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Obama Tax Pledge Broken

From Breitbart and the Associated Press:
One of President Barack Obama's campaign pledges on taxes went up in puffs of smoke Wednesday.
The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama's promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000.
This is one tax that disproportionately affects the poor, who are more likely to smoke than the rich. . . .
The extra money will be used to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children. That represents a step toward achieving another promise, to make sure all kids are covered.
Obama said in the campaign that Americans could have both—a broad boost in affordable health insurance for the nation without raising taxes on anyone but the rich.
His detailed campaign plan stated that his proposed improvement in health insurance and health technology "is more than covered" by raising taxes on the wealthy alone. It was not based on raising the tobacco tax.
The White House contends Obama's campaign pledge left room for measures such as the one financing children's health insurance. . . .
Government and private research has found that smoking rates are higher among people of low income.
A Gallup survey of 75,000 people last year fleshed out that conclusion. It found that 34 percent of respondents earning $6,000 to $12,000 were smokers, and the smoking rate consistently declined among people of higher income. Only 13 percent of people earning $90,000 or more were smokers.
Federal or state governments often turn for extra tax dollars to the one in five Americans who smoke, and many states already hit tobacco users this year. So did the tobacco companies, which raised the price on many brands by more than 70 cents a pack.
The latest increase in the federal tax is by far the largest since its introduction in 1951, when it was 8 cents a pack. It's gone up six times since, each time by no more than a dime, until now.

Obama Nominee's Tax Problems

From Brian Montopoli at CBS News:
Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's nominee to become Health and Human Services secretary, said in a letter obtained by the Associated Press that she made "unintentional errors" on her taxes and has corrected her returns from three different years. In the letter, which was sent to senators and dated today, Sebelius wrote that she had made changes related to charitable contributions, business expenses and the sale of a home, according to the AP.
The wire service reports that she and her husband paid just over $7,000 in back taxes, along with $878 in interest, for the years 2005-2007. Tom Daschle, the president's first HHS nominee, previously withdrew from consideration over tax issues, as did chief performance officer nominee Nancy Killefer. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, meanwhile, were confirmed despite issues related to their taxes.
CBS News has obtained Sebelius' letter to the Senate Finance Committee. She writes in it that she and her husband hired a Certified Public Accountant to review their returns after her nomination and that the CPA uncovered the errors, after which they amended their returns. On the charitable contributions front, she writes that she could not locate three acknowledgment letters out of her 49 charitable contributions in excess of $250, and thus eliminated those three deductions.
She also writes that she had "insufficient documentation" for some of her tax dedications for business expenses, though because of the Alternative Minimum Tax they did not affect the amount owed. She also said she mistakenly paid off a home loan that included deductable mortgage interest.

Tax Cut Pledge Fading?

From the Associated Press:
President Barack Obama says he's not ready to comment on a proposal from some Senate Democrats to scrap his middle-class tax cut after 2010. Obama says he hasn't yet seen what changes are coming out of the House and Senate.
But he delivered his bottom-line on the budget at a Tuesday evening news conference. Obama said the budget must move toward health care reform and include an energy policy that frees the U.S. from dependence on foreign oil. He also says he's looking for investment in education and a reduction in the deficit.
Obama said a middle-class tax cut is already in place through the recovery package for at least two years. And he said he never expected Congress to approve his plan without some changes.

Retroactive Tax Hikes: NO!

From Rasmussen Reports:
Eighty-one percent (81%) of U.S. voters say Congress does not have the right to raise taxes on all Americans retroactively, even as the legislators are considering such legislation to punish those who got bonuses from American International Group (AIG).
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 91% of Republicans hold that view along with 71% of Democrats and 83% of those not affiliated with either major political party.
Overall, just nine percent (9%) believe Congress does have the power to raise taxes on Americans after the fact.

Chris Dodd's 'Quaint Cottage'

From Brian Faughnan at Red State:
If you’ve been thinking of buying a quaint little retreat near Galway, Ireland, you might want to ask Chris Dodd for advice. He’s made off quite well on his (pictured).
Here’s the quick-and-dirty: find a convicted felon and get him to put up two-thirds of the purchase price, then 8 years later - when the value of comparable real estate has quadrupled - buy him out at around the same amount he bought in for.
Voila! Before you know it, you own an Irish ‘cottage’ worth about a million dollars, but whose value you claim on ethics forms is as little as $100,000! The Wall Street Journal reported on the specifics not that long ago.

