Get Ready for Massive Tax Hikes

All you who vote for hope and change, well you better hope there is a bit of change left after the government sucks more money out of you pocket.

We were told taxes would only go up on the rich. BIG FAT LIE.


We will ring in the new years with taxes that will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011:


First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

THAT'S NOT ON THE RICH. IT'S ON YOU!

Higher taxes on marriage and family. The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child. The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level. The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.

Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave: Obamacare

There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011. They include:

The Tanning Tax. This went into effect on July 1st of this year. It imposes a new, 10% excise tax on getting a tan at a tanning salon. There is no exemption for tanners making less than $250,000 per year.

The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

Brand Name Drug Tax. Starting next year, there will be a multi-billion dollar tax assessment imposed on name-brand drug manufacturers. This tax, like all excise taxes, will raise the price of medicine, hurting everyone.

Economic Substance Doctrine. The IRS is now empowered to disallow perfectly-legal tax deductions and maneuvers merely because it judges that the deduction or action lacks “economic substance.” This is obviously an arbitrary empowerment of IRS agents.

Employer Reporting of Health Insurance Costs on a W-2. This will start for W-2s in the 2011 tax year. While not a tax increase in itself, it makes it very easy for Congress to tax employer-provided healthcare benefits later.

Third Wave: The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes
When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise—the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired. These major items include:

The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year. According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families—rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million. These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level. The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.

Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear. Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or “depreciate”) equipment purchases up to $250,000. This will be cut all the way down to $25,000. Larger businesses can expense half of their purchases of equipment. In January of 2011, all of it will have to be “depreciated.”

Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses. There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place. The biggest is the loss of the “research and experimentation tax credit,” but there are many, many others. Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced. The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available. Tax credits for education will be limited. Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses. Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut. Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed. The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed. Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA. This contribution also counts toward an annual “required minimum distribution.” This ability will no longer be there.

Read more: http://atr.org/six-months-untilbr-largest-tax-hikes-a5171##ixzz0uTTfqwZO

Marty Surfaces

Years ago I produced a show hosted by Marty Minto on WORD FM here in Pittsburgh. I'm very proud of what we acomplished over the 3 years that show aired because we brought a lot of things into the discussion arena.

I have a better understanding of protestant evangelicals and I hope I shared a few things about the catholic faith with listeners.

After the show came to an abrupt halt I only spoke to Marty once. I considered him a friend and I wish his departure had unfolded differently.

To this day I still have people ask me about him. I can tell you that he is now living in South Carolina and working with Waccamaw Baptist Association doing resort ministry.

I have not spoken to him but I wish him well.

Catholic-Evangelical Split Over Gay Marriage

Churches played an influential role in the passage of Proposition 8 almost two years ago. But researcher Robert Jones said his polling indicated that religious people hardly form a monolith when it comes to gay marriage.

Jones heads the Public Religion Research Institute. The organization’s survey of 3,351 churchgoers in California found that White mainline Protestants - including Episcopalians and Lutherans – and Catholics are support same-sex marriage than substantially more than Protestant evangelicals and African American Protestants.

The split is biggest among Latinos. The poll found that 57% of Latino Catholics would vote for same-sex marriage today, compared to just 22% Latino Protestants.

“Overall what we really see here is a general Protestant-Catholic divide," researcher Dan Cox said. "So white Protestants verses white Catholics, we have a 20-point difference with white Protestants more likely to report hearing their clergy speak out on this issue. And we see the same size gap between Latino Protestants and Catholics as well."

Full Story

Prayers Go Out to Rick Warren

It no secret that I'm not a big fan of Rick Warren. I think he is much better at marketing than being a pastor.

That aside I don't like to see anyone injured. The recent news about Rick Warrens' eyes being burn by the sap of a firestick plant is sad.

He recently tweeted: My eyes were severely burned by a toxic poison.Hospitalized Mon.Excruciating pain.Now home.Pray my sight loss is restored.

I do ask readers to pray for his recovery and I wish him a speedy recovery.