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  • Entitlements, Taxes & Spending

    Replace the culture of entitlement with the culture of mutual responsibility.

    Congress and Big Labor Collaborate to Raise Taxes

    The AFL-CIO, in concert with some Congressional leaders, has proposed yet another tax hike to fund Washington’s ongoing explosion of spending. This latest collaboration between Big Labor and Big Government would be a 0.25 percent tax on all stock trades. Given the budding deficit pressures another tax hike proposal is … More

    Morning Bell: Doc Fix Digs Debt Deeper

    Yesterday at 3:00 p.m. ET, the Treasury Department updated its calculation of the U.S. National Debt to: $12,031,299,186,290.07. That $12 trillion record high comes just eight months after it hit $11 trillion and is only expected to rise faster considering the federal deficit for 2009 was over $1.4 trillion. And … More

    Non-Profits Shouldn’t Fight to Save Their Tax Subsidies

    Congress soon will seal the fate of federal death taxes. If Congress acts by doing nothing, then the federal tax rate on estates will fall to zero for all of 2010 before rising to 55 percent on January 1, 2011. That’s current law. On the other hand, it could pass … More

    Repealing the Death Tax Would Create 1.5 Million Jobs

    Congress will take up debate on the dreaded Death Tax once again in the coming weeks. It will do so because the Death Tax expires for one year starting January 1, 2010. But like the villain in a horror movie, it will rise from the dead with its full power … More

    New Study Shows Tax Cuts Most Effective Stimulus

    The failure of the stimulus package to create jobs and generate economic growth becomes more apparent each day – despite preposterous claims from the White House about all the jobs they say it has created and saved. Counter intuitively (at least in the sane world outside of Washington), the stimulus’ … More

    Representative Paul Ryan Gets It Right On Entitlement Reform

    It is all too common for members of Congress to recognize the problem with entitlement spending, talk about it, but then decide to kick the can down the road, leaving the toughest choices for future generations to make. But Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) has been a long-time advocate of paving … More

    Obama is Turning Social Security into Welfare

    Last week President Barack Obama announced he wants to give every Social Security recipient a $250 payment to make up for the fact that they will not get a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The Washington Post describes this as a one-time payment. They are wrong. George Will explains: “This is the … More

    Video: Balancing the Obama Budget With a Mandatory Gorilla

    The latest video from Political Math does well in explaining how mandatory spending, consisting mostly of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, will crowd out other spending from the federal budget. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70lkobYY0Hc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

    10 Democrats Stand Up for Fiscal Discipline–Will Leadership Follow?

    Ten democratic Senators recently issued an important call to action for Majority Leader Harry Reid to support efforts to get America’s long-term fiscal imbalance under control. One can only hope Senator Reid listens. As the letter notes, America is already $12 trillion in debt and, in the next decade, will … More

    New Resolution Would Better Enforce PAYGO: Will Democrats Allow a Vote?

    Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) has proposed a novel way to strengthen the House Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rule. PAYGO – which requires that all legislation expanding entitlements or cutting taxes be fully offset – has been exposed an ineffective gimmick. PAYGO exempts discretionary spending increases (which comprise 40 percent of the budget) … More