tax breaks for the wealthy

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2018's 'Maddening' Tax Rates Unveiled
2018's 'Maddening'
Tax Rates Unveiled
NEW STUDY

2018's 'Maddening' Tax Rates Unveiled

400 richest US households paid lower rate than bottom 50%: economists

(Newser) - America's richest billionaires paid a lower average tax rate than the working class for the first time in US history in 2018, according to a new study. The book-length research, The Triumph of Injustice , comes from Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, the same economists who inspired Elizabeth Warren's...

White House Plans Bold Move on Taxes

Treasury might change how capital gains are figured, benefiting wealthiest Americans

(Newser) - The wealthiest Americans may be getting some good news on taxes from a big shift under consideration by the Treasury Department. The change would affect how capital gains taxes are figured in regard to inflation, with the upshot being that the amount owed to the government would be less, reports...

Richest Americans Have Own 'Private Tax System'
Richest Americans Have
Own 'Private Tax System'
investigation

Richest Americans Have Own 'Private Tax System'

NYT investigation: Think of it as the 'income defense industry'

(Newser) - Much has been written about the growing gap between the rich and poor, but an investigative piece by the New York Times provides insight into one key element of the debate: how the very rich avoid taxes. The idea that billionaires pay lawyers to look for loopholes may seem obvious...

Report: Key Mortgage Tax Break Just Helps the Wealthy

Lawmakers are fiercely protective of popular interest deduction

(Newser) - The tax code is rife with home ownership incentives that are both popular with voters and staunchly defended by lawmakers. But it turns out the breaks mostly just help rich people buy pricier houses, according to a new report from the right-leaning R Street Institute. They "don't encourage...

Wealthiest 20% Get Lion's Share of Tax Breaks

Democrats and Republicans both hail new CBO report

(Newser) - The top 20% of households in terms of income get a bit more than half of the 10 most significant tax breaks in the code, according to a new Congressional Budget Office analysis, with an outsized 17% of all savings going to the richest 1%. The report is being both...

How the Charitable Deduction Benefits the Rich
How the Charitable
Deduction Benefits the Rich
OPINION

How the Charitable Deduction Benefits the Rich

'Average Americans paying for billionaires' generosity,' writes Fred Hiatt

(Newser) - A call to limit the charitable deduction may sound heartless—what about all those churches and museums and schools and nonprofits?—but the deduction actually benefits the rich, while "the rest of the country has to make up the gap," writes Fred Hiatt in the Washington Post . A...

Tax the Rich: Popular in Theory, Not Practice

Republicans manage to fool most voters: Steve Kornacki

(Newser) - Raising taxes on the rich is a popular idea, always performing well when people are polled about it. So why is it so hard to actually put into practice? Because most people don't understand what's actually going on, and the Republicans are to blame for that, explains Steve...

Jon Lovitz Doubles Down on Obama-Bashing

'He's creating a false class warfare,' says comedian

(Newser) - Last night on Piers Morgan’s show, Jon Lovitz made it clear he has no intention of backing down from his recent rant against President Obama . “Yes, I did mean what I said,” said Lovitz, referring to his comments that Obama’s claim that “the rich don'...

GOP Rolls Out Budget With Huge Tax Cuts

There would be just two brackets, with the top at 25%

(Newser) - House Republicans rolled out a new Paul Ryan-penned budget proposal today that calls for a drastic tax-code overhaul, major changes to Medicare and Medicaid, and deep cuts in domestic spending, all while softening a set of automatic defense spending cuts set to hit in January. The budget would scrap our...

Is Romney's 15% Tax Rate That Crazy?

Yes and no, experts say

(Newser) - When Americans heard that Mitt Romney pays a 15% tax rate , most probably assumed that was less than they pay—and they're probably wrong. Romney, after all, wasn't talking about his tax bracket, but his effective tax rate, meaning what percentage of his income he actually winds up...

