The IRS released data today on the distribution of income taxes. It shows that the highest-earning taxpayers shoulder a considerable burden of the federal income tax. According to the IRS, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid over 40 percent of all federal income taxes in 2007. That is a higher share than the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers combined! They paid just over 39 percent. The top 1 percent, those earning over $410,000, consists of 1.4 million taxpayers, while the bottom 95 percent contains 134 million. In 2000, before …
Last month, Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) suggested that maybe some form of “consumer cooperative” might be a politically acceptable alternative to the “competing public plan” idea. Since then, growing opposition to the “public plan” has fueled growing interest among Sen. Conrad’s colleagues in his “co-op” idea. However, as with the various other “compromise” ideas now floating around Congress, what really matters is the contents of the package– not the words on the label. If by health care “co-op,” Congress means allowing private associations to collectively buy health insurance for their …
A major talking for public option/single payer proponents is that the government does a better job of controlling health care costs than the private sector. So when Bill Kristol claimed otherwise on the Daily Show, Ezra Klein cited a study from public option/single payer advocate Jacob Hacker purporting to show that between 1997 and 2006, the per enrollee average annual growth for private health insurance was 7.3%, compared to 4.6% for Medicare. But as AEI’s Nick Schulz points out, a 2007 CBO report by Perter Orszag found that between 1975 …
From the Associated Press: PORTLAND, Ore. – How much are politicians straining to convince people that the government is stimulating the economy? In Oregon, where lawmakers are spending $176 million to supplement the federal stimulus, Democrats are taking credit for a remarkable feat: creating 3,236 new jobs in the program’s first three months. But those jobs lasted on average only 35 hours, or about one work week. After that, those workers were effectively back unemployed, according to an Associated Press analysis of state spending and hiring data. By the state’s …
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The Washington Post reports: The Democratic-controlled House is poised to give the Pentagon dozens of new ships, planes, helicopters and armored vehicles that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says the military does not need … The unwanted equipment in a military spending bill expected to come to a vote on the House floor Thursday or Friday has a price tag of at least $6.9 billion. $6.9 billion!?!?! How can the Obama administration not threaten to veto this bill? They just went to the mattresses to kill $1.75 billion in funding …
From E&E News: “House Science and Technology Committee yesterday approved legislation to establish a social and behavioral sciences research program at the Energy Department. The Science Committee also approved three bills to focus DOE research on energy efficiency and advanced energy technologies through programs in advanced vehicle technologies, wind energy and natural gas turbines. Rep. Brian Baird’s (D-Wash.) H.R. 3247, would authorize $10 million annually over six years to better understand why people make certain decisions about energy technologies in an effort to spur greater market adoption, he said.”
TOP 10 REASONS OBAMACARE IS WRONG FOR AMERICA Millions Will Lose Their Current Insurance. Period. End of Story: President Obama wants Americans to believe they can keep their insurance if they like, but research from the government, private research firms, and think tanks show this is not the case. Proposed economic incentives, plus a government-run health plan like the one proposed in the House bill, would cause 88.1 million people to see their current employer-sponsored health plan disappear. Your Health Care Coverage Will Probably Change Anyway: Even if you kept …
Is the House of Representatives trying to start a trade war in the midst of the worst economy in a generation? Sure seems that way. When the House passed the Energy and Water appropriations bill they included a protectionist provision that is not only misguided, but it is poorly applied. The law states: “None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to purchase passenger motor vehicles other than those manufactured by Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler.” Not only does this bill ban foreign competition, but it …
