◼ Commentary: 'Taxmageddon' on the horizon for U.S. economy - Keith Chrostowski/Kansas City Star/Sacrmamento Bee
Warnings have been ringing for months now about the fiscal cliff the U.S. might tumble down on Jan. 1.
The calamity has also been tagged “Taxmageddon.”
But the harsh reality of what’s coming has been obscured by the presidential campaigns and by pre-emptive spinning over who’s going to be blamed.
The stalemate over what to do to avoid the fiscal cliff will continue until after the election, leaving President Obama and Congress just six weeks to devise solutions. That Obama may actually lose re-election and that Congress will be full of quacking lame ducks will just complicate matters....
For starters, income tax rates will go up on everybody. The current 10 percent tax bracket will rise to 15 percent; the 25 percent bracket to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket to 31 percent, the 33 percent bracket to 36 percent and the 35 percent bracket to 39.6 percent....
◼ Next year's scheduled increases on dividends and capital gains will retard investment and derail the recovery. - John Snow/Wall St. Journal
◼ New Pretenses For Revenues And Taxation - Bob Livingston
Congressional aides call it “Taxmaggedon.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls it “a massive fiscal cliff.” “It” is Jan. 1, the day taxes increase because the George W. Bush-era tax cuts expire and Obamacare taxes kick in.
According to The New York Times, it will mean a typical middle-class household making $50,000 will see a tax increase of about $1,750. If not addressed, according to The Times, inflation-adjusted, after-tax income will fall to 1998 levels.
◼ CBO: Taxmageddon would throw U.S. back into recession - Lori Montgomery/Washington Post
Tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect in January would suck $607 billion out of the economy next year, plunging the nation at least briefly back into recession, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said...
◼ Five Good Reasons to Prevent Taxmageddon - Mike Brownfield/Heritage.org
◼ Preventing Taxmageddon Is Congress’s Summer Job - J.D. Foster, Ph.D./Heritage.org
◼ George Stephanopoulos: Maybe Clinton Is Right About Extending Bush Tax Cuts
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/06/10/george-stephanopoulos-maybe-clinton-right-about-extending-bush-tax-cu#ixzz1xQxkBJYB - Joel Sheppard/Newsbusters
