Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), champion of a federal tax holiday, faced skeptical questions today about his idea to give the economy a boost. Gohmert wants to stop collecting taxes for two months — using the unspent $350 billion from the Wall Street bailout to pay for the plan. Although his idea has gained momentum on Capitol Hill with Republican lawmakers and former Speaker Newt Gingrich, conservative and libertarian bloggers who met with Gohmert at Heritage asked tough questions of the Texas congressman. (Listen to the briefing on BlogTalkRadio.) Most wanted …
In an article in the New York Sun, I praised Barack Obama’s new tax plan as a great step in the right direction. This is true, but it is also a case of one step forward after two steps backward. Earlier, there were indications that Obama might increase capital gains and dividend taxes to 28%, almost double the current level of 15%. Obama’s economic team announced that he would make the new top tax rate at 20% for capital gains, and as important, keep the tax rate for qualified dividends …
If last night’s Democratic debate proved anything, it’s that the era of liberal tax-and-spend promises is back with a vengeance. The most illuminating exchange was between ABC’s Charlie Gibson and Sen. Barack Obama on capital gains taxes. After Gibson laid out the facts — that each time rates have been cut in the past 20 years, revenues from the tax have gone up, while the one time the rate was raised, revenues went down — he confronted Obama with his promise to raise the capital gains rate to levels as …