Corzine Seeks Tax Hike

New Jersey State Senator Steve Oroho, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement regarding Governor Corzine’s retreat from a “temporary” elimination of the property tax deduction for every taxpayer.
“I’m relieved that the governor has partially retreated from a remarkably bad policy decision that threatened the middle class in a state with the highest property tax burden in the nation. The 10-day conversion took place only after long-suffering middle class residents made it known loud and clear that this governor could no longer ignore their needs.
“Sadly, the governor still hasn’t gotten the message that no state should raise taxes during a recession. In 2006, the governor told Gannett News Service that New Jersey’s high income taxes made the state ‘less attractive’ than Connecticut and put it at a ‘competitive disadvantage’ to Pennsylvania and Delaware. Now the governor wants to raise income tax rates to rates higher than almost every state in the nation. He also still plans to take away the property tax deduction for people, making over $150,000, who are also struggling to keep their homes during this economic crisis.
“The governor should listen to his own words. A recession is the wrong time to make New Jersey less attractive and uncompetitive to neighboring states that have been stealing our jobs for the last three years. Last year alone, 58,000 people left the state and took their incomes with them. Governor Corzine decision to raise the income tax will only accelerate the exodus of our friends and neighbors, and threaten the jobs and financial security of those who remain.
“Governor Corzine should be honest with the people of New Jersey and tell them what the true cost of his budget will be in lost jobs and future tax increases. If there were ever a time to finally end the waste, fraud and abuse in New Jersey government, it’s now. ”

Kean: NJ Slips Further

New Jersey Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean (R-21) responded to a report in Crain’s Insider titled “Nearby states doing worse than New York.” The March 13, 2009 report, published in the highly respected and influential business publication, noted that New Jersey experienced a 6.8% drop in tax revenue in the 4th quarter of 2008, while New York experienced a dramatically lower reduction of just 0.2%, despite serious problems in the financial sector.
The report also noted that Pennsylvania experienced a 2.4% decline in 4th quarter 2008 tax revenues, and a 50-state average decline of 3.6% during the same period.
“While Governor Corzine has repeatedly maintained that his efforts to sustain state spending have put New Jersey closer to economic recovery than other states, the data shows that New Jersey is actually doing much worse than our neighbors and the nation as a whole,” said Kean. “Governor Corzine’s proposal to increase business taxes by $350 million, while cutting thousands of dollars of rebates and property tax deductions for middle-class families, will only ensure that the New Jersey economy continues to suffer unnecessarily.”
Senator Kean is the primary sponsor of the “Economic Development Promotion Act,” S-281, which would make New Jersey job growth programs more efficient, target high paying industries, and give middle class families the economic security of a stronger job market.

No School Tax Hike!

An editorial from Gannett's Courier-Post:
Districts that want voters to approve budgets must minimize tax hikes.
"It's not that I don't want good schools. I can't give more.'
That was Winslow resident Rich Reilly explaining why he voted against a $69.9 million plan to build an elementary school and improve existing schools in Winslow.
Reilly's sentiment echoes others in Winslow, where the referendum failed by a more than 3-1 margin Tuesday.
But the sentiment goes beyond even Winslow. In these tough economic times, school districts have to be extremely frugal with taxpayer dollars and realize that the residents they're asking for money from aren't in a position, because of the recession, to see their already inflated property tax bills go up further.
On April 21, five weeks from now, voters in every community will go to the polls to vote on local and regional school district budgets for the 2009-2010 school year. We hope that school district officials across South Jersey see what happened in Winslow and understand what it means. Even residents who fully support the public schools and want the best are feeling financially pinched these days.
Property tax increases absolutely must be kept to a minimum. If that means delaying some projects, putting off buying some new books or computers, etc. school districts need to do it. All public institutions these days, including schools, which take the largest slice of the property tax pie, need to tighten their belts and do everything they can to ease the burden on taxpayers.
We'll go one ste further: In the weeks ahead and on April 21 we hope New Jersey taxpayers speak loud and clear and say "NO SCHOOL TAX INCREASES!"
We simply cannot afford any further burden on our property taxes.