Number of Tax-Free Firms Explodes

Nearly 69% paid no corporate income tax in 2008

(Newser) - Just when you thought we could use more tax revenue comes word that a skyrocketing number of American companies are paying no taxes. That's zip, zero, zilch in federal income tax, and the group includes some publicly traded companies. The percentage of companies organized as tax-free operations has zoomed...

Obama to Unveil Tax-the-Rich Plan Monday

The 'Buffet Rule' create new minimum rate for the wealthy

(Newser) - President Obama plans to roll out his new tax-the-rich proposal on Monday and he's calling it the "Buffett Rule." Named after Warren Buffett, the financial whiz who argues that the mega-rich don't pay enough in taxes , the plan will include a new minimum tax rate for...

Obama: Taxing Rich Will Pay for Jobs Plan

Prez wants to end tax breaks for the wealthy and oil, gas companies

(Newser) - President Obama has picked another fight over tax breaks for the wealthy—this time to pay for his jobs plan. The White House said today that Obama will seek to end tax breaks over 10 years for oil and gas companies, hedge fund managers, and people making over $200,000,...

The Rich Use 9/11 to Dominate the Poor: Gerald Caplan

 Real Legacy of 9/11: 
 The Rich Win 
opinion

Real Legacy of 9/11: The Rich Win

A 'cabal of extremist millionaires' dominate policy: Gerald Caplan

(Newser) - After 9/11, a "cabal of extremist billionaires" escalated a class war that has crushed the American people and threatened the world, Gerald Caplan writes in the Globe & Mail . "There are more filthy rich folks now than at any other moment in history," he writes, but wounded...

Former AmEx CEO Harvey Golub to Warren Buffett: I Pay Enough Taxes, Thanks
Former AmEx CEO to
Buffett: I Pay Enough Taxes
OPINION

Former AmEx CEO to Buffett: I Pay Enough Taxes

Harvey Golub rebuts Warren Buffett's argument

(Newser) - Former AmEx CEO Harvey Golub is wealthy, just like Warren Buffett, but unlike Buffett, he has no desire to fork over a larger portion of his income to the federal government. How dare Buffett assume he’s “coddled” with low taxes, writes Golub in the Wall Street Journal , when...

Koch to Buffett: My Donations Trump Taxes for the Rich

Skeptical writer to Koch: I think not

(Newser) - How dare Warren Buffett call for higher taxes for the rich , when America's super-wealthy already contribute to the country's "societal well-being" through "business and non-profit investments"? Billionaire business mogul Charles Koch penned this argument in a 50-word retort to Buffett's New York Times op-ed...

If We Took Buffett's Advice, How Much Would It Help?

Quite a bit—but it likely won't happen

(Newser) - Warren Buffett made waves yesterday when he told the federal government to stop "coddling" him and other wealthy Americans and raise taxes on the rich. His plan would roll back the Bush tax cuts on people who earn more than $1 million and on capital gains and dividends income,...

Obama: Republicans Must Bend on Tax Hikes

President says eliminating breaks for ultra-wealthy isn't 'radical'

(Newser) - President Obama entered the deficit/debt war of words today in a wide-ranging press conference and laid into the GOP with what the Washington Post calls his toughest language yet. He said congressional Republicans have to "take on their sacred cows" and agree to scrap tax breaks for the ultra-rich...

House Passes Sweeping Tax Bill
House Passes
Sweeping Tax Bill
tax cut deal

House Passes Sweeping Tax Bill

Tax cut package sent to Obama's desk

(Newser) - The House of Representatives, acting with uncommon speed, has given final approval to a bipartisan bill that will avoid a scheduled rise in income taxes for millions on the first of January. The vote was 277-148 late last night on the legislation, which is the result of a compromise between...

Senate Passes Tax-Cut Deal 81-19
Senate Passes
Tax-Cut Deal 81-19

Senate Passes Tax-Cut Deal 81-19

Heads for tougher fight in the House

(Newser) - President Obama's compromise tax deal with Republicans—a package of cuts that would add nearly a trillion dollars to the US debt—won approval in the Senate today in a 81-19 vote. The measure still faces stiff opposition in the House where Democrats see it as overgenerous to the wealthy....

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