A tax hike is always easier to pass if regulators can make the case it’s one you’re not “obligated” to pay. Here are five increases the government may be considering:
- Gas: We all remember the dog days of $4 a gallon. It wasn’t a pleasant time. But it forced people (and companies) to consider other options like carpooling, public transportation and telecommuting. For that reason an increased gas tax could become a very real possibility, with the government claiming it’s a tax consumers can avoid if they minimize their gas usage.
- Online: With so many consumers doing their shopping online these days, the notion of adding an “online sales tax” has been proposed several times. It’s a dicey proposition, as there’s so much to regulate, and it could end up having a negative overall impact for online retailers, but it’s another “avoidable” tax a lot of taxpayers wouldn’t be subject to. The catch: As online shopping continues to gain popularity, the return from this type of tax would increase substantially.
- Energy: Energy taxes are being sold to the public under the guise that “we’re all in this together.” In other words, we can all help make things better by contributing just a little bit more. Meanwhile, individual taxpayers and businesses can minimize the blow by taking measures to cut down on electricity and other energy sources.
- Alcohol and tobacco: “Sin taxes” are the easiest for politicians to sell because they’re levied against people who choose to spend money on vices. Proponents of such taxes actually help make the argument by telling those affected by them, “If you don’t like it, quit.”
- Corporate: The unemployment rate is brimming, and that means a ton of unemployment insurance claims, the majority of which are funded by business taxes. In order to keep replenishing that pot, the government could end up imposing additional “unemployment” taxes on businesses. It’s a bait-and-switch tactic that ultimately penalizes consumers, who wind up paying for the increases via lower wages and other cuts.
So what do you think? Would you consider any of these cuts a worthwhile alternative to increasing taxes on everyone? Are there any areas we missed here? We’d love to read what you think in the comments section below.
Source: “8 Sneaky Ways to Raise Taxes,” by Rick Newman, U.S. News and World Report, 2/2/10
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Tags: business, economy, increases, taxes, wealthy
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Oh I’m not worried, Obama said that “No one who makes less than $250,000 will see one dime in new taxes.” I’m sure he wouldn’t lie, would he?
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:15 pm
There are plenty of new taxes that are not even called taxes. The Obama administration just announced (new, additional) price controls on private health insurance in defiance of the Law of Supply and Demand and the principle of adverse selection among those insured when underwriting risk. This just further socializes the costs of health care, imposing a new financial burden on younger or healthier people to benefit older or sicker people. Beyond the inequities of newly distorted pricing for insurance, there’s a perverse irony in the fact that taxing one class (risk of being healthy) and subsidizing another (risk of being unhealthy) will generally result in less of the former and more of the latter over time.
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Does this mean that Nancy Botox will fly commercial to and from California? That will be the day.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Gary,
You are a fool. Obama said no “COUPLES” with FAMILY INCOME would pay more INCOME taxes if they made less than 250,000. Also they would get a TAX CUT if they made less than 200 grand.
He KEPT that promise.
Be man enough to state the facts or shut your pie-hole you hypocrite.
kd meares
missouri
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Thanks Gary. I feel better.
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
There are two things I have never asked the price of prior to purchase. Beer and cigarettes. I consider these luxury items and if people want them they are going to pay the asking price. If an increase in the price of these puts a strain on your budget, you should quit. As to the other four, I offer the following:
Rural America cannot handle the gas tax. It is a logistical nightmare, if not impossibility to coordinate Carpooling in Rural America. Maybe a gas tax witihin a certain logistical radius around a metropolitan area…
Online should be taxed. The internet is worse than Wal Mart to a rural area. At least 1% as long as it offsets a decrease in something else…
Taxing energy too teach conservation is not a bad idea as long as you are given a nice refund or tax credit if you ccnvert to an energy efficient or “green” technology.
Adding another tax to Corporate America would be just another stupid idea. It is very simple. Corporations just pass their new tax costs to the public anyway. It’s not some new idea, it is proven and can be quantified that this occurs.
Tax cigarettes and beer, I promise you people won’t quit because it costs too much!