Corzine Assaults Middle Class

New Jersey Senate Republican Whip Kevin O’Toole of Cedar Grove wonders if Governor Jon Corzine has ever totaled the cost of the burdens he has loaded onto the backs of New Jersey’s middle class during his three years in office.
“This year, Governor Corzine wants to raise taxes by more than $420 million by eliminating the middle class tax deduction for property taxes. He wants to raise the costs of owning a car or boat or motorcycle by as much as $60 million by raising fees charged by the Department of Motor Vehicles. He plans to raise sales taxes on some products by $40 million.
“Last year, he raised tolls on the most popular highways in the state, making it more expensive for middle class residents to get work each day and for small businesses to create jobs. He drastically cut property tax rebates in 2008, and he wants to cut them even more this year in a state where average homeowner pays $7,045 in property taxes, the highest rate in the nation and the highest rate this state has ever seen. All this during the term of a governor who ran on the promise of lowering property taxes.
“In his budget message yesterday, he called for a nearly $400 million increase in payroll taxes, a move that will drive away even more middle class jobs at a time when New Jersey’s unemployment rate is higher than every neighboring state’s. It’s now 7.6 percent while the rate was 7 percent in New York and Pennsylvania and 6.7 percent in Delaware. Unemployment in New Jersey was 5.8 percent when Jon Corzine took office.
“This governor’s legacy will be an unprecedented impact it will have on lowering the quality of life for middle class New Jersey. Higher taxes. Fewer jobs. Diminishing opportunity, and an increasingly unaffordable cost of living. Governor Corzine has abandoned the middle class taxpayer.”

Stairway To Heaven

Wacky Jon Strikes Again!

Here's the latest pick-your-pockets scheme from Joisey's wacky Governor Jon Corzine: The former Wizard of Wall Street actually wants to eliminate our real estate tax deduction on our state income tax. In other words, he wants to prevent us from deducting our outrageous local property tax when we file our state income tax forms.

Here's what Senator Jennifer Beck, (R- Monmouth, Mercer) has to say about this idea:
“Governor Corzine’s proposal to eliminate the property tax deduction from state income taxes is offensive. This is nothing more than a thinly disguised income tax hike on every homeowner in New Jersey who is not a senior citizen.

“This tax hike is the capstone of seven years of relentless Democrat tax and fee increases on the people of New Jersey. These increases have crippled our State and ruined our economy. As in the past, we will work to identify common-sense budget savings over the next several months.
“Governor Corzine says he is protecting vulnerable middle-class tax payers, but this is simply not true. Middle class families will be hit by not only the elimination of the property tax deduction and rebate checks, but with skyrocketing property taxes as State Aid to municipalities is decreased.”

NJ: It Just Gets Worse

Higher and higher property taxes (via an end to tax rebates). Higher payroll taxes. No cut in the bloated state employee rolls. Frozen or reduced aid to schools or municipalities (more taxes!).
The news is all bad from wacky Jon Corzine's proposed budget that the Governor is set to unveil today.
Of course, Corzine will preserve rebates for "low income" residents. As always, Corzine is out to punish those who are productive and pay taxes and reward those who aren't productive and pay no taxes. And even in the midst of a total economic meltdown (with businesses closing down or fleeing the state in droves) Corzine continues to punish the private sector.
Democrat Senate President Dick Codey says this is the worst economic scenario he's seen in 35 years in the legislature. Hey, Codey: After all that time in Trenton if it's so bad why don't you pack up and get the hell out of town? You've earned enough at our expense and piled up enough money in your pension to pack it in. What are you waiting for?
As for Corzine, we've pretty much given up any hope that this old-line liberal will ever come to his senses. His elitist tax-and-spend mentality is hopelessly out-of-touch with current realities.
New Jersey needs smaller government, fewer regulations, consolidation of government agencies and local government entities, an end to waste and mismanagement, lower taxes and a new, solid pro-business climate.
Here's what Christopher Christie plans to do:
It will be a priority in the Christie administration to reduce New Jersey’s gross income tax during Christie’s first 4 year term as Governor. Christie will seek two types of income tax reductions: One will be an “across the board” rate cut for all taxpayers. The other will be an additional cut or credit for those taxpayers who derive business income from New Jersey-based small businesses. These taxes will be reduced to encourage investment in and expansion of New Jersey-based small business, and make our tax policies more competitive with the other states in the region that have better private sector job growth.
And Christie also plans to reduce the corporate business tax rate, freeze all new agency rules and regulations to eliminate red tape, eliminate agency funding from fees and fines and mandate funding "on budget" from the general fund, eliminate special interest giveaways and nurture and expand the state manufacturing base.
Christie's been one tough prosecutor and he will be an equally tenacious Governor. New Jersey's culture of corruption will be put on notice: Clean up you act or wind up in jail.
New Jersey will face one of the most critical decisions in its history this November: more waste, corruption, mismanagement and tax and spend or a new era of positive action under a new, courageous, independent leader committed to growth and reform.
Avanti!

