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Posts Tagged ‘taxes’
May 29th, 2024 at 11:26 am
Quote of the Day: Taxpayer Privacy and IRS Abuse
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At CFIF, the issue of improving taxpayer privacy and protection against persistent abuse by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) remains among our most important missions.  Among the abuses that we’ve chronicled is the case of convicted criminal Charles Littlejohn, who rejoined the IRS in 2017 with the specific purpose of illegally breaching and leaking the private tax returns of Donald Trump and other Americans to radical left-wing organizations like ProPublica.

In The Wall Street Journal this week, one of those victims speaks out on his own experience and the need for greater taxpayer protection against this recurring problem that should terrify all Americans of every political persuasion.  Ira Stoll, whose tax information was passed to ProPublica, even helpfully details how federal law allows victimized taxpayers to sue the government for at least $1,000 and attorneys’ fees.  His broader point, however, is that crimes like those perpetrated against him could be avoided if the IRS simply collected and retained less confidential information, much of which it doesn’t even need for legitimate operational purposes:

 

The problem transcends the Littlejohn leak.  A 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office documented 462 unauthorized accesses or disclosures of tax information between 2012 and 2021, ‘of which 24 resulted in guilty outcomes’ after referrals to the Justice Department.  Much of this could be solved if the government simply collected and stored less confidential data.”

 

We agree wholeheartedly, and applaud Mr. Stoll for speaking out even though ProPublica retains his data and could vindictively release it at any time.

March 8th, 2024 at 12:51 pm
Image of the Day: Top 1% Paid MORE Following Tax Cuts
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Among his parade of other outright untruths in his borderline unhinged State of the Union address, last night Joe Biden repeated his economically illiterate claim that “trickle down” tax cuts benefit wealthier Americans at the expense of federal revenues.  Our friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity once again provide an invaluable illustration of the falsity of that claim:

 

 

March 14th, 2023 at 9:21 am
Image of the Day: Paying Their “Fair Share?”
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We recently highlighted the preposterousness of Joe Biden’s ceaseless talking point that wealthier Americans don’t pay their “fair share” of taxes, as well as the insanity of resting his tax and budgetary policy on that false claim.  In reality, wealthier Americans’ share of income taxes paid dwarfs their share of income earned, and the Tax Foundation offers a helpful comparison graph illustrating our point perfectly:

Paying Their

Paying Their “Fair Share?”

August 12th, 2022 at 11:54 am
Image of the Day: IRS Collected Record Taxes Through July
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Our latest Liberty Update highlights the danger of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that’s about to enjoy a doubling of funding and personnel via the abominable Manchin-Schumer “compromise” tax-and-spend-and-regulate bill.  Apologists for the bill rationalize that a turbocharged IRS is necessary to collect more taxes from the American people (and we highlight in our piece how Americans earning under $200,000, not the “rich,” will be the primary targets).  The U.S. Treasury Department, however, just reported that the federal government just collected a record amount of taxes so far this fiscal year.  The obvious problem isn’t insufficient funding of the federal government, but rather excessive spending:

 

June 18th, 2021 at 4:38 pm
ProPublica/IRS Leak: There’s No Underlying “There” There
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In our Liberty Update this week, we highlight the latest illegal leak of thousands of supposedly confidential Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxpayer returns spanning over 15 years, confirming that the partisan and power-hungry IRS simply cannot be trusted to safeguard our sensitive records, let alone to begin collecting sensitive private information from nonprofit organizations on donors who contribute to them in violation of the First Amendment.

Getting to the substance of the ProPublica/IRS leaked documents themselves, former Senator Phil Gramm and U.S. Policy Metrics partner Mike Solon explain in The Wall Street Journal how there’s nothing scandalous in the least in what they reveal:

ProPublica’s ‘blockbuster’ story showing that the wealthy ‘pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year, looks at first like a stunning revelation.  But the whole tempest plops into a teapot once you ask yourself:  How much of the total growth in the value of my home, retirement funds and business did I pay federal income taxes on last year?  The answer is none.  Nobody pays federal wealth taxes in America, but ProPublica and its Democratic allies are using stolen tax returns to try to change that.”

As they correctly conclude, suddenly imposing a nonsensical “wealth tax” would not only be unfair, but destructive:

Proponents of a federal property tax on wealth offer guarantees and protections that they will only tax the superrich like Mr. Buffett, promising not to touch your retirement plan, home, farm or business.  But the federal income tax started out only taxing the superrich like John D. Rockefeller.  The same politicians who promise to protect you from the federal wealth tax voted to impose income taxes on ‘wealthy’ Social Security retirees with an annual incomes above $25,000.  And these are the same politicians who are proposing to tax your businesses and farms at 43.4% when you die, before they take another 40% in death taxes.  In taxing wealth we eat the nation’s seed corn.  That may be worth it to politicians who want power, but for most Americans a wealth tax, whether they have wealth or not, would mean fewer jobs, lower wages and less opportunity for human flourishing.”

Well said.

