Last edited on Thu Oct 30th, 2008 10:57 pm by Bambi

• Making permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and AMT relief would have a direct cost of $3.7 trillion over the next ten years (fiscal year 2009 through 2018), according to Joint Committee on Taxation and Congressional Budget Office estimates.

• 
  Without offsets, making the tax cuts permanent would increase the deficit and thereby add to the national debt.  The interest payments needed to service this higher level of debt would amount to about $700 billion over the next ten years.  Thus, the total cost of making these tax cuts permanent, including the related interest costs, would be $4.4 trillion over the ten-year period (see the appendix).
  

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  Once the tax cuts are fully in effect, their annual cost (not including debt service) will amount to about $400 billion per year.  In 2007 terms, that amount is about eight times what the federal government spent last year on K-12 and vocational education and about ten times what it spent on hospital and medical care for veterans.
  

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  In today’s terms, that amount also exceeds the combined 2007 budgets of the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans’ Affairs, State, Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency (see Figure 1).
  

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  When the tax cuts are fully in effect, the cost of tax cuts for just the highest-income 1 percent of households (those with incomes above $450,000 per year) will be larger, in today’s terms, than the entire budget of the Department of Education.  This cost is so high because by 2010, the first year in which all provisions of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will be fully in effect, households in the top 1 percent of the income spectrum will receive tax cuts averaging more than $60,000 apiece.   (Households with annual incomes above $1 million will receive tax cuts averaging more than $150,000.)

Last edited on Thu Oct 30th, 2008 10:51 pm by Bambi

CIVICS 101 3rd GRADE



I just had to say this.  We are worried about "the cow"

 
It’s all about the Ice Cream



The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade in 2008.  The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest.  I decided we would have an election for a class president.  We would choose our nominees.  They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.


To simplify the process,  candidates were nominated by other class members.  We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.


The class had done a great job in their selections.  Both candidates were good kids.  I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support.  I had never seen Olivia’s mother.  The day arrived when they were to make their speeches   Jamie went first.  He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place.  He ended by promising to do his very best.  Every one applauded.  He sat down and Olivia came to the podium.  Her speech was concise.  She said, “If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream.”  She sat down.  The class went wild.  “Yes! Yes! We want ice cream.”

She surely would say more.  She did not have to.  A discussion followed.  How did she plan to pay for the ice cream?  She wasn’t sure.  Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn’t know.  The class really didn’t care.  All they were thinking about was ice cream.  Jamie was forgotten.  Olivia won by a land slide.

Every time Barack Obama opens his mouth he offers ice cream, and fifty percent of America reacts like nine year olds.  They want ice cream.  The other fifty percent know they’re going to have to feed the cow]

Last edited on Thu Oct 30th, 2008 01:45 am by CSI_QueenCreek

• Cut taxes for 95 percent of workers and their families with a tax cut of $500 for workers or $1,000 for working couples.
• Provide generous tax cuts for low- and middle-income seniors, homeowners, the uninsured, and families sending a child to college or looking to save and accumulate wealth.
• Eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses, cut corporate taxes for firms that invest and create jobs in the United States, and provide tax credits to reduce the cost of healthcare and to reward investments in innovation.
• Dramatically simplify taxes by consolidating existing tax credits, eliminating the need for millions of senior citizens to file tax forms, and enabling as many as 40 million middle-class Americans to do their own taxes in less than five minutes without an accountant.

• Middle class families will see their taxes cut – and no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase. The typical middle class family will receive well over $1,000 in tax relief under the Obama plan, and will pay tax rates that are 20% lower than they faced under President Reagan. According to the Tax Policy Center, the Obama plan provides three times as much tax relief for middle class families as the McCain plan.
• Families making more than $250,000 will pay either the same or lower tax rates than they paid in the 1990s. Obama will ask the wealthiest 2% of families to give back a portion of the tax cuts they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility. But no family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s. In fact, dividend rates would be 39 percent lower than what President Bush proposed in his 2001 tax cut.
• Obama’s plan will cut taxes overall, reducing revenues to below the levels that prevailed under Ronald Reagan (less than 18.2 percent of GDP). The Obama tax plan is a net tax cut – his tax relief for middle class families is larger than the revenue raised by his tax changes for families over $250,000. Coupled with his commitment to cut unnecessary spending, Obama will pay for this tax relief while bringing down the budget deficit.

Last edited on Wed Oct 29th, 2008 05:14 pm by Bambi