Why not defund Obamacare?
With all the problems of the debt, the debt ceiling and the need to reduce spending, why do the Republicans not move to defund Obamacare?
It is one of the most popular things they can do.
Fiscal Brinkmanship
The President should have seen the mood of the electorate after the 2010 election and prioritized expenditures to rein in spending and get the budget (nonexistent as it is) under control.
Even now, with opposition mounting to his desire to increase the National Debt, he continues his wanton spending, ignores the need to prioritize expenses and takes us to the brink.
He continues to produce long lists of programs that are untouchable and that consume the majority of the spending so there is nothing left to cut as we head to the brink.
His continuing to spend money he does not have pushes the country to the edge of a cliff, and the longer he waits to adjust the messier the solution (if there will be one) will be.
It is almost as if he wants the country to go down in the hope (is that the hope and change he promised in his campaign) that he and his progressive cohorts can take us into full-fledged socialism when the country collapses.
Obama Campaign on the Move!
If this doesn’t motivate Tea Party members, I don’t know what will! Losing in 2012 is not an option! We need to work as hard and be as organized as the opposition!
Obama Campaign has Record Haul
Political Extortion
Politicians (both national and local) are notorious, when facing an income stream insufficient to fund their favorite boondoggles, for threatening their constituents with cuts in necessary services (by cutting teachers, firemen, policemen, librarians, lifeguards, dog catchers, pension checks, etc.) unless these constituents agree to increases in their taxes. These politicians seek to extort additional tax money for their favorite programs. These politicians never talk about cutting a bloated bureaucracy or eliminating or reducing failed and ineffective programs to generate more income for their favorite programs. These politicians are happy to inflict pain on their constituents to feather their nests. The priorities of these politicians are with their favorite expenditures, not the taxpayers who elected them. President will not guarantee Social Security checks will go out
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data shows expected revenue to the U.S. Treasury for 2011 of $2,228.45 billion and “mandatory” expenses of $2,108.28 billion to give a net income before other expenses of $120.17billion . The CBO lists interest on the debt as $225 billion. This means the “mandatory” expenses have to be reduced by $105 billion to service the debt.
The “mandatory” expenses include funds for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans, civilian and military pensions, agriculture, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ($11 billion), food stamps ($77 billion), earned income and child tax credits ($77 billion), family support ($27 billion), child nutrition ($18 billion), foster care ($7 billion), and Making Work Pay and other tax credits ($21 billion). The items in parentheses add up to $238 billion, more than enough to service the debt with $133 billion left for welfare and other programs.
If servicing the debt is given the top priority over welfare programs and other expenses, the debt is easily serviced but the expansive government would have to be reigned in.
Corporations do not pay taxes, they collect them
When liberals add new taxes on corporations they often say they are taxing the “evil rich” corporations to avoid putting the burden of supporting the government on the backs of the citizens. This is happening today as federal spending advocates seek to produce more federal income to support their flagrant spending habits.
Corporations set the prices for the goods and services they produce so that the money they collect exceeds the cost of those goods and services. In this way the corporations are able to make a profit and stay in business. Unlike the government, if corporate revenue did not exceed expenses and they made no profit they would soon disappear.
So when a corporation has increased expenses from an added tax it necessarily raises its prices to maintain its profitability. Since all corporations are equally taxed, their compensating price adjustments do not put any of them at a competitive disadvantage with their peers. However, if other countries do not raise corporate taxes, local corporations could be at a competitive disadvantage in the world marketplace. The U.S. corporate tax rate of 35% is the highest in the developed world.
The corporation thus becomes the tax collector. The effect on the citizens is the same; they just pay the corporation instead of the Internal Revenue Service. The corporate tax does give the citizens some added flexibility. They can choose not to buy the taxed products or services.
It is similar to the local sales tax. The state levies a sales tax on restaurants requiring them to pay a percentage of their sales, and the restaurants add the sales tax to the patrons’ bills. The restaurant becomes the tax collection entity. Since all restaurants do the same thing none are at a competitive disadvantage with the others. But if a nearby state has no or a lower sales tax, the restaurants could lose business to establishments in the nearby state.
The people who tell you they are sparing you the burden of paying for your government by instituting a corporate tax instead of an individual income tax are either naïve or dishonest.
David Barton of Wallbuilders speaks at Christ Fellowship – watch
Many of you who went to the 3rd of July Patriotic Service at Christ Fellowship had hoped to also see David Barton. The sermon has been posted online and can be viewed here.
Jam packed with historical references – if you haven’t heard Barton speak before – you’re in for a real treat and a great history lesson!
The Taxpayer Lost, 4-3
In Washington DC, an ideological battle of the century is taking place between the forces of wealth redistribution ($2 Trillion in new taxes?) and conventional economics (you don’t raise taxes with 9.2% unemployment). There is little likelihood of compromise, because each is influenced by a mindset that cannot accept the others worldview.