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:20 pm
KD–As of January 2010, my federal witholding INCREASED by 10%. Our family income is considerably less than $250k, and my personal income is slightly less than HALF of $250k. Bottom line, my monthly take home pay decreased by about $45, which comes to 450 dimes. Who claimed that that would not happen, and who is responsible for it happening? Had I voted for Obama, I would be the fool. As a self-employed small business owner, I could never vote for or support someone who has my earnings in the crosshairs to support thier political agenda(s), which mainly support those not willing to work as hard as I do.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Governments love to impose taxes in the form of “fees” and other costs that aren’t specifically called taxes, as this obviates the need for a vote or referendum and all that annoying paperwork and consent of committees, the pubic and all that. A few cases in point: parking meters and imposing paid parking where is used to be free. Am seeing more and more of this in LA, Also in Los Angeles, we’re fortunate to have the only Metro system I know of in a major cosmopolitan city in the modern world that doesn’t quite make it to the main airport, LAX. Why? The parking lobby was too powerful, they don’t want their slice of the pie reduced so the Metro gets within a mile of LAX. I guess you can cab it or walk the rest of the way. Weak, spineless politicians receive pay-offs and let the parking lobby get away with it, private enterprise benefits here where the public good should take priority. In Arizona, I am delighted to see that the traffic photo enforcement system implemented will go away this year because it failed to achieve the revenues state officials projected. Why? It’s unenforceable and people have gotten wise to the fact that they can just toss the notices in the trash and nothing will happen. State officials were so sure of this new revenue source that they included it in the state budget. I would like to run on a platform one day of simply abolishing laws. So many exist without good reason, it’s a rat’s nest of idiocy compounded by more idiocy, politicians continue to line their own pockets and take public assets and enter them into the private domain. Too many of us are too busy to deal with this effectively and so it continues. Government gets larger, they spend wantonly and without regard to budget or economies of scale because they’re too loosely regulated, and then their answer is to raise taxes when the truth is there is plenty of money to go round, it’s just misused, misspent, misappropriated and downright wasted. No, the answer is to cut the dead weight from government and lower taxes. This is not a republican or democratic position, but a practical one.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
kd, maybe you could use some of the ‘significant savings’ you’ve seen on some anger management sessions. Obama’s thresholds for “no new taxes” and for getting “tax cuts” changed so many times you could find support for a whole lot of conflicting numbers. It’s all semantics anyway. Nobody’s costs are going down. He never intended them to. He’s lucky to have supporters like you who are willing to suspend their belief in reality to get aboard the social justice train.
You’ll wake up though. It appears that many already have. We’ll wait for you ‘slow learners’.
xo, Gary
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Rodger & Gary:
It is absolutely unbelievable to me, speaking of facts, how you people continue to spout the same old arguments we have heard for the last 30 years!!! Why haven’t health insurance premiums remained at or below the inflation rate? It is because supply and demand, for REAL competition, must have anti-Trust legislation enforced (insurance companies exempted-now THAT is a tax we have been footing for the last 30 years!!!) Why has the middle class continued to shrink the past 10 years, the “forgotten” decade? And why do people like you go insane about taxes or socialism when, in the past 30 years, federal income taxes have NEVER been lower, and, in fact, President Obama, did in fact, lower the federal income taxes paid by those making less than $200,000.00 by making the lower tax brackets wider. And finally, why did our economy DUMP when we allowed LESS corporate regulation (Glass-Steagall, Derivatives regulations, et c.) and we taxed the upper 2% at it’s lowest since the Fed tax was implemented? In my opinion, President Obama is just another President Bush, they both SUCK. Increase the damn taxes on the wealthy already because they ARE NOT starting businesses here, they are starting them where the labor is CHEAP, oversees. President Bush added NO jobs over the course of his terms!! We MUST pay this deficit down and we MUST get public finance reform! All you righties just believe whatever corporate america tells you, stop looking at the political party and then making assumptions and start looking at what is actually going on!! All Dems are NOT socialists but some are actually corporatists and all Repubs are NOT pro-small business or even fiscally responsible, so stop the pre-judging and let’s start being real!! BTW, are you guys still for the Unitary Executive that Rove and Cheney pushed for so much? Just wondering now that a Dem (in name only) is in the White House.