 

 

 

April 19th, 2021 at 10:52 am
Image of the Day: Biden Wants U.S. to Suffer World’s Highest Corporate Tax Rate
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In our latest Liberty Update, we highlight how even some elements of the Biden Administration’s wasteful spending blowout that actually do constitute “infrastructure” are nevertheless terrible ideas — his broadband plan chief among them.  Along the way, we note in passing how part of Biden’s plan includes returning the U.S. to the inglorious status of imposing the developed world’s highest and least-competitive corporate tax, which the Tax Foundation illustrates nicely:

 

Biden Plan Imposes World's Highest Tax Rate Upon U.S.

Biden Plan Imposes World’s Highest Tax Rate Upon U.S.

 

February 16th, 2021 at 1:37 pm
Image of the Day: Don’t Believe the “Blue State Tax Bailout” Advocates
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From our friend Dan Clifton, a nifty visual rebuke to leftists and Biden Administration officials pleading impoverishment and demanding a federal bailout of “blue” states.  Incoming tax revenues are actually up at the state and local level, and high-tax blue states would be better off engaging in tax reform and reduction for their own citizens instead of asking taxpayers in other states to bail them out:

No Blue State Tax Bailout Needed

No Blue State Tax Bailout Needed

May 13th, 2019 at 12:20 pm
Image of the Day: Anyone Thinking We’re Undertaxed?
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From the mild-mannered yet oft-censored Dennis Prager, for anyone feeling undertaxed or who advocates even higher taxes:

Anyone Feeling Undertaxed?

Anyone Feeling Undertaxed?

 

 

 

 

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February 22nd, 2019 at 6:21 pm
Time to End the Federal Government’s Wasteful Electric Car Tax Subsidy Program
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Whatever one’s opinion of electric automobiles, all reasonable people can agree that the federal government shouldn’t be wasting billions of dollars to pick winners and losers in a functioning market.

That’s especially true when nearly 80% of the federal subsidies go to households earning over six figures, making it essentially a regressive tax in addition to wasteful spending and a market distortion.

But that’s precisely what the existing federal electric vehicle tax credit does.  In 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law a bill passed by the Nancy Pelosi/Chuck Schumer Congress to provide $7,500 tax credits for the purchase of electric cars.  Shortly thereafter, Barack Obama extended that credit to cover the first 200,000 electric autos sold by any and all car manufacturers in the United States.  By 2017, the total cost exceeded $2 billion.

And here’s the real kicker, as captured by Congressman Jason Smith (R – Missouri):

Currently, the electric vehicle tax credit rewards buyers of electric vehicles with up to $7,500 in taxpayer-funded subsidies.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of the credits have been rewarded to people who don’t need government assistance to purchase vehicles, as 80 percent of the subsidies are given to people making more than $100,000 per year.”

But believe it or not, some in Congress actually seek to expand this indefensible program.  Under their plan, all existing caps would be removed, which the Institute for Energy Research estimates would cost an astonishing $95 billion between 2020 and 2035, and costing every American household up to $70 per year over that 15-year stretch.

But Congressman Smith and Senator John Barrasso (R – Wyoming) offer different and better legislation.  Their Fairness for Every Driver Act would eliminate the tax credit scheme for high-cost electric cars and save billions of taxpayers dollars:

The legislation would help fund new infrastructure projects by requiring users of alternative fuel vehicles to contribute to improving the nation’s roads and bridges…  Eliminating the electric vehicle tax credit is estimated to save taxpayers $20 billion over the next ten years.”

“Gas, electric and alternative fuel vehicles all use the same roads and put the same amount of wear and tear on those roads,” Senator Barrasso notes, and “every driver should contribute to maintain America’s highways.”

He’s right, and it’s time to put an end to this wasteful, market-distorting subsidy to wealthy car buyers.

January 18th, 2019 at 6:52 pm
Image of the Day: Higher Top Income Tax Rates Don’t Mean Increased Revenues
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In our Liberty Update this week, we highlight how history refutes the idea that returning to top income tax rates of 70% or higher, offered by new faces on the political left like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will somehow pay for all of the new entitlement spending they advocate.  Wealthier taxpayers actually carried a smaller share of the nation’s income tax payments before the top marginal rate was cut.  And, as illustrated nicely by Veronique de Rugy and the great folks at the Mercatus Center, it won’t unleash some wellspring of new tax revenues that leftists might hope in any event:

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Sorry, Leftists

 

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August 6th, 2018 at 3:41 pm
Image of the Day: Private Investment Skyrocketing Following November 2016 Election, Tax Cuts
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A helpful image of the day, comparing private investment during the final two years of the Obama Administration to the immediate aftermath of the November 2016 election, and even more the tax cuts enacted one year later:

Cut Taxes, Watch Investment Skyrocket
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:48 pm
Even Leftist Economist and Clinton Administration Adviser Admits Need to Index Capital Gains Taxes for Inflation
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The Trump Administration is contemplating a move to improve the way the federal government taxes capital gains by indexing rates for inflation, which amounts to a de facto tax cut.