'Green' Jobs?

'Green' jobs?
During a time when an Ohio school gets 700 applicants for one janitorial job why in hell is the Obama administration being picky about the kind of jobs it may or may not create?
Hey, I don't care if the jobs are blue, yellow, red, or chartreuse. I feel that any kind of job would be a help, green or not.
Right now, we don't have the luxury to be picky about the kind of jobs we create.
Let's just try to create jobs -- preferably in the private sector -- that will put people to work and restore our economy.
As for those 'green' jobs, I suppose it all depends on how you define 'green.'

Obama's Growth-Killing Policies

From Stanford University economics professor Michael J. Boskin in the Wall Street Journal:
The illusion that Barack Obama will lead from the economic center has quickly come to an end.
Instead of combining the best policies of past Democratic presidents -- John Kennedy on taxes, Bill Clinton on welfare reform and a balanced budget, for instance -- President Obama is returning to Jimmy Carter's higher taxes and Mr. Clinton's draconian defense drawdown.
Mr. Obama's $3.6 trillion budget blueprint, by his own admission, redefines the role of government in our economy and society. The budget more than doubles the national debt held by the public, adding more to the debt than all previous presidents -- from George Washington to George W. Bush -- combined. It reduces defense spending to a level not sustained since the dangerous days before World War II, while increasing nondefense spending (relative to GDP) to the highest level in U.S. history. And it would raise taxes to historically high levels (again, relative to GDP). And all of this before addressing the impending explosion in Social Security and Medicare costs. . . .
From the poorly designed stimulus bill and vague new financial rescue plan, to the enormous expansion of government spending, taxes and debt somehow permanently strengthening economic growth, the assumptions underlying the president's economic program seem bereft of rigorous analysis and a careful reading of history.
Unfortunately, our history suggests new government programs, however noble the intent, more often wind up delivering less, more slowly, at far higher cost than projected, with potentially damaging unintended consequences. The most recent case, of course, was the government's meddling in the housing market to bring home ownership to low-income families, which became a prime cause of the current economic and financial disaster.
On the growth effects of a large expansion of government, the European social welfare states present a window on our potential future: standards of living permanently 30% lower than ours. Rounding off perceived rough edges of our economic system may well be called for, but a major, perhaps irreversible, step toward a European-style social welfare state with its concomitant long-run economic stagnation is not.

Jim Cramer Speaks Out!

From Famous Financial Guru Jim Cramer at Main Street:

The lines are drawn pretty clearly: If you can help people make money to be able to retire, enjoy life, pay for college, pay down debt, etc., you are a "good guy," so to speak. If you take the other side of the trade, you are, well, let's say, a less favored fellow. And if you gun for the gigantic investor class that is out there that includes 90 million people in one form or another, whether it be 401(k)s or individual stocks or pension plans, then you are on my enemies list. . . .

Look at the incredible decline in the stock market, in all indices, since the inauguration of the president, with the drop accelerating when the budget plan came to light because of the massive fear and indecision the document sowed: Raising taxes on the eve of what could be a second Great Depression, destroying the profits in healthcare companies (one of the few areas still robust in the economy), tinkering with the mortgage deduction at a time when U.S. house price depreciation is behind much of the world's morass and certainly the devastation affecting our banks, and pushing an aggressive cap and trade program that could raise the price of energy for millions of people.
The market's the effect; much of what the president is fighting for is the cause. The market's signal can't be ignored. It's too palpable, too predictive to be ignored, despite the prattle that the market's predicted far more recessions than we have. . . .

Obama has undeniably made things worse by creating an atmosphere of fear and panic rather than an atmosphere of calm and hope. He's done it by pushing a huge amount of change at a very perilous moment, by seeking to demonize the entire banking system and by raising taxes for those making more than $250,000 at the exact time when we need them to spend and build new businesses, and by revoking deductions for funds to charity that help eliminate the excess supply of homes.
We had a banking crisis coming into this regime, but now every area is in crisis. Each day is worse than the previous one for this miserable economy and while Obama's champions cite the stimulus plan, it's really just a hodgepodge of old Democratic pork and will not create nearly as many manufacturing or service jobs as we hoped. China's stimulus plan is the model; ours is the parody. . . .

I will fight the fight against that agenda. I will stand up for what I believe and for what I have always believed: Every person has a right to be rich in this country and I want to help them get there. And when they get there, if times are good, we can have them give back or pay higher taxes. Until they get there, I don't want them shackled or scared or paralyzed. That's what I see now.
If that makes me an enemy of the White House, then call me a general of an army that Obama may not even know exists -- tens of millions of people who live in fear of having no money saved when they need it and who get poorer by the day.

