Monday, March 12, 2012

Gas Prices Now, Tax Increases Later: The Obozo Plan

Having choked off most petroleum development on US lands, and having killed of the XL pipeline, and with Operation Kill Coal now up and running, the current occupant's policy to raise the price of energy to the sky is well underway.

Next:  tax increases!!

...The first series of tax hikes will hit personal income tax rates. Because many small employers pay business taxation at these rates, this is also a tax rate hike on small businesses. The lowest personal rate will rise from 10 percent to 15 percent and the highest rate will go up from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. This means that every American with an income tax liability is scheduled to see a rise in taxes.

The majority of small employer profits face taxation at the top marginal tax rate. That means that the top personal rate is actually a proxy for the small business tax rate in America. That rate will rise from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. Thanks to a provision in the jobs-killing ObamaCare law, most small employer profits will face a Medicare tax rate of 3.8 percent, pushing the total small business rate over the 40 percent mark....

These are the people who spend money on other goods and services--if they have it, of course.

...The child tax credit will be cut in half, from $1000 to $500 per child. For seniors, the top effective marginal tax rate on Social Security benefits will rise from almost 30 percent in 2012 to almost 34 percent in 2013....

Obozo and his aborto-cult followers can't stand seeing (other people's) children, of course.  More important, if there are less children, then who in Hell will pay the national-debt taxes?  As to seniors, who needs them?  They'll cost ObozoCare a bunch of money anyway...

....The top rate on long-term capital gains is set to rise from 15 percent to 23.8 percent. If you receive dividends, the top rate on this income will rise from 15 percent to 43.4 percent. The Tax Foundation reports that 70 percent of taxpayers over age 55 reported dividend income, earning 71 percent of the total dividends in America. A tax hike on dividends is another tax hike on seniors.

Even if your retirement savings are all in traditional pensions, 401(k) plans and IRAs, the financial markets will have to price in these higher taxes, shrinking everyone’s nest egg. Taxes are a cost like any other, and markets have to price in the cost of higher taxes...

Can you say "Depend on Gummint because your saved-income is worthless!!"  I knew you could...

...Since 2011, we haven’t been able to use our health savings accounts (HSAs) or flexible spending accounts (FSAs) to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (the “medicine cabinet tax”)....If you have an FSA at work, and you use it for large medical expenses (like special needs education, durable medical equipment, reconstructive surgery, etc.), you will find yourself locked out in 2013. Currently unlimited by tax law, there will be a new $2,500 cap on FSA deferrals.

Yup--that's more of the same.

And there's more!!

...President Obama has proposed new taxes beyond those already scheduled. He wants a “Buffett Rule” to ensure that those making more than $1 million pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent. This is on top of the dreaded “alternative minimum tax” (AMT), which is scheduled to rise from 4 million to 30 million victims in 2013....

How very nice!

Remember that energy-cost hike?  He's going to double down on that!

 President Obama wants to raise taxes on energy companies, driving up the cost of electricity and gasoline for every family and small employer in America.

And good luck finding a second job to pay the energy bills:

For larger employers who earn profits overseas, he wants to make it more difficult to bring that money back to America by double-taxing it, a suicidal refusal to bring capital and jobs home. The research and development tax credit, which manufacturing employers depend on to cope with our world’s-highest 35 percent federal corporate income tax rate, has already expired in 2012

So he kills the R&D credit and yaps his flapper about "innovation at home."

Right-O, O-bozo!!

All in all, I'd rather cut spending.

14 comments:

jimspice said...

"Having choked off most petroleum development on US lands..."

You still haven't acknowledged the last time you quoted bad stats on this issue, so I won't hold my breath on you backing it up this time either.

jimspice said...

From today's LA Times (it was the second to next article I noticed after reading your blog post): Oil imports down, domestic production highest since 2003.

J. Strupp said...

Right off the bat, your premise is just wrong, Dadster.

"Having choked off most petroleum development on US lands, and having killed of the XL pipeline,.."

