Federal Control: Income Redistribution

Congress Raises the Cap On National Debt

The Senate voted on Thursday to raise the ceiling on US borrowing authority to $8.965 trillion, an increase of $781 billion from the previous level. The legislation, which narrowly passed with a 58-42 vote largely along party lines, was viewed by supporters as a necessary measure to avoid a possible government default on debt this month. This step, which represents the fourth debt cap raise since 2002, will now go to President Bush for his signature.
Source: National Libertarian Party (online), March 17, 2006

America’s wackiest taxes

History is littered with odd tax schemes. William Pitt the Younger introduced a tax on windows in Britain. Peter the Great taxed souls, and Nero, urine.
Let no man say that we here in America cannot compete for oddity of tax laws. We have some really weird assessments on the books.
Source: CNN, February 22, 2005

Private Firms to Chase Delinquent Taxpayers

When Reps. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) teamed up in September to get the House to pass an amendment blocking the use of private companies to collect back taxes from delinquent taxpayers, it seemed the Bush administration plan might be doomed for at least a year.
But in the final hours of drafting a 3,300-page spending bill last month, House and Senate negotiators eliminated Capito’s and Van Hollen’s handiwork, clearing the way for the Internal Revenue Service to hire commercial debt collectors. These private agents could keep as much as 25 percent of the amounts they recovered.
Source: The Washington Post (online), December 5, 2004

Property taxes rising nationwide

While fuel prices may be starting to skid, there’s another expense closer to home that is upsetting many Americans: rising property taxes.
From Madison, Wis., to Bucks County, Pa., the local tax assessor is dipping deeper into homeowners’ pockets as real estate prices rise and states share less of their tax revenue with local governments.
Source: Christian Science Monitor, December 3, 2004

U.S. Tax Take at Post WWII High

For millions of middle-class families singled out for tax relief by Congress, the federal income tax burden is hundreds of dollars a year less than it was just four years ago. Yet the overall U.S. tax take from the economy is higher than at any time since World War II.

Source: Washington Post, April 8, 2000

Clinton Demanding Tax Law Changes

Budget analysts observe…that the demands Clinton is proposing would have the net effect of redistributing wealth from those who pay taxes to those who do not

 Source: http:www.reagan.com/ (Hot Topics)