Nuff said.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Instead of raising any taxes why not perform the more painful but more needed task of cutting the Federal budget. Every time taxes are raised the politicians spend more. Their complete lack of self control is why social security is in trouble…why believe they will learn their lesson. Unless and until the government stops micromanaging business and quits wealth transfer schemes it won’t matter how many taxes are raised because it will never be enough.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:51 am
Gary, taxes actually did go down for 95% of the American tax-paying public under Obama.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:03 am
Before implementing tax increases–we need to cut some of the wasteful spending–like emergency room visits by those who refuse to pay for their insurance. Additionally, too many instances of ER visits for headache type issues. We need to clamp down on “illegal” benefits. I can support tax increases if waste is greatly reduced and the ones mentioned seem logical. Additionally, if we reduce mail service days there would be great savings and Social Security taxes are not deducted from your salary when you reach a certain level of income–leave those taxes in place throughout the entire year. We have a SS system that is in crisis.
Once again–I do not support any increases without first reviewing waste within the system and acting on thse first.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:21 am
gang:
first off- an apology for getting personal calling gary a fool. i never flame on purpose, although i exercise sarcasm a little too liberally. i am annoyed how well meaning people are taken in so easily by the fox-jazeera distortion. take a statement out of context, or build a straw man (“people” hate the idea of government “run” health care but leave my medicare alone).
gary’s statement was provocative and totally false. i’m sure gary wouldn’t lying about beating his wife, would he? it was the statement that was foolish, in search of fools that would accept it as doubt.
some facts have developed, courtesy of don. yet kevin states that his WITHHOLDING increased 10%. So WHAT? Your TAXES went DOWN (compared to the last Bush rates). Surely readers here don’t need lessons in filling out W-4 forms. YOU control the amount of withholding, at least up to the threshold of obvious fraud. This is a perfect example of mis-representation.
the article itself is rather pointless. it could have been written 80 years ago.
how come when limbaugh and company talk about tax cuts they claim the poor pay no taxes and therefore don’t deserve tax cuts? this article proves that everything is a tax. it’s ok to call everything a tax when you want to scare people. we must cut fat cat taxes on capital gains, unearned income, and inheritances of untaxed money because we are at war.
a year ago, my company was agonizing over the cratered economy, my personal portfolio was down 40%, our staff was on shared shifts, reduced schedules, and pay freezes (and happy to have it). CONGRESS, with the support of the outgoing BUSH admin, and incoming OBAMA admin saved the economy.
Sorry if it doesn’t fit your narrative, FOX NAZIS, but i lived it, i saw it, and you can’t make it disappear. Please get on with some constructive criticism and quit the fearmongering and thinly veiled racism disguised as patriotism.
I wish Dick Cheney and Bob Dole a speedy recovery.
kd meares
missouri
no, everybody hasn’t recovered, it isn’t the Clinton years of surplus again, housing is still slow, it’s a grinding jobless recovery, but growing at 3%. we could have been 20% worse off without our leadership’s action.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:51 am
kd, Thanks for the hollow apology, and the attempt to put together a full sentence insult that didn’t quite work out. You need to spend more time with Don who seems to have his eyes open. Bush and Obama both suck because both are fiscally irresponsible. Bush because he didn’t have the backbone and votes to stand against the liberals, and Obama because he is trying to collapse the system. If there was any true interest in ‘fixing’ healthcare, tort reform could not be overlooked. And the US Government controls half of the nation’s medical spend now to give you an idea of how they’re doing. Has that held cost increases down? No. It has just forced seniors to have supplemental insurance. And like all of the other social welfare programs, it is poorly planned, underfunded (overspent actually) and poorly executed. In fact, that’s the one universal truth here; all of the government programs are poorly run, rife with fraud, corruption and waste, and broke. If you had a friend who offered to be your designated driver but got you into an accident every time they drove, would you keep giving them the keys? That’s what you’re doing. Snap out of it. This is about control pure and simple. Instead of thanking the government for ‘saving us’, maybe you need to review the video of the hearings on the Community Reinvestment Act. Watch Barney Franks, Maxine Waters and Chris Dodd defend the loan policies and financial integrity of Fannie Mae and remember who caused the problem they ‘saved us from’ in the first place. I am always disappointed when otherwise intelligent sounding people allow themselves to be manipulated by the scum who masquerade as our representatives. (and forget the party nonsense. I am not a member of either)
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Jay, Your source please. Taxes haven’t gone down anywhere. The percentage of people who pay no taxes has gone up. So now more voters with no ‘skin in the game’ get to decide how your and my money is spent. That’s true, and dangerous. The Bush tax cuts expire this year, so taxes for everyone go up by default. Does history teach us nothing? The current path is unsustainable. We are heading for a complete reorganization of society. Can you think of anyone who really wanted that in the first place? It’s OK to have your own opinion. It’s just not OK to have your own facts.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:31 pm
kd–I run a precision measurement business–I’m pretty good with numbers. The ONLY increase in my taxes was in federal witholding, as in dollars taken out–NOT via an increase in dependents claimed. State taxes actually decreased ever so slightly and everything else was flat. You are right, I don’t need lessons in filling out my tax forms, although I pay a pretty penny for my cpa to do that paperwork.
