Big Dogs House

Watch For The Insidious Tax Increases

Jun 20, 2009 Political

The Democrats are working on a health care plan for Obama who wants it done this year. They want this done very quickly because the longer they mess with it the longer the American public has to see what it really involves. Once people start kicking the tires and looking under the hood they will not like what they see.

Republicans have been shut out of the process and Democrats have reported they were told NOT to work with Republicans on this issue.

This is all on the Democrats and what they will do is triple even what Obama wanted to spend and they will raise taxes on everyone. The Democrats are not willing to say this and they are trying to hide it until they can push this through because they know higher taxes are not popular. Like Carlie Rangel said, they want to get the particulars out but not the taxes so people become happy with the plan. Then they will mention the taxes. They don’t want any negative press on it.

The Democrats are looking at a number of ways to tax YOU. They will tax everyone. Here are some things under consideration (this is not all inclusive):

The tax options include:

- Increasing the price of soda and other sugary drinks by 10 cents a can.

- Applying a potential 2 percent income tax increase to single taxpayers earning more than $200,000 a year and households earning more than $250,000.

- A new employer payroll tax could target 3 percent of employers’ health care expenditures.

- Taxing employer-provided health insurance benefits above certain levels – a less likely option but one that still is in the running. My Way News

The second item is specific to people who make certain incomes and that would be about the upper 3%. There are not enough wage earners in this category to pay for the cost of health care.

The other three items involve everyone. If you consume cola or other sugary drinks, you would be affected. If you have employer provided health insurance you might have to pay taxes on 3% of it or on all of it. The government will require it to be reported as income and then tax you. You will pay taxes on your health care benefit in order to pay for someone else’s health care. Incidentally, this will cause many employers to drop health care for their employees and force employees into Obamacare, just like he wants.

Obama said he would not raise taxes on those making under certain levels (that number changed several times) but it looks like his Democrats are working on methods of taxing nearly everyone.

The article discusses the different taxing schemes and the dishonesty of the Democrats. Remember, Rangel said that they did not want to disclose the taxes because they would get negative attention. This article shows they are still intent on keeping quiet about the huge tax increases:

The draft, being released at a news conference of the chairmen of the three committees with jurisdiction – Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor – was not expected to mention the potentially unpopular tax options. [emphasis mine]

The Democrats are well on their way to outspending the last 8 years and they will do so in record time. In order to do that they need to obtain money so the question they will be asking is; “What’s in your wallet?”

Related:
Who Are The Big Spenders? American Thinker

Tags: Congress, health care, Obama, spending, tax increases, taxes

The Rangel Rope-A-Dope

Jun 14, 2009 Political

Charlie Rangel and his Democrat buddies are working on the Obama health care plan. The plan is supposed to provide health care coverage (we all have access) to those who have no health insurance. The actual number of people who have no health insurance is about a quarter of what politicians report because their numbers include people who have access but choose not to have it, are not entitled (illegals), and those who were without for a short period of time (like in between jobs and elected not to take the COBRA extension). The numbers also include those who are eligible for already available assistance but, for whatever reason, have not signed up.

The Democrats want to rush this trough like they did the bogus stimulus package so that people do not have time to react. They want to have this in place quickly before people find out what it costs and what it involves. Democrats will use sleight of hand and trickery to gain acceptance. They will display a grandiose health plan and talk about all the bells and whistles and how wonderful it will be but they will not talk about how it will be paid for. Sure, they will claim it saves money or that we can afford it by taxing the rich or other such nonsense but they will not discuss specifics. Charlie Rangel wants to make people feel real good about it all before he hammers them with the specifics. He must believe that once people are thrilled they will be less likely to oppose any method to pay for it. The only ones who will not oppose are the ones who won’t pay for it anyway.

In other words, they will not be discussing the $600 BILLION in tax increases required to pay for this monster. We cannot get that much money by taxing the rich so taxes will involve a lot of other folks. First they will consider taxing the health benefits that employers provide. Then they will continue to add taxes until they have forced everyone into government care or until the plan has grown into a monster like Medicare which is more expensive than private run insurance (the 2-3% operating costs are lies) and is less efficient. Rangel said he wants to butter people up before hitting them with the tax bill:

Rangel said that while House Democrats will likely release more details about health policy changes in their legislation next week, the package of offsetting tax increases and spending cuts likely will come later. Democrats, he said, want to put forth the more-positive aspects of an overhaul first. Rangel also wants to let lawmakers have time to study and weigh in on proposed offsets.

