[Vision2020] Income Tax Burden Near Its All-Time Low

Wed Apr 22 14:59:33 PDT 2009

Hi Roger,

How do you explain that fact that 7 European welfare states (all with very high taxes) always rank among at the top of most competitive economies in the world.  How does Denmark with a marginal tax rate of 70 percent rank first in venture-capital investments per capita (The Economist, 3/14/09) and the most business friendly country in the world?  And, oh yes, it has had several years running the lowest unemployment rate in the world.

Libertarian economics has been empirically disconfirmed for many years.  Time to give it up to give up for the Third Way.

Nick

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com on behalf of Andreas Schou
Sent: Wed 4/22/2009 11:00 AM
To: lfalen
Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Income Tax Burden Near Its All-Time Low

Roger --

Would you say that the top marginal tax rate was "exorbitant" under Reagan?

-- ACS

On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 10:23 AM, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

> Tom
> If you believe that taxes will not raise for those that make less than
> $250,00, I have a bridge I would like to sell you.
> You cannot impose an exorbitant tax and those that make a lot of money and
> maintain a vibrant economy. There are faults in our current market system.
> One of the main ones is the cyclic nature of the markets, fed in part by
> speculators. If some one was smart enough to figure out how to curb the
> unsustainable market highs with out imposing total government control it
> might help. For government to completely control the markets would be worse
> than what we have now.
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: Tom Hansen thansen at moscow.com
> Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:51:38 -0700
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Income Tax Burden Near Its All-Time Low
>
> > Courtesy of today's (April 16, 2009) Spokesman Review.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Income tax burden near its all-time low
> > Gallup registers unusually favorable assessment of federal income taxes
> > Lori Montgomery / Washington Post
> >
> > WASHINGTON – As thousands of anti-tax protesters rallied across the
> nation
> > Wednesday and the president promised tax cuts for most, new data showed
> > that the federal income tax burden is already hovering near its lowest
> > level in three decades for all but the wealthiest Americans.
> >
> > The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the average
> > family forked over barely 9 percent of its earnings to the IRS in 2006,
> > the most recent year for which information is available. The effective
> tax
> > rate hit its all-time low in 2003 and has crept up only slightly since.
> >
> > Middle-class families – to whom President Obama has delivered even more
> > tax relief since he took office in January – have fared especially well,
> > according to the CBO. The middle fifth of taxpayers, who earned an
> average
> > of $60,700 per household in 2006, paid just 3 percent in federal income
> > tax that year, down from a high of 8.3 percent in 1981.
> >
> > With federal income taxes so low for so many families, a majority of
> those
> > surveyed by Gallup last week said the amount of federal income taxes they
> > pay is either “too low” or “about right,” compared with 46 percent who
> > said their tax bills are “too high” – one of the most positive
> assessments
> > of the federal tax burden since Gallup began asking the question in 1956.
> >
> > Gallup analysts said the poll results may also reflect confidence in
> > Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a
> > year, a vow he repeated Wednesday in a tax-day speech at the Old
> Executive
> > Office Building. Obama presented nine taxpayers who he said were better
> > off because of tax breaks enacted in the recent economic stimulus
> package,
> > including a tax credit for working families worth up to $800 this year.
> >
> > Still, thousands of protesters marked the day federal income taxes were
> > due by attending hundreds of “tea parties” from Florida to Hawaii,
> > organizers said. The rallies were promoted by FreedomWorks, a
> conservative
> > nonprofit group led by Dick Armey, a lobbyist and Texas Republican who
> > once served as House majority leader.
> >
> > In a pre-rally telephone interview from Atlanta, where he was preparing
> to
> > speak on the steps of the statehouse, Armey conceded that “the federal
> tax
> > rate right now is at a good level.” But, he said, “there are very few
> > people who believe Obama will be content to leave it at that.”
> >
> > Armey said the real target of the protesters’ ire is not the current tax
> > rate but the much higher one that will be needed to pay for trillions of
> > dollars in financial-sector bailouts; the stimulus package, which is
> > projected to add nearly $800 billion to the federal debt over the next 10
> > years; and Obama’s ambitious health-care and education initiatives, which
> > are projected to raise the debt by trillions of dollars more.
> >
> > “There’s no way he can do the spending he does and cut taxes for most
> > people,” Armey said. “People know that spending inevitably means more
> > taxes.”
> >
> > The White House stuck to its own low-taxes message Wednesday, as Obama
> > repeated his “clear promise that families that earn less than $250,000
> > will not see their taxes increase by a single dime.” Asked whether Obama
> > is confident that he can stick to that pledge throughout his
> > administration, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters: “He is. He
> > is. He is.”
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Seeya at the Wingding, Moscow.
> >
> > Tom Hansen
> > Moscow, Idaho
> >
> > Join us at The First Annual Intolerista Wingding, April 17th, featuring
> > Roy Zimmerman and Jeanne McHale.  For details go to . . .
> >
> > http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding
> >
> > Seeya
> > there.
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------
> > This message was sent by First Step Internet.
> >            http://www.fsr.com/
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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