It’s a no-brainer in terms of fairness and efficiency, as illustrated by the fact that even leftist economist and former Clinton Administration adviser Alan Blinder acknowledges the need for it today in The Wall Street Journal:

Why index gains?  Suppose you own a stock for many years, during which time overall prices have doubled because of inflation.  Over the holding period, the value of your stock has also doubled.  When you sell, the proceeds have precisely the same purchasing power as the original purchase.   There’s no gain, no loss.  But under current tax law, you owe taxes on the phantom ‘gain.’   Worse, if your stock went up by less than the cumulative inflation, you’ll still get taxed despite your loss.  This is unfair and dysfunctional.”

We’ll admit that it’s amusing to see a man who played the role of cheerleader for Barack Obama, who openly circumvented the Constitution and legislative process using his “pen and phone” to enact policy, demand that Trump refrain from making the change and instead allow Congress to act.  Nevertheless, we’ll gladly celebrate his support for the underlying need for change.

July 17th, 2018 at 11:28 am
CFIF Praises IRS Decision to Eliminate “Schedule B” Donor Information Filing Requirement
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ALEXANDRIA, VA – In welcome news, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced yesterday evening that the IRS will finally cease requiring certain nonprofit organizations to file “Schedule B” forms that list sensitive personal information like the names, addresses and other identifying information about private citizens who donate to those organizations.

In response, Center for Individual Freedom (“CFIF”) President Jeffrey Mazzella issued the following statement:

“As many Americans are all too aware, recent years have witnessed an increase in assaults against our First Amendment freedoms of speech and association.  In some cases, the IRS has collected and leaked private information on contributors to 501(c) nonprofit organizations contained in mandatory Schedule B forms that by law were to remain confidential.  And across America, hyper-partisan government state-level officials have demanded Schedule B forms and confidential donor information contained therein as part of their campaign to harass organizations and donors with whom they disagree politically.

“With this announcement, the IRS and Treasury are acting on the acknowledgment that Schedule B information is irrelevant to its handling of tax filings, and serves no substantive purpose. In this era of persecution of private citizens for their political beliefs, together with the IRS’s admission that it can’t guarantee the confidentiality of the information contained on the Schedule B, this decision is welcome news.

“We at CFIF applaud the Trump Administration Treasury Department and IRS for their leadership and doing the right thing by eliminating the Schedule B form filing requirement for many nonprofit 501(c) organizations.”

CFIF has spearheaded the broad conservative and libertarian coalition to eliminate the Schedule B from filing requirement, including, among other efforts, coordinating a letter to President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier this year signed by more than 60 influential organizations and individuals urging executive action to accomplish that end.

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May 4th, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Holman Jenkins on the Return to FCC Sanity Under Chairman Ajit Pai
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From the always-insightful Holman Jenkins of The Wall Street Journal in his latest “Business World” commentary:

Mr. Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, cares about good policy.  That hasn’t been the rule for years.  During the Obama era, tech and telecom policy were driven by White House interest in whipping up millennials and exploiting public hostility to cable providers.”

January 23rd, 2018 at 11:42 am
Myth Versus Fact: Paying “Fair Share” of Taxes
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Are wealthier Americans paying their “fair share” of taxes?

No.  Assuming that one measures “fair share” as a rough equivalency between income earned and income taxes paid, wealthy Americans pay far more than their fair share, as helpfully illustrated by the Tax Foundation:

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Fair Share?

"Fair Share?"

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January 17th, 2018 at 1:07 pm
Image of the Day: Myth Versus Fact Regarding Corporate Profits
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An instructive myth-versus-fact visual when it comes to public assumptions regarding corporate profits, courtesy of AEI:

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Myth Versus Fact:  Corporate Profits

Myth Versus Fact: Corporate Profits

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December 27th, 2017 at 5:37 pm
Ramirez Cartoon: National Disgrace
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Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

November 8th, 2017 at 4:44 pm
The Highest State Income Tax In The Nation
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Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

October 30th, 2017 at 11:52 am
Image of the Day: More Freedom, More Growth
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We’ve often highlighted the direct statistical relationship between economic freedom and prosperity, but typically the comparison is between countries.  Courtesy of Adam Millsap of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, however, we can visualize the same freedom/prosperity relationship among individual U.S. states.

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More Freedom, More Growth

More Freedom, More Growth

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To paraphrase Dr. John Lott, more freedom, more growth.

September 18th, 2017 at 12:19 pm
Great News: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Internet Sales Tax 66% to 21%
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For a long list of reasons that we’ve consistently highlighted, an internet sales tax allowing state authorities to tax people and businesses far beyond their borders is a destructive, indefensible idea.

On that front, there’s great news to report.  According to a fresh Rasmussen survey, this is one of those encouraging areas where fairness, policy wisdom and public opinion are in accord:

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A majority of Americans do at least some shopping online, and they are not fans of taxing those purchases.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 66% of American adults oppose a sales tax in their state on items purchased online, even if the store they buy from is not in their state.  Just 21% favor an internet sales tax, while 13% are not sure.”

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As much-needed comprehensive tax reform negotiations begin in Washington, some are advocating allowing an internet sales tax under the false banner “Marketplace Fairness Act” as part of the deal.  It’s encouraging to see that American voters aren’t buying it, no pun intended.