| MILLIONS OF MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS STUCK WITH HIGHER TAXES: The President frequently trumpets having provided tax cuts for every American – but don't tell that to "2.6 million taxpayers this filing season [who] will be caught in a tax net that was never intended for them." Millions more, mostly in the middle class, "will have to spend time or pay a tax professional to establish, through complex calculations, that they have no extra tax liability." The reason: the President has not acted to correct the so-called Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The AMT was created in 1969 to make sure that the richest Americans "would pay something, no matter how cleverly they arranged their financial affairs." But the AMT wasn't indexed to inflation and now a tax meant for the rich is beginning to hit middle America. But, while expressing nominal support, the Administration has not made the correction of the AMT a priority and has not included the cost of a correction in their budget projections. Meanwhile, its budget policies have substantially increased federal fees and state/local taxes which disproportionately hit the middle class.
BROOKS ADDS INSULT TO POVERTY: Conservative columnist David Brooks lashed out at the poor in his NYT column this morning, calling the idea that their lives would be improved if they had more money "descended from Marxist theory." The problem poor people have, Brooks argues, is not financial but behavioral. Those stuck in poverty simply lack the "emotional dexterity to climb out." What the poor need is "the inner resources to hold a job." (For more on conservative attacks on the poor read this Progress Report about the Heritage Foundation's report on poverty in America). |
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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