“We have a problem in not wanting to attract enough negative attention to the bill in terms of the pay-fors,” he said. “Let them get a good feel for the coverage.” Bloomberg

They have a problem in not wanting to attract enough negative attention to the bill in terms of the pay-fors. That means he does not want to put emphasis on how it will be paid for because it will garner negative attention, as it should. Rangel and his buddies, as indicated above, will roll out the plan without specifics regarding costs and then, later, hit us with the particulars on the cost.

They can’t let a crisis go to waste by telling us the truth because we might get negative.

The government does not belong in health care. It cannot run anything efficiently and it cannot run anything effectively. Everything government touches becomes bloated and suffers cost overruns.

Obama wants this rushed through. He and the Democrats are rushing head first into this with little regard to the consequences. They are going for this without long and proper debates reagrding the pros and cons of any government devised system. They are forcing their will on us.

Will it take a revolution before these people understand that they work for us? Will it take a revolution before they understand that we want smaller, limited government?

Anyone who does not pay taxes and ends up getting free health care (paid for by the tax payers) should have to work every weekend cleaning streets, picking up trash, cutting grass and cleaning graffiti.

When I was a kid my dad would make me get a certain kind of haircut. He said if he was paying for it he got to decide on the style. Those of us paying for other’s health care should have a say in just what care they get.

But remember, you will hear a lot about how wonderful it will be but you won’t hear much about cost. Rangel and the rest of the tax cheats will screw us with that later on.

Related:
Hospitals not happy with part of the plan

Tags: cost, health care, rangel, tax increases, trickery

Now Obama Wants Fiscal Restraint

Feb 23, 2009 Political

After signing the largest spending bill in the history of this country accounting for over one trillion dollars that we do not have, Barack Obama said that he intended to slash the deficit by 2/3 using a pay as you go plan. According to The Won, he intends to require a funding source for any spending. This is the same promise the Democrats made prior to the 2006 mid term elections and one they reinforced in December after they had won the majority. They were criticizing George Bush for his spending and promised not to spend money unless there was a funding source. They broke that as soon as they were sworn in and they certainly broke it with the spending bill.

It is convenient that The Won has decided to be fiscally responsible after he spent over a trillion dollars. That is a trillion that did not have a funding source. OK, the source is our grandchildren.

Obama stated that his plan means if they are to spend money then they will need to find something to cut. They will cut NOTHING significant because government never cuts. Obama is saying that he will fix the deficit he inherited. Here is a newsflash, all presidents in the past have inherited a deficit. Clinton had no surplus, that is an urban legend. The reality is the government still had a deficit when he left office.

Now, the amount was not nearly what it is now but spending a trillion more will not make it better.

Here is what is going to happen. Obama will say that he has cut everything that is possible but that they still need to raise revenue. Then he will levy a huge tax increase on taxpayers. He will tax the rich but that will depend on what definition of rich he decides to use. He changed it downward about 5 times.

He will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire which will cause a tax increase for the middle class. The middle class will be hit hard because they were the biggest recipients of Bush’s tax cuts (despite what the left says about tax cuts for the rich). I am willing to bet the marginal tax rate will be above 50% for the wealthier taxpayers. During Carter that 50% was levied on people making about $47,000 a year. The top rate was near 80% and I imagine that Obama will try to push it that high in the next few years.

He will be like Clinton and discuss how hard he tried and mention a number of times that he inherited the mess and that it is worse than he thought and all the other code words used as excuses for raising taxes. Obama will then go into the only leadership style he knows and that is crisis mode. He will tell us that it is a crisis and that we need to act now. He will then raise taxes.

Inflation will go up, unemployment will go up and revenue to the treasury will go down. History tells us this is what happens.

Don’t be fooled by the pay as you go scam. This is the precursor to raising taxes. They have to be able to convince people they did all they could and raising taxes is the last resort.

Source:
My Way News

Tags: Democrats, fiscal responsibility, lies, Obama, tax increases

Want To Buy The Brooklyn Bridge?

Jan 9, 2009 Political

The question posed in the title is a famous question (in various forms) posed by scam artists to tourists in the last century. I can’t imagine that someone would be stupid enough to actually bite on such a line but, as the saying goes, a sucker is born every minute.

Now Mayor Bloomberg of New York has prepared his list of items he wants Americans to buy for the people of his city. Bloomberg, the billionaire narcissist who went against the will of the people in order to seek a third term, is not alone as many city and state officials line up at the Congressional ATM.

Bloomberg is just the first to put together a list of specific items he wants to use the money for. He wants taxpayers from all over the country to pay for hospitals, schools, high speed internet access for the schools, and a black heritage cultural center. None of these things will benefit taxpayers from the other 49 states or the thousands of cities across the nation but he wants all of us to pay for them. Bloomberg is the modern day scam artist who wants you to pay for his infrastructure without the benefit of ownership.

Of course, no plea for money would be complete without the obligatory “it’s for the children” nonsense.

