Rep. Mike Johnson’s Largest Donor Was AIPAC. He’s Trying to Cut Free Tax Filing to Send Weapons to Israel

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, was the top donor to Rep. Mike Johnson during his most recent campaign, chipping in $25,000 between 2021 and 2022, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of his political contributors. Johnson’s first order of business as speaker of the House is to seek budget cuts in exchange for a $14 billion aid package for Israel.

White House Rips Trump’s Tax Cut Push: ‘Welfare For Big Corporations’

The White House is sharply criticizing plans crafted by top advisers for former President Donald Trump to deeply cut taxes for U.S. corporations, setting the stage for a traditional clash over economic policy during the 2024 presidential election.

Some Trump advisers, according to plans discussed in a Washington Post report on Monday, would like to further push the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations Republicans passed during Trump’s first term in office, potentially lowering the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%. Before the 2017 tax law’s passage, the rate stood at 35%, and President Joe Biden has proposed increasing it to 28%.

BC’s Massive Tax Giveaway to the Rich

As we wait to hear more about the tax cuts coming in B.C. Budget 2017, it is important to remember what has happened to our provincial tax system over the past 16 years.

Significant tax cuts to personal income taxes between 2001 and 2008, combined with increases to regressive taxes like MSP premiums have reshaped our tax system to favour the top one per cent of households at the expense of middle- and modest-income British Columbians.

Trudeau's nannies are trivial compared to scandal of corporate tax cuts

It was bound to happen. Political honeymoons inevitably hit rough patches.

For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that rough patch has come in the form of nannies on the federal payroll.

It is not a real scandal.

The federal government pays for all kinds of goods and services public officials might need. 

Jeb Bush Wants To Double Down On His Brother's Tax Cuts For The Rich

Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush outlined a tax plan on Wednesday that broadly resembles the tax platform presented in 2000 by his brother George W. Bush. The main difference: Jeb would give even bigger tax breaks to the the ultra-wealthy.

The current income tax rate on the wealthiest Americans is 39.6 percent, where it stood when Jeb's brother ran for president in 2000. At the time, George W. pushed to cut the top rate to 33 percent. Jeb would slash it to 28 percent --  almost one-third less than the current rate.

Raising RRSP withdrawal limit no solution to unaffordable housing

Far be it from me to school Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the laws of supply and demand. He is, after all, the one who has extensively studied neoliberal economics.

But the Conservatives' plan to increase what first-time homebuyers can pull from their RRSPs for a down payment -- from a maximum of $25K to $35K -- would do nothing to help ease the unaffordability of housing. That's because an effective policy response either has to control prices (for example by means of a speculation tax), cool demand (by more tightly regulating speculative buyers), or increase the supply (by building more affordable housing). But a policy such as the one proposed, aimed at simply encouraging more demand, would only result in the bidding upof prices. That's how supply and demand works.

After Cutting Taxes On The Rich, Kansas Will Raise Taxes On The Poor To Pay For It

Kansas lawmakers concluded the longest legislative session in state history Friday night by approving a slate of regressive tax hikes that will balance the state’s budget by targeting low-income workers and their families.

More than half of the $384 million in new revenue expected from the tax hike will come from cigarette taxes and sales taxes, two policies described as “regressive” because they fall more heavily on lower-income taxpayers than on the wealthy. Even though everyone who shops will pay the new 6.5 percent sales tax rate – up from 6.15 percent in previous years, and the 8th-highest of any state according to the Tax Foundation – the move is regressive because poorer shoppers already have to stretch each dollar farther than their more flush counterparts.

House Votes To Repeal Tax On Richest 0.2 Percent Of Americans

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives voted Thursday to give a tax break worth $269 billion to the richest few thousand estates in the country, and add that cost to the federal debt.

Called the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015, the bill would end the nearly 100-year-old federal estate tax. All but three Republicans voted in favor, while all but seven Democrats voted against. The legislation passed 239 to 179.

Tax-free savings accounts rob tax revenue from the future

From the viewpoint of your private financial welfare, saving for the future with a Tax Free Savings Account is almost always a good idea. In fact, the more you invest in a TFSA, the better.

But as personal tax advisors discuss the advantages of a proposed Conservative Party plan to increase or even double the amount Canadians are allowed to set aside, there's another consideration that has hardly been mentioned.

Who gets the biggest share of the benefits from Tory ‘family tax cut?’

OTTAWA - Just over half of the money the federal government is set to spend on child care will go to parents of teenagers or families who do not pay to put their kids in daycare, says a new report by the parliamentary budget officer.

Jean-Denis Frechette's latest report comes days after the Conservatives introduced legislation to enact its so-called "family tax cut" — a multibillion-dollar suite of measures that includes the controversial income-splitting plan.

BMO: Provinces Will Take Back Three-Quarters Of Tories' Tax Cuts

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is undoubtedly hoping that this year’s round of tax cuts and expanded family benefits will make Canadians feel richer as the country heads towards a fall election, but a new report from the Bank of Montreal suggests that may not pan out as hoped.

The Harper government’s tax cuts and expanded family benefits will put some $4.5 billion in Canadians’ pockets this year, but provincial austerity budgets will eat up about three-quarters of that, BMO economist Robert Kavcic estimates.

