Taxes // Current

Swiss Banks to divulge details of US tax cheats

US clients of UBS with more than 250,000 Swiss francs (165,641 euros, 248,040 dollars)... more

bansheewail
added this
4 days ago
|
1 comment

Offshore - No More

More than 14,700 U.S. taxpayers came forward to disclose billions in offshore bank... more

pjacobs51
added this
4 days ago
|
0 comments

AP Poll: Most favor taxing the rich to pay for health bill

~House Health Bill has 5.4% income tax surcharge on $1M+ household incomes~ When it... more

WakeUpPeople
added this
5 days ago
|
190 comments

BLUE AND WHITE BIRD WAS 3.8 BILLION IN RED LAST YEAR

click link for more info http://getwititmagazine.com/2009/11/17/758/

GetWitIt
added this
5 days ago
|
0 comments

Jeremy Scahill: "Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama"

Jeremy Scahill: "Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo... more

Jenime
added this
6 days ago
|
2 comments

BIG BUDGET-relative expenditures

The Billion Dollar Gram | Information Is Beautiful

remanns
added this
7 days ago
|
1 comment

2010 Taxes and Financial Planning

2010 Tax Brackets Coming Soon! 2010 is right around the corner, and we have stressed... more

mikerowan
added this
10 days ago
|
0 comments

Is a Soda Tax Fair? - The Checkup -

Just Let it Bubble to the Surface!!

GoodGodGuy
added this
11 days ago
|
47 comments

New law extends Net Operating Loss carryback to five years and expands the benefit to cover all busi

hoosierdaddy
added this
11 days ago
|
1 comment

Have the mega-rich achieved victory in their class-war?

How rich—and powerful—have today’s rich become? Some numbers can help tell the story. In 1974, the most affluent 1% of Americans averaged, in today’s dollars, $380,000 in income.

Now let’s fast-forward. In 2007, the most recent year with stats, households in America’s top 1% averaged $1.4 million, well over triple what top 1% households averaged back in 1974—and, remember, this tripling came after adjusting for inflation.

Americans in the bottom 90%, meanwhile, saw their average incomes increase a meager $47 a year between 1974 and 2007, not enough to foot the bill for a month’s worth of cable TV.

The bottom line: top-1% households made 12 times more income than bottom-90% households in 1974, 42 times more in 2007.

The numbers become even more striking when we go back a bit further in time and focus not on the top 1%, but on the richest of the rich, the top 400, the living symbol of wealth and power in the United States ever since America’s original Gilded Age in the late 19th century.

In 1955, our 400 highest incomes averaged $12.3 million, in today’s dollars. But the top 400 in 1955 didn’t get to enjoy all those millions. On average, after exploiting every tax loophole they could find, they actually paid over half their incomes, 51.2%, in federal income tax.

Today’s super rich are doing better, fantastically better, both before and after taxes. In 2006, the top 400 averaged an astounding $263 million each in income. These 400 financially fortunate paid, after loopholes, just 17.2% of their incomes in federal tax.

After taxes, as a group, the top 400 of 2006 had $84 billion more in their pockets than 1955’s top 400, $84 billion more they could put to work bankrolling politicians and right-wing think tanks and Swift Boat ad blitzes against progressive candidates and causes.

How could America’s super rich have so little, relatively speaking, back in 1955 and so much today? What has changed between the mid 20th century and the first decade of the 21st? We have lost, simply put, the economic checks and balances that so significantly discouraged grand concentrations of private wealth in the years right after World War II.

[more after the jump]How rich—and powerful—have today’s rich become? Some numbers can help tell the... more

asherp
added this
14 days ago
|
84 comments

$8000 Tax Credit Extended, Unemployment Rises over 10%

$8000-tax-credit-extended-unemployment-rises

mikerowan
added this
14 days ago
|
0 comments

Food lobby mobilizes as soda tax bubbles up

Washington lobbyists have been enjoying a multi-million-dollar sugar rush from the food industry.

Soft drink makers, supermarket companies, agriculture and the fast-food business have poured millions into campaigning against what they fear could be a burgeoning national movement to raise money for health care reform by taxing sweetened beverages.

During the first nine months of 2009, the industry groups stepped up their lobbying in Congress. They have spent more than $24 million on the issue of a national excise tax on sweetened beverages and on other legislative and regulatory issues, according to an examination of lobbying reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records. The review shows that 21 companies and organizations reported that they lobbied specifically on the proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages - which among other things would include sodas, juice drinks and chocolate milk.

About $5 million of the money was spent on a national advertising campaign aimed at Capitol Hill lawmakers and promoting a newly formed coalition called Americans Against Food Taxes . The group bills itself on its website as a coalition of "responsible individuals, financially-strapped families, [and] small and large businesses" but its 400-plus membership list is dominated by industry heavyweights such as Burger King Corporation, Coca Cola, Pepsico and Domino's Pizza.

Many health officials and advocacy groups have argued for years that sugary drinks, particularly those with high-fructose corn syrup, have been key contributors to a rise in obesity rates in the United States, especially among children. Some argue that the time is right for a soda tax, which they say could not only cut consumption but also generate revenue to close state budget gaps and pay for new health care programs.

A proposal for a national excise tax on soft drinks surfaced in a May funding policy options paper during the Senate Finance Committee's deliberations on health care reform. Food lobbyists attacked then and continued their efforts in July when President Obama raised the possibility of a soda tax in an interview with Men's Health magazine. The proposal has not emerged in any of the health care reform bills still in play on Capitol Hill.

But the issue may be gaining traction in some key states. This week, California lawmakers are holding a high-profile hearing in Los Angeles to examine the link between childhood obesity and sugary drinks. In New York, Gov. David Paterson has revived the idea of a sugared beverage tax after a previous proposal was shot down by the legislature earlier this year in the face of industry opposition.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/04/soda-tax-mobilizes-food-l_n_345840.htmlWashington lobbyists have been enjoying a multi-million-dollar sugar rush from the... more