“We have to make the kind of investments for our future that will give our children a future,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg has tailored his requests to coincide with Obamas plan to create new jobs by rebuilding infrastructure. The story goes that Americans want the infrastructure upgraded and that they are willing to pay up to a 1% tax increase to get it done. Of course, 1% is no where near what the actual increases will be.

It is not the job of the federal government to spend taxpayer money on state projects unless the projects have some federal significance. The highway system is a federal system and the feds collect taxes to maintain the federal roadways. State roads are maintained by the state.

The schools and hospitals in New York are infrastructure items that will benefit the people of New York. There is no reason to spend federal tax dollars on them and the same holds true for all the other states whose officials are standing in line with their hands out.

Out of control spending is the fuel that supplied the fire of the economic problems we face today. We cannot fix the problem of spending beyond our means by spending more money. Even if we could, each state is responsible for its infrastructure projects.

I have long railed against pork projects that come from DC. I am appalled when I see lawmakers attach projects for their states to spending bills. Taxpayers from most other states have little use for the projects and will likely never, ever, use them or benefit from them.

The massive bailout that already passed and the even larger one looming on the horizon are nothing more than huge transfers of wealth. It is what Obama described as spreading the wealth and it will not work. From what I see, the entire mess has been nothing more than a huge pork project from the start.

And even if someone could somehow justify the spending on “the children” they would be at a loss to explain why taxpayer money should be spent on a black cultural center. This is abuse of power, abuse of taxpayer money and it is a fine example of how we got in this mess int he first place.

The politicians in DC and around the country do not, for the most part, have any concept of fiscal responsibility. Democrats, in particular, are poor managers of money. Most of the cities and states in dire financial trouble are run by Democrats and they have huge populations of people receiving social services (read taxpayer money).

The people who voted for Obama voted for change and the way he wants to spend money it is likely that is all they will have left.

Over regulation, poor regulation, greed, and government irresponsibility with our money is how we got in this mess and one thing is certain, more of that will damn sure not get us out of it.

If you believe that it will then I am selling a bridge you might be interested in.

Tags: brooklyn bridge, infrastructure, michael bloomberg, scam artist, stimulus package, tax increases

Maryland Governor To Furlough Employees

Dec 5, 2008 Political

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has proposed a plan that would require nearly 70,000 state employees to take up to 5 days off without pay in order to help with budget problems. The furloughs would be graduated with those in the lower salary ranges receiving 2 unpaid days and those in the upper ranges receiving 5. The magnanimous governor will also take 5 days. Those providing emergency and essential services will not be affected.

Last year this governor called a special session to increase taxes in order to cover a budget shortfall. He had already squandered the excess money left by his predecessor and needed more to feed the insatiable appetite the state has for spending. His Democratic super majority passed the largest tax increases in history despite warnings that it was not wise to raise taxes in a tough economy. But Democrats know better.

The result was that revenue (what they call the tax money they confiscate from us) went down. People stopped spending money on unnecessary things and cut way back on the basics. They also took advantage of nearby states with either lower or no taxes. Delaware and Virgina received more business from Marylanders who wanted to pay fewer taxes.

Now they have an even worse problem and the short term fix is to furlough state employees. I imagine that the near future will call for more tax increases which will only make the problem worse. Democrats never learn so they will try to raise fees and taxes on all kinds of things which will result in even further belt tightening. Maryland is a wealthy state but the legislature refuses to cut spending or eliminate unnecessary services and to top it off they always legislate new requirements without a funding source. They require some new program but they have no way to pay for it.

The state’s union employees are not happy and are trying to block the furloughs. The union always backs the Democrat running for governor (and for many of the legislative seats) and it strong arms its members to support the candidates as well. The union backed O’Malley and now their members are getting what they so richly deserve. They backed all the Democrats who tax and spend and now they are suffering the blowback from their choices.

I don’t feel one bit sorry for them and any of their members who voted for Martin O’Malley. He told everyone he was going to raise taxes and now that he has been an ineffective leader and has led us into financial hard times they will have to suffer.

To the state’s union employees I can only say, you backed him and you voted for him. You said he was the best to lead us so you need to quit your whining and do what your leader has decided is best. Besides, you work for the taxpayer who pays your salary and if times are tough for us they need to be tough for you as well.

The only good to come from this is that if it lasts long enough O’Malley might be a one term wonder though I would not hold my breath. The people of Maryland have short memories and they always vote for Democrats who promise them something for nothing (nothing meaning paid for with other people’s money).

There is no doubt the union will back him when he runs for reelection.

Yep, people get the government they deserve.

Source:
Baltimore Sun

Tags: Democrats, furloughs, governor, martin o'malley, Maryland, tax increases, union