By Willian O'Keefe
President Obama's new stimulus bill would likely provide the 25 million un- or under-employed Americans little if any relief in exchange for its $447 billion price tag. Like its $830 billion predecessor in 2009, this plan fails to address one of the fundamental factors hindering investment and hiring: uncertainty.
America's consumers, investors and businesses face great uncertainly over tax policy, federal regulations and our economic outlook. Without plans to raze these roadblocks to capital formation, business expansion and consumer confidence, most analysts—including those at the White House's budget office—expect national unemployment to remain over 8% through 2013.
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According to the Tax Foundation, the Internal Revenue Code plus all IRS regulations grew from 5.7 million words in 1986 to 9.1 million words in 2005. And both the Code and regulations have expanded significantly since. Going back further, in 1955 the Code and all IRS regulations totaled just 718,000 words.
This boondoggle is both discriminatory and distorting. An original analysis of data from 12 major companies' SEC Annual Filings from 2006 to 2010 found effective tax rates ranging from 50% to negative 11%.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s office took a swipe at a grass-roots citizens’ group over a report claiming people are leaving Maryland for Virginia, beginning a fight in cyberspace between the governor, the citizens’ group and an established...
Regarding Sarah Kliff’s Jan. 11 Wonkblog excerpt, “An excise tax the U.S. could swallow”:
A...
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In yesterday's House hearing, the Treasury Inspector-General was asked if he could list which organizations had been targeted by the IRS for delayed approval or harassing questions. He replied that he could not make that...
Recently, Governor Cuomo and the Oneida Indian tribe announced a settlement that would end an ongoing dispute over cigarette taxes between New York and the tribe. Under the terms of the settlement, the Oneida will be...