Tories’ TFSA promise would mainly benefit the wealthy: report

A plan to double the amount people can put in a tax-free savings account is facing new criticism that – like income splitting – it would benefit mainly the most well-off Canadians.

Rhys Kesselman, a professor at Simon Fraser University who holds the Canada Research Chair in public finance, is releasing a report on Tuesday that says most people – except very high earners, some older workers and retirees – are already unable to contribute the maximum, currently $5,500.

Crunched By His Big Tax Cuts, Scott Walker Will Skip $108 Million In Debt Payments

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) will skip making $108 million in debt payments in the face of a budget shortfall due to a slew of tax cuts he enacted.

The governor has to close a $283 million shortfall by the end of June. To do so, he will delay making the $100 million payment that is due in May on short-term debt, which doesn’t require legislative approval. The terms of the debt allow the state to defer a payment in any given year without defaulting. The move will increase its debt-service bills by $545,000 in the next budget year starting July 1 and by $18.7 million in the following one.

House Begins Passing Series of Deficit-Hiking Tax Cuts

WASHINGTON -- One of the few bipartisan goals that President Barack Obama and Republicans agree on is comprehensive reform of the tax system, but Democrats cried foul Friday as GOP leaders in the House began passing permanent tax cuts that opponents believe would make that reform harder.

The House voted 272 to 142 to make permanent a number of temporary provisions that are aimed at helping businesses earning up to $2 million. The main cut, which would add $77 billion to deficits over 10 years, allows businesses to immediately write off new equipment purchases up to $500,000. Temporary versions of the measure have been passed about a dozen times before, generally as economic stimulus measures.

To Make Up For His Massive Tax Cuts, Kansas Governor Proposes Cutting Schools

Rather than retreat from the massive tax cuts that are crippling his state’s finances, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) wants to cut classroom funding for Kansas schools by $127 millionand push pension fund payments off into the future.

The defining characteristic of the governor’s various proposals for fixing the nearly billion-dollar deficit is that they will create larger problems down the road. The proposed budget would replace the state’s current financing formula for schools with block grants that districts could use as they see fit. But that flexibility masks a significant cut in classroom resources for a state that has already been accused by judges of falling hundreds of millions of dollars short of the bare-minimum level of education funding required by the Kansas Constitution.

Harper's Family Tax Cut Credit Does Not Deliver True Income-Splitting

Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the federal campaign trail in 2011 pledged to allow spouses and common-law partners with children to split their incomes on their tax returns once the budget deficit was eliminated.

This would mean that when one partner is in a higher marginal tax bracket, that person would be able to split some income with the other person. When the money moves to the other return it is taxed at a lower rate and they save tax dollars.

New Commercial Promoting Tory Tax Cuts Paid For By Taxpayers

An ad touting the Conservative government's new tax cuts has hit the airwaves and it's being paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

The ad, set in suburbia, promotes four tax measures that have not yet been approved by Parliament and which are aimed at families with young children. The tax cuts are expected to cost $26.8 billion over six years and to benefit around four million families, according to the government's own figures.

Tax cuts for the affluent the real Harper government priority

What is a Fiscal Surplus For?

For the Harper Conservatives, a fiscal surplus is the means to provide tax cuts for the affluent while posing as good fiscal managers.

To achieve a balanced budget, the federal government has imposed deep cuts to federal program spending. The impact of these cuts on services to Canadians is real, and will be felt even more in the future.

We were told that these cuts were necessary to balance the books. But the real priority is tax cuts for the affluent.

Public pays for ads promoting Tory tax pitch

OTTAWA - The Harper government is spending more public funds advertising measures that have not yet been legislated by Parliament.

Radio ads have already hit the air promoting the recently announced income-splitting plan for families with children and changes to the Universal Child Care Benefit.

The radio spots end with a brief caveat: the tax changes are "subject to parliamentary approval."

The Conservative majority in the House of Commons passed a ways and means motion this week adopting the tax-cut plan, but legislative approval won't come until next year.

Is the Conservative tax plan principled or just vote-buying?

The Conservative government announced its latest tax policy volley last Thursday in Vaughan, Ont. Over the next five years, the value of the newly promised tax cuts is estimated at $26.8 billion, so this package puts a large dent into any future surpluses. Below, I first outline the details of the tax package, then talk about how much we should rely on the typical “who gets what” analysis. Finally, I go through the three elements of the package and see how well each stands up against tax principles.

The first element of the package adds $60 per month to the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) for each child aged 0 to 17, which takes the taxable UCCB to a total of $160 monthly for children aged 0 to five and $60 for those aged six to 17. The UCCB expansion was twinned with repeal of the non-refundable Child Tax Credit, which had an annual value of $338 per child—but only paid out to those who owed income taxes. The second major element is an update of the Child Care Expenses Deduction by $1,000—the first time the deduction’s value has moved since 1998. The final new element in the package is an attempt to meet the 2011 election campaign promise to allow income-splitting between parents of children. The Family Tax Cut announced on Thursday fell short of that 2011 promise by limiting the dollar value of the provision to $2,000. There was also a fourth element to Thursday’s tax package, but it was just a re-announcement of an expansion to the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit, which I analyzed a few weeks ago.