Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Republican plans for tax reform could be less sweeping than originally envisioned by the White House and GOP leaders in Congress, as a provision in a House GOP budget blueprint would require any tax bill to be 'budget neutral,' which would force lawmakers to offset any tax cuts with revenue increases that could be difficult in some cases to gain approval. Deep in the fine print of the budget resolution for next year, the Republican plan allows for a tax reform bill under budget reconciliation, "if such measure would not increase the deficit for the total of fiscal years 2018 through 2027."
Airbnb Inc. hosts and Etsy Inc. vendors who have avoided taxes on income from the sharing economy might have to start sharing more with the Internal Revenue Service. Federal rules don't require such companies to withhold any income taxes on the payments they route to people who provide services or sell items via their online platforms.
State Rep. Bill Mitchell is one of 16 state representatives being targeted by the Americans for Prosperity-Illinois for voting to override Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a 32 percent income tax increase. The AFP-Illinois says it will run online ads and distribute mail pieces, as well as "our grass-roots presence," to hit Mitchell and the others for the tax increase vote earlier this month.
Cynics are said to be people who are prematurely disappointed about the future. Such dyspepsia is encouraged by watching Republicans struggle to move on from the dog's breakfast they have made of health care reform to the mare's nest of tax reform.
The GOP health bills would eliminate the 10 percent tax on the use of tanning beds. It was one of more than a dozen taxes introduced as part of the Affordable Care Act.
Gov. Bruce Rauner implored lawmakers not to override his veto of a proposal to end Illinois' unprecedented budget impasse, calling the plan that includes a large income tax increase a "disaster" that will not solve the state's many financial problems. "This is not just a slap in the face to Illinois taxpayers.
Activists and organizations are calling on taxpayers to contact the 15 Republican state representatives who voted with Democrat IL House Speaker Mike Madigan to increase the personal income tax from 3.75% to 4.9%, and the corporate tax from 5.25% to 7%.
Congress is moving to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from enforcing one of the more unpopular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which requires most Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. The plan is separate from Republican efforts to repeal the health care law.
The Latest on a legislative session on Illinois' budget as the state enters a third straight year without a spending plan : The Illinois Senate has adjourned without taking action on House-approved legislation to break the nation's longest budget standoff since the Great Depression. Chicago Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan has scheduled a meeting of the four legislative leaders for the same time.
Illinois' Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed big, permanent increases in income tax rates and a $36 billion fiscal 2018 spending plan on Sunday with the help of some Republican votes as the cash-strapped state scrambled to stave off a bond rating downgrade to junk. The $5 billion tax package, which passed in a 72-45 vote and drew an immediate veto threat from Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, would boost the personal income tax rate to 4.95 percent from 3.75 percent and the corporate rate to 7 percent from 5.25 percent.
Illinois' Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed big, permanent income-tax rate increases on Sunday with the help of some Republican votes as the cash-strapped state scrambled to piece together a budget and revenue plan to stave off a bond rating downgrade to junk. The $5 billion tax package, which passed in a 72-45 vote, would boost the personal income tax rate to 4.95 percent from 3.75 percent and the corporate rate to 7 percent from 5.25 percent.
After weeks of withering criticism over their plan to take health insurance from 22 million in order to finance tax cuts for rich people, some Senate Republicans have been kicking around an idea: Maybe don't give tax cuts to rich people. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee have proposed the idea of retaining at least the 3.8% surtax on high earners' investment income - though the same political and policy logic would seem to also apply to another Obamacare tax, the 0.9% surtax on high-earners' labor income.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a $125 billion California budget Tuesday that gives doctors and dentists a raise while increasing funding for education and social services. For the second consecutive year, Brown did not use his line-item veto authority to cancel spending approved by lawmakers.
The "health care bill" that Republicans are trying to pass in the Senate, like the one approved by the GOP majority in the House, isn't really about health care at all. It's the first step in a massive redistribution of wealth from struggling wage-earners to the rich - a theft of historic proportions.
Barack Obama came out against the health care bill Senate Republicans announced on Thursday. In a Facebook post on Thursday, the former president claimed that it would be "a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America."
Most illegal immigrants who pay taxes have stolen someone else's legal identity, and the IRS doesn't do a very good job of letting those American citizens and legal immigrants know they're being impersonated, the tax agency's inspector general said in a new report released Thursday. The theft creates major problems for the American citizens and legal foreign workers whose identities are stolen, and who have to deal with explaining money they never earned.
The amount of new corporate taxes that of Oregon House Democrats plan to raise appears to be dwindling by the day, with the latest proposal clocking in at roughly $200 million instead of the $900 million they'd hoped for two weeks ago. And with the days ticking down to the July 10 deadline to balance the state budget, House Democrats also appear ready to pass their new plan without any Republican support.
The big income tax increase Kansas legislators enacted over Gov. Sam Brownback's veto won't balance the budget by itself, despite immediately boosting the state's credit outlook. Even though the reversal of most of Brownback's income tax cuts will inject $1.2 billion in new revenue through June 2019, lawmakers will have to continue relying on some of the same fiscal patches they've employed in recent years to keep the books balanced as state law requires.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley is running for governor in Ohio in 2018 with a focus on bringing back partnerships between the state of Ohio and its cities and families. Whaley, a Democrat, was elected mayor of Dayton in 2013 and before that served on the Dayton City Commission.