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<TITLE>RE: [Vision2020] Income Tax Burden Near Its All-Time Low</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Hi Roger,<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
Libertarian economics has been empirically disconfirmed for many years. Time to give it up to give up for the Third Way.<BR>
<BR>
Nick<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: vision2020-bounces@moscow.com on behalf of Andreas Schou<BR>
Sent: Wed 4/22/2009 11:00 AM<BR>
To: lfalen<BR>
Cc: vision2020@moscow.com<BR>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Income Tax Burden Near Its All-Time Low<BR>
<BR>
Roger --<BR>
<BR>
Would you say that the top marginal tax rate was "exorbitant" under Reagan?<BR>
<BR>
-- ACS<BR>
<BR>
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 10:23 AM, lfalen <lfalen@turbonet.com> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> Tom<BR>
> If you believe that taxes will not raise for those that make less than<BR>
> $250,00, I have a bridge I would like to sell you.<BR>
> You cannot impose an exorbitant tax and those that make a lot of money and<BR>
> maintain a vibrant economy. There are faults in our current market system.<BR>
> One of the main ones is the cyclic nature of the markets, fed in part by<BR>
> speculators. If some one was smart enough to figure out how to curb the<BR>
> unsustainable market highs with out imposing total government control it<BR>
> might help. For government to completely control the markets would be worse<BR>
> than what we have now.<BR>
> Roger<BR>
> -----Original message-----<BR>
> From: Tom Hansen thansen@moscow.com<BR>
> Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:51:38 -0700<BR>
> To: vision2020@moscow.com<BR>
> Subject: [Vision2020] Income Tax Burden Near Its All-Time Low<BR>
><BR>
> > Courtesy of today's (April 16, 2009) Spokesman Review.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > ------------------------------------------------------<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Income tax burden near its all-time low<BR>
> > Gallup registers unusually favorable assessment of federal income taxes<BR>
> > Lori Montgomery / Washington Post<BR>
> ><BR>
> > WASHINGTON – As thousands of anti-tax protesters rallied across the<BR>
> nation<BR>
> > Wednesday and the president promised tax cuts for most, new data showed<BR>
> > that the federal income tax burden is already hovering near its lowest<BR>
> > level in three decades for all but the wealthiest Americans.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the average<BR>
> > family forked over barely 9 percent of its earnings to the IRS in 2006,<BR>
> > the most recent year for which information is available. The effective<BR>
> tax<BR>
> > rate hit its all-time low in 2003 and has crept up only slightly since.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Middle-class families – to whom President Obama has delivered even more<BR>
> > tax relief since he took office in January – have fared especially well,<BR>
> > according to the CBO. The middle fifth of taxpayers, who earned an<BR>
> average<BR>
> > of $60,700 per household in 2006, paid just 3 percent in federal income<BR>
> > tax that year, down from a high of 8.3 percent in 1981.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > With federal income taxes so low for so many families, a majority of<BR>
> those<BR>
> > surveyed by Gallup last week said the amount of federal income taxes they<BR>
> > pay is either “too low” or “about right,” compared with 46 percent who<BR>
> > said their tax bills are “too high” – one of the most positive<BR>
> assessments<BR>
> > of the federal tax burden since Gallup began asking the question in 1956.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Gallup analysts said the poll results may also reflect confidence in<BR>
> > Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a<BR>
> > year, a vow he repeated Wednesday in a tax-day speech at the Old<BR>
> Executive<BR>
> > Office Building. Obama presented nine taxpayers who he said were better<BR>
> > off because of tax breaks enacted in the recent economic stimulus<BR>
> package,<BR>
> > including a tax credit for working families worth up to $800 this year.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Still, thousands of protesters marked the day federal income taxes were<BR>
> > due by attending hundreds of “tea parties” from Florida to Hawaii,<BR>
> > organizers said. The rallies were promoted by FreedomWorks, a<BR>
> conservative<BR>
> > nonprofit group led by Dick Armey, a lobbyist and Texas Republican who<BR>
> > once served as House majority leader.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > In a pre-rally telephone interview from Atlanta, where he was preparing<BR>
> to<BR>
> > speak on the steps of the statehouse, Armey conceded that “the federal<BR>
> tax<BR>
> > rate right now is at a good level.” But, he said, “there are very few<BR>
> > people who believe Obama will be content to leave it at that.”<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Armey said the real target of the protesters’ ire is not the current tax<BR>
> > rate but the much higher one that will be needed to pay for trillions of<BR>
> > dollars in financial-sector bailouts; the stimulus package, which is<BR>
> > projected to add nearly $800 billion to the federal debt over the next 10<BR>
> > years; and Obama’s ambitious health-care and education initiatives, which<BR>
> > are projected to raise the debt by trillions of dollars more.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > “There’s no way he can do the spending he does and cut taxes for most<BR>
> > people,” Armey said. “People know that spending inevitably means more<BR>
> > taxes.”<BR>
> ><BR>
> > The White House stuck to its own low-taxes message Wednesday, as Obama<BR>
> > repeated his “clear promise that families that earn less than $250,000<BR>
> > will not see their taxes increase by a single dime.” Asked whether Obama<BR>
> > is confident that he can stick to that pledge throughout his<BR>
> > administration, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters: “He is. He<BR>
> > is. He is.”<BR>
> ><BR>
> > ------------------------------------------------------<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Seeya at the Wingding, Moscow.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Tom Hansen<BR>
> > Moscow, Idaho<BR>
> ><BR>
> > Join us at The First Annual Intolerista Wingding, April 17th, featuring<BR>
> > Roy Zimmerman and Jeanne McHale. For details go to . . .<BR>
> ><BR>
> > <A HREF="http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding">http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding</A><BR>
> ><BR>
> > Seeya<BR>
> > there.<BR>
> ><BR>
> > ---------------------------------------------<BR>
> > This message was sent by First Step Internet.<BR>
> > <A HREF="http://www.fsr.com/">http://www.fsr.com/</A><BR>
> ><BR>
> ><BR>
> ><BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
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