementing the Buffett Rule would raise $47 billion over the next decade. There's nothing wrong with trying to make wealthy Americans pay their fair share. But as we've said before, the Buffett Rule is a distraction that further mucks up an already complicated tax code. True tax reform would bring in much more revenue.” http://bloom.bg/HvOwgB

Read more at GOP.com: http://bit.ly/Iry0dV

ALG - Obama's Buffett rule won't create jobs, either

April 11, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on a Senate vote next week to implement the so-called Buffett rule, raising capital gains and income taxes to 30 percent for anyone who makes more than $1 million a year:

"Any fair reporting of Obama's Buffett rule would reveal it to be a cynical election-year maneuver that bears no resemblance to a sound policy designed to either improve the economy or raise significant revenue to pay down the debt."

"Obama's tax-the-rich proposal, which will only collect $4.7 billion on average every year over the next decade according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, will cover less than 1 percent of the average $588.9 billion annual net interest owed on the national debt.

"It will not create a single job. Yet the Obama Administration is maintaining that this tax will somehow 'pay down our deficit and invest in the things that help our economy grow.'

"At a time when more than 27 million people cannot find full-time work — 4.6 million of whom have dropped out of the labor force since Obama took office because they've simply given up looking for work — raising taxes on capital  creation is exactly the wrong prescription.

"The fact is we're talking about billions of dollars that could be reinvested in the economy by the private sector, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Instead, Obama wants to give it to the government so it can squander and waste it on more boondoggles. Is that fair to the American people struggling to get ahead in the Obama economy?"

To view online: http://getliberty.org/content.asp?pl=10&sl=5&contentid=872