As for who “saved’ The American economy, I give credit to the American business owners that had the fortitude to do what the gov’t will not do–cut spending and, yes, jobs if needed, in order to remain profitable. Our economy is surviving in spite of, not because of, Obama’s policies. Interesting that the only thing missing from Obama’s great recovery is jobs, with unemployment still hovering around 10%. Were it not for expanded gov’t. and the tax-sucking jobs created as a result, unemployment would be considerably higher. The IRS needs to be replaced with a flat tax or other such FAIR method instead of having those who pay the most receive the LEAST representation. We have become an entitlement-based society. The scale of who pays and who receives is totally out of balance. Keep your hands out of my pockets—go get your own, I did…
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:23 pm
kevin – frankly, i am not a student of the withholding tables. however, they do not represent your actual tax rate. they are designed to help prevent the average worker from having a big tax bill the following year. i hate to be captain obvious here, but again, it is a misdirection. i remember when poppy bush ordered the tables re-jiggered and it was enough for a pair of socks, which garnered some ridicule. i thought it was a cheap shot to complain about that.
you and i (as business owners) can ignore them and just make sure that your quarterly deposits plus withholding amount to last year’s tax bill, AND if you divide your tax by your AGI in 2009, it is LOWER than your 2008 tax divided by the same AGI. That my friend is a tax CUT. Withholding amounts are irrelevant. i know you are good with numbers, so what’s wrong with using the words and admitting it?
small business people certainly played their part, and were the victims of the wall street largesse. i think when the history of the Panic of 2009 is written, it will come down to 3 factors from the lost decade:
1) Medical costs – Now THIS is a hidden tax. Why is 1/6th of a person employed to look after MY medical costs? I don’t need hardly any attention, maybe 8 hours a year all told. This should build my share of hospitals, doctor services, professional staff, and medicine. Where’s the other 250 hours I’m paying for?
2) Wall Street – This includes the housing/mortgage scam. Some of which was enabled by the government policy, but most of which was enabled by lack of government policy. It is reported that 1/3rd of all the economic growth for the decade was paper growth which just fattened the fat cats. Nothing was built, no services rendered, just fake profits on nothing.
3) Frivolous War – Obama puts military costs IN THE BUDGET. Bush/Cheney DID NOT. There’s at least a trillion dollars that has done nothing but make us less safe and aggrandized the enemy. Add Homeland Security nonsense to the list, etc.. Speaking of hidden taxes, as this article purports to address, why not mention the total waste of GDP that goes into endless airport screenings, closing terminals because of a kiss, and all the hyperbolic reaction to perceived risk?
I hope this composition satisfies Gary’s standards. It’s tough to maintain continuity when real life interrupts frequently. I’m not sure why Jay needs to offer up sources. It isn’t hard to match up the tax tables from last year’s 1040. Or do you suppose more than 5% of people make over 250K?
kd meares
missouri
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:57 pm
M. Tyler you are so right on. Far too much waste in government mostly caused by those trying to get re-elected. Vote them all out (time for new blood) and put term limits on a ballot. The Foxes are never going to give up the Hen House no matter what party they represent unless we force them to be more responsible to what the people want and limit their time to spend our money. In fact, why not disband congress and do all voting electronically by the people. Think of how much money that would save! I know…..it’s just a dream of mine.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:46 pm
As for the sales tax on internet purchases…..we in California are so sick of the ever increasing sales tax. The politicians’ answer to all of our fiscal problems is to throw more money at the problem. So, how do we send a message to these spenders? We avoid the sales tax by making our purchases via the internet. When will the politicians wake up and realize that they are not representing the people, but rather are just supporting their own self interests?
February 28th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
A simple, but profound thought
“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.
What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them,
and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is the end of any nation.
“You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931