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Taxes - The Heritage FoundationTaxes - The Heritage Foundation Proponents of raising taxes have offered many straw man arguments and myths to support their case. View Article - Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:00:00 -0400 As we celebrate Labor Day, let’s remember what makes this holiday possible in the first place: American workers. For the most part that means small business. View Article - Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 The CEO of Intel has joined the ranks of those labeling big government as the cause of our economic slump, not the solution. View Article - Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 President Obama has called for a huge tax increase to take effect on January 1, 2011. Instead of reducing spending, he proposes to raise taxes on a wide swath of taxpayers—including small businesses—despite the weak economic recovery. Congressional Democrats stand poised (immediately following the November elections) to endorse the President’s request and threaten to go much further. Proponents of letting the tax cuts expire—which would indeed be a tax hike—have offered a wide array of justifications for this wrongheaded policy. Heritage Foundation fiscal policy expert J. D. Foster wades through the myths and straw arguments to set the record straight. View Article - Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:29:00 -0400 Curtis Dubay discusses the merits of extending the Bush tax cuts, including cuts for the middle class. View Article - Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Bill Beach discusses whether a national tax holiday would encourage more lending. View Article - Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 The Economic Freedom Act, proposed by Representative Jim Jordan, would terminate the ineffective Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), and substitute a proven way to stimulate the economy: tax relief—from permanent repeal of the capital gains and death taxes to significant reductions in payroll taxes and the top corporate tax rate. Analysts at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA) conducted static and dynamic analyses of the act (H.R. 5029), finding that over the long term, dynamic economic effects would offset much of the cost of the tax relief. In the short term, the act would increase the deficit if it was not coupled with reductions in spending. This means a specific plan for spending cuts is imperative. The CDA analysts detail the economic and fiscal effects of the Economic Freedom Act’s spending and tax cuts. View Article - Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:30:00 -0400 Bill Beach discusses the possible outcomes of a flat tax. View Article - Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 J D Foster discusses the possibility of an American VAT. View Article - Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Imagine you are one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s top political strategists. The polls show your party needs a game-changer, something that will transform what looks like a losing political hand into a winner. “I know,” you shout, “let’s push for a large tax increase on the ‘fortunate few’ — the 2 or 3 percent of the population with so much money they won’t even miss a few thousand bucks. The other 97 or 98 percent will feel no pain, and we’ll be able to call ourselves deficit hawks when all those billions start rolling in.” View Article - Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 President Obama wants to drastically raise taxes in January View Article - Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:57:00 -0400 The CBPP's critique is based on faulty economic analysis and fundamental misrepresentations. View Article - Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:00:00 -0400 Liberals in Congress have a plan to raise your taxes after the elections this fall, something they must do to continue feeding the Obama Administration’s spending addiction. Watch for them to act after the midterm elections under the cover of the report from the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. View Article - Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Curtis Dubay returns to The Ed Show to discuss jobs and extending the Bush tax cuts. View Article - Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Curtis Dubay discusses renewing the Bush tax cuts to support economic growth. View Article - Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:00:00 -0400 The death tax: What does it kill? Who does it affect? It affects hundreds of thousands of small-business owners across the country—as well as their employees and community residents who benefit from the senior and day care centers, playgrounds, charities, and learning centers that are built or supported by small-business owners. Like water and sunlight in an ecosystem, small businesses provide sustenance essential to building and preserving communities. So high is the death tax that a large portion of heirs to small companies cannot afford to pay it after the business founder dies, and see themselves forced to sell to giant corporations—which have no personal ties to the communities of their new acquisitions, and thus no incentive to commit to local institutions. What does the death tax kill? The best of American life and civil society itself. The death tax is simply antithetical to the core of the American dream. View Article - Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:53:00 -0400 Millions of Americans face potential financial ruin because they bought homes they couldn't afford. Often, these homeowners were lured by initially low interest rates that provided the illusion of affordability. After a few years, these "teaser" rates reset upward, creating unaffordably high mortgage payments. View Article - Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Senator Jim DeMint cites Heritage research in his speech on preventing the renewal of the death tax. View Article - Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:00:00 -0400 2010 is the only year since 1916 in which heirs to an estate will not have to pay the dreaded death tax. Victory for small businesses? Not yet—due to a legal quirk, the death tax is scheduled to come back to life in 2011. Studies, statistics, and real life have shown again and again that the businesses and families burdened with the death tax often see themselves forced to cut back on benefits, investments, and employees. The death tax keeps new jobs from being created, hurting not just the affected businesses, but the economy as a whole. Because it is a tax on capital, the death tax destroys as many as 1.5 million jobs that the economy needs as it struggles to recover. Heritage Foundation tax policy expert Curtis Dubay details a replacement for the death tax, and explains why Congress must kill the death tax—now. View Article - Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:09:00 -0400 The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act would likely lead to the same conditions that caused the housing bubble of a few years ago. View Article - Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:00:00 -0400
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Looking for more great sites?
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May I suggest the following....
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My Plan to Fundamentally Change Activism |
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Sunday, April 25, 2010
www.meatandpotatoes.org
By: Brian Miller
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Have you ever noticed how many "Advocacy Groups" there are? A new group or organization sprouts up every day promoting themselves as the champions of a seemingly endless list of causes?
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| ad·vo·ca·cy |
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| The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support. |
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Note: that the word begins with the word "Ad" (meaning to advertise) which is the primary function of phase one for these groups. | |
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Let’s take an example from today: Headline Associated Press - "Advocates seek ways to protect homeless from crime".