St. Louis Tea Party Rocks!

From Tim O'Neil at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Critics of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan gathered beneath the Arch Friday to cheer speeches over a bullhorn and toss tea into the Mississippi River.

A few conservative activists organized and promoted the rally, with help from talk-radio hosts. Pleased with the turnout in 35-degree bluster, leaders said they had stolen a page from liberal tradition by taking to the streets with homemade signs."If I had known this many people would show up, I'd have charged admission," said Bill Hennessy of Ballwin, the lead organizer. "

We'll do this every chance we get until Congress repeals the pork — or we retire them from public life."

Hennessy estimated that more than 1,000 people showed up. There was no official count, but the crowd spilled across roughly one-fourth of the grand staircase from the Arch to Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard.

Former state Sen. John Loudon, R-Chesterfield, said, "We conservatives are usually pretty pathetic at making crowds. But this one's good."Hennessy said he got the idea after Rick Santelli, a CNBC market commentator in Chicago, last week called for a tea party to protest Obama's anti-recession plan. Santelli's comments became a YouTube hit, and similar "tea parties" were planned in other cities.

The original took place on Dec. 16, 1773, when American patriots dumped imported tea from merchant ships into Boston harbor to protest British colonial taxes.

Dana Loesch, a radio host on 97.1 FM, had talked up Friday's rally and served as emcee. Signs waved around her included, "Pork, the new 'Red' meat," and "King Barack III and the House of Lards."

Jackie Smith, former tight end for the old St. Louis football Cardinals, said, "We are mad as hell and we need to stay mad as hell. Don't let up."

Megan Dunham of Maplewood brought her four daughters with some painted signs "because it's important that the kids take part." She said it was her first protest. "All I'd ever done before is yell at the TV. This is exciting."

Obama's 'War On Growth'

From Larry Kudlow at CNBC:
Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget.
He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.
That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow.
Raising the marginal tax rate on successful earners, capital, dividends, and all the private funds is a function of Obama’s left-wing social vision, and a repudiation of his economic-recovery statements. Ditto for his sweeping government-planning-and-spending program, which will wind up raising federal outlays as a share of GDP to at least 30 percent, if not more, over the next 10 years.
This is nearly double the government-spending low-point reached during the late 1990s by the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton administration. While not quite as high as spending levels in Western Europe, we regrettably will be gaining on this statist-planning approach.
Study after study over the past several decades has shown how countries that spend more produce less, while nations that tax less produce more. Obama is doing it wrong on both counts.
And as far as middle-class tax cuts are concerned, Obama’s cap-and-trade program will be a huge across-the-board tax increase on blue-collar workers, including unionized workers. Industrial production is plunging, but new carbon taxes will prevent production from ever recovering. While the country wants more fuel and power, cap-and-trade will deliver less.
The tax hikes will generate lower growth and fewer revenues. Yes, the economy will recover. But Obama’s rosy scenario of 4 percent recovery growth in the out years of his budget is not likely to occur. The combination of easy money from the Fed and below-potential economic growth is a prescription for stagflation. That’s one of the messages of the falling stock market. Essentially, the Obama economic policies represent a major Democratic party relapse into Great Society social spending and taxing. It is a return to the LBJ/Nixon era, and a move away from the Reagan/Clinton period. House Republicans, fortunately, are 90 days sober, as they are putting up a valiant fight to stop the big-government onslaught and move the GOP back to first principles.
Noteworthy up here on Wall Street, a great many Obama supporters — especially hedge-fund types who voted for “change” — are becoming disillusioned with the performances of Obama and Treasury man Geithner.
There is a growing sense of buyer’s remorse.
Well then, do conservatives dare say: We told you so?

Obama's Budget: Staggering!

From Toby Harnden, blogger for the Daily Telegraph
So how much will President Barack Obama’s budget cost us?
The projected 2010 budget of $3.552 trillion can be found on page 114 of the “New Era of Responsibility” budget here.
The US Census bureau estimates that the current US population is 304,059,724. Dividing the $3.552 trillion by that gives us close to the $11,833 that Drudge came up with.
ABC’s Jake Tapper reports that there wil be $989 billion in new taxes over the next decade.
I’m an American taxpayer and the starkest figure is what this could cost me.
The latest figure I could find for the number of US taxpayers is 138,893,908 returns in 2007 here.
By my reckoning, that’s $25, 573.48 each.