Oil exploration and development in the Baaken has quadrupled since the President took office and, as Spice wrote, domestic production is on the rise with little or no government obstruction to LAND development, whatsoever. Second, the XL Pipline has NOT been killed off by the Federal government. That's just wrong. The feds. only killed off the U.S./Canada spur. In fact, the Cushing to Gulf of Mexico spur is going to be built anyway without Federal objection or obstruction. Funny how you don't see this in the news at all.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Cushing to N.D. leg of the pipeline is built too. There's too much money to be made up there right now and those boys are making it.

J. Strupp said...

P.S. I haven't seen too many, "holy crap natural gas is super CHEAP because the gummint is letting us pop holes all over the country" rants lately. Doesn't fit the dogma, you see.

Botom line: People are naturally biased towards inflation(especially people who's party isn't in power). That's why anecdotal evidence is useless IMO. You can bet we'll be talking about $4 gas all summer without a whisper of the costs offset by cheap NG due to increased domestic exploration.

J. Strupp said...

Oh and BTW, did President Obama come out in favor of all of these tax increases? Please show me where he has favored all of these.

Dad29 said...

Obozo has choked off exploration on Federal lands and offshore, including the Gulf. Baaken is not Federal land, so yes, it's producing.

Increased US production is due to GWBush's policies; has nothing to do with Obozo. As you LeftOWacks are fond of saying, "...it'll take 10 years to get oil..."

Well, you're right. BUSH was President 10 years ago.

The fact remains that Obozo has cut off the XL pipeline. So he's half-successful.

Fortunately, he will be half-successful in his runs for the Presidency.

Strupp, I don't burn natgas in my car, nor do the trucks bringing groceries. And my heating bill didn't decrease by 50%, nor by 10%.

Which utility can build a natgas burner in 1 year or less to replace coal, Struppster??

Hint: none.

jimspice said...

Your "federal lands" link was the one I pointed out was erroneous in that last oil post and you never responded. You can say it as much as you want, but saying it does not make it true. Obama is leading Bush in EVERY measure of oil production -- exploration, permitting, rigs, wells, production. I'd think you'd be jumping for joy and the liberals would be the ones griping.

Jim said...

XL is not meant to provide supply to the US. It is meant to bring Canadian oil to the gulf where it can be refined and then sold on the world market from a free trade zone.

J. Strupp said...

Look, Econ. 101: The topic here is high crude oil prices and, therefore, high gas prices. But crude oil is a GLOBAL commodity which means any small production increase domestically can easily be offset by reduced production from abroad. This is why this discussion is always a waste of time and politicans should stop feeding us a load of crap. We CANNOT reduce the global price of crude oil in the long run by increasing domestic production because the major oil producers (who control the vast majority of oil production in the world) can offset this increase with ease by cutting supply, thus keeping oil prices high or low or whatever they feel necessary. Yes, markets will most likely react to the short run increase in oil production but this is ALWAYS a temporary reactional response (like the last time we tapped our strategic reserves) and it will not change basic fundamentals. If you want to increase domestic oil production to improve our trade balance, fine, but it'll do NOTHING long term to effect global oil prices (if the world chooses). This is the scam of it all whenever gas jumps to $4.00/gallon and people clamor for the government to open up the strategic oil reserves and drill, baby drill to brng down prices. It's dumb logic. And if we started to drill more 10 years ago, we'd still be basically where we are today, pricewise.

jimspice said...

JStrupp: I think you're almost there, but leave out the very real HUMAN factor. I think of this NPR Planet Money podcast frequently (http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/510289/142037679/npr_142037679.mp3). It's about a great global rice emergency where supplies were just fine. I think it's one of the most illustrative examples of how global markets operate, including the flaws introduced by human behavior -- most notably -- FEAR. You'll easily be able to imagine an analogous oil situation.

Dad29 said...

How about Econ 102: cartel pricing can be broken by a determined and well-financed rebel.

Happens all the time. Ask the Big Three about Toyota, e.g.

Anonymous said...

And who is the would be rebel in our current scenario? China?

J. Strupp said...

Toyota doesn't produce a commodity Dadster. But I think you know your example is weak right? The only way you break OPEC is if you can offset ALL their production with your own. An impossible feat.

I think a lot of Americans are not comfortable with this new reality because it means we have little control over energy costs from the supply side. And worse, the Arabs most certainly do.

alizbeath said...

There are certainly many different posts at here. I have just alart across your blog via google and I like it.