O.K., I want to protect people just as much as the next guy, and want to help where ever I can. Charity, after all, is one of the core values that make this nation great. Like so many articles that go on about the reasons for the advocacy group's existence, the cost of services they request are never stated. Instead what you get is a series of articles first to "raise awareness" long before a new piece of legislation comes along.
The reality is the American Public has had it’s fill of such organizations. But what do we do here? After all, they all claim their issues are of the utmost importance, and we can not ignore them.
As a truly independent thinker, I’m willing to reach across party lines here. In fact I have a plan to make things better, a plan that Republicans and Democrats can both get behind:
These non-profit organizations who seek to change our government at the local, state and federal level must be held accountable for their claims, their activities, and their members. After all, it is MY money they wish to spend on their causes.
| Ideological Format: If you are a new reader, please note that you are only to read the areas that apply to your ideology. Dems on the left marked in Blue or Reps on the right in Red. | |
1- Establishment of a new National network that all non-profit or for profit advocacy groups are required to become a member of in order to exist. The National well Intentioned Manditory Registry Organizational Database or NIMROD for short, will be based on tried and true technologies perfected by Facebook.
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Republicans |
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Allows more people to get involved at the click of a mouse like on Facebook. Where over 350,000 are fans of a grilled cheese sandwich. Power to the people baby! |
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Allows conservatives to see openly which new crack-pot group is growing in number, helping them to better target legislation to block the truly stupid ideas that are not thought out. |
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2 - All advocacy organizations (for profit and non profit) including organizations like the Tides Foundation, Apollo Alliance, Free Press, Moveon.org etc will then be asked to elect the bureau or bureaus within the Federal Government to target their funding. Moving forward all organizers, members or fans in the NIMROD system will then be taxed at a rate of 1% of their gross income with NO deductions allowed.
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Democrats |
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Republicans |
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This is the "Fundamental Change" you are looking for! Directly funding important programs without greedy lobbyists, corporate special interest or Congress getting in the way |
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The influx of tax revenue from people that general don’t pay any will be huge! Conservatives can then de-fund programs receiving the most money and apply it to the national debt while generating a budget surplus. |
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The time from suggestion of a new policy to it becoming law will be greatly reduced. |
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Earmarks will be cut in half as more demands are funded by advocacy organizations. |
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Thanks to direct funding people can be more selective about the groups they are part of, allowing them to manage their time better. I call this the "Smart Advocacy" approach. Participants will know their voices are being heard over the shouts of radical Tea Baggers. |
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Soon the number of nagging groups will decrease to a more manageable level. In the direct funding model, federal mandates to the states will always be funded with no strings attached. If more money is required for a state, that state can tax residence that are group members as they see fit to pay for a new Turtle bridge or what ever else is demanded. |
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3 - The IRS will now add an Advocacy audit to their bi-annual National Healthcare audit of every citizen in Americat.
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Republicans |
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Like with the census, regular visits from the IRS will institute a new "Hands On" mind set with the American People, allowing for more activism, leading to a stronger sense of pride in Government and all that it does to take care of us. |
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As more and more people who are members of multiple organizations suddenly have to "Carry the Load" when it comes to paying taxes, more and more Americans will begin to take a more conservative view of things. |
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So many people rallied behind Rob Blagojevich that he has reached near hero status. People will be so happy to be part of the "Pay to Play" system that made Chicago famous! |
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Once National Healthcare is repealed, Republicans can score big points with Government Unions having a back-up plan to keep all of those new IRS agents gainfully employed. |
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4 - Together we CAN make a difference. Let's take a look at how much money we are talking about here.
| Organization |
Estimated Members |
Tax Revenue |
| FreePress.net |
35,000 |
$16.2 Million |
| Color of Change |
75,000 |
$34.7 Million |
| Peta |
2,000,000 |
$926 Million |
| SEIU |
2,750,000 |
$1.2 Billion |
| Moveon.org |
5,000,000 |
$2.3 Billion |
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Total: |
$4.48 Billion |
Data based on an average household income of $46,300, membership collected from various websites trusted by these organizations like Wikipedia.
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Republicans |
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These five organizations alone could generate over $4.48 Billion per year to help change America and provide critical services where needed. There are thousands more smaller organizations that could easily triple or quadruple the estimate above! This is only the federal money generated, with matching collections at the state level, the projections could easily equal over $30 Billion! |
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These five organizations alone could shave over $4.48 Billion per year off the federal budget. There are thousands more smaller organizations that could easily triple or quadruple the estimate above! Now the numbers will shrink when people who are members of ... say 10 organizations, and have to pay an extra $4,630 per year in taxes. In the end, the right lesson will be learned. |
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| 1 - There is no liberal bias in the media |
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| 2 - Separation of Church and State |
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| 3 - Banning partial birth abortions is an assault on a woman's right to choose |
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| 4 - The Outsourcing of American Jobs |
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| 5 - The Creation of Green Jobs |
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| 6 - Same Sex Marriage |
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| 7 - Rasing Taxes Equals more government funds |
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| 8 - The Supreme Court should keep International Courts in mind |
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| 9 - America must be humble to the international community |
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| 10 - Government Knows Best |
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My Top Blog Picks:
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We are an independent group of thinkers, who are neither Democrats nor Republicans, but believe in right and wrong. It’s time to clear all the crazy stuff from our lives, and get down to just the Meat and Potatoes of today’s issues. Join us, and invite your friends to sit down at your table and discuss with us. Site Map | |
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