So too in Palm Beach County there is a deep divide between those who see no problem in raising tax rates “a little bit more”, and those that think we have crossed a line with 25% increases over the last two years. On Monday, the County Commission voted 4-3 to set the maximum millage for 2012 to 4.8751, a 2.6% increase. The actual tax rate will be set in September at this rate or lower, but they could have acted now to prevent a hike.
On one side are those that are beneficiaries of other people’s money – the myriad of residents who benefit from county programs financed by property taxes, and their champions on the county commission. Raising tax rates comes natural to them.
These would include Burt Aaronson, whose constituents in district 5 “like their services”, and are always willing to “pay a little more” in taxes to keep them coming. How much tax does a $60K condo owner pay anyway? Commissioner Aaronson wanted to restore some cuts to the financially assisted agencies (FAA) that he thought were $60,000. When it was pointed out that the amount was really $600,000, it did not seem to make any difference. Easy come, easy go.
Another champion is Jess (“don’t talk about millage!”) Santamaria. Commissioner Santamaria is very worried about the county employees being ravaged by inflation that is almost 3%. On top of that, they are being asked to contribute 3% to their pensions. “That’s like paying 6% more for everything!”. Does the commissioner think that only employees of the county are affected by inflation and pay for their retirement? Someone should mention to the Commissioner that FRS reform would not be reversed by raising the millage, nor would a rollback rate give county employees a raise.
Another is Priscilla Taylor. Commissioner Taylor has more real-world experience than most of them, having run a business and been in the legislature and on the Port Commission. Normally she brings a refreshing analysis to an issue, but in this month’s discussion on tax rates, she seemingly phoned it in – acting as if raising the rates to rollback (“pennies a day”) is an obvious choice since the cuts “do not amount to anything anyway”. After all, 50% of the respondents to her “online poll” think raising tax rates is just fine with them.
Then there are the three commissioners who voted to keep the maximum millage at 4.75 and not raise our tax rates.
Steven Abrams is usually the wise voice of reason on the board, and the closest thing we have to a fiscal conservative. He voted against the tax hikes of the last two years, and has the ability to see beyond the hoards of petitioners with their outstretched hands and consider the effect on the local economy. Commissioner Abrams can usually be relied upon to do the right thing.
Paulette Burdick is a participant in her first budget season as a commissioner and has been operating in a very responsible way. She has taken the Sheriff to task over the excesses in his budget and faced down his CFO George Forman on the point that the Sheriff must do his fair share. She has gone farther than the other commissioners in raising that issue. Although members of different parties, she and Commissioner Abrams seem to agree that now is not the time to raise tax rates.
Karen Marcus, not usually seen as a tax cutter (she voted for the increases of the last two years), this time voted against the rate hike. Representing the only district that leans right (41% Republican), she may be picking up on some of the uptick in tea party interest in local issues among the north county residents. As Chairman this year, it was her direction to staff to bring in a flat millage budget in the first place.
Which brings us to the “swing vote”, Shelley Vana.
Commissioner Vana likes to have it both ways. She wants to find “efficiencies” and think outside of the box on budget choices. She doesn’t want to see a lot of cuts (in the past she has said she totally opposes layoffs or any discussion of outsourcing), but she wishes we could find a way to spend less. Then she voted for the higher rollback tax rate, suggesting that it was “just a starting point” until we can find some additional savings before the September hearings. How perfectly reasonable and wise! We will try! We will study! Maybe we can do it!
This is what is known in some circles as “thinking with your heart”. This is the behavior of a politician, not a leader. A leader who really believed that a 3% rate hike was avoidable, would set the bar at 4.75 and set out to make it come true by forcing some of those “efficiencies” she is always talking about. Instead we get dithering and pretty words.
It should be noted that Shelley Vana is the only commissioner who is currently up for re-election in 2012*. Do the voters in district 3 know what their commissioner is doing?
There are now about 8 weeks before the next budget meeting on September 13. Get involved – let your commissioner know how you feel about another tax rate increase, and plan to attend that meeting. Those who benefit from the county programs will be there in numbers. Show the commissioners there is another view in the community.
(*Note: There will also be elections in districts 1 and 5, but the incumbents are currently precluded from running by the term limits law. Since there is a likelihood that this law, passed by 70% of the voters will be challenged in court, Karen Marcus and/or Burt Aaronson could be running also.)
Aug 15th Jupiter /PBG Monthly Meeting (note date/venue change)
UPDATED – MEETING NOTICE – Jupiter / Palm Beach Gardens Chapter
Congress will most likely be in session through Aug 2nd. This makes it difficult to confirm that Congressman Allen West will be able to join us on at our August 1st Jupiter/Palm Beach Gardens Chapter meeting. To alleviate the risk, we have moved this meeting to Monday, August 15th. Congressman West will be our keynote speaker and Joyce Kaufman has also kindly agreed to reschedule to that date..Everyone Welcome! Children 10 and under are half price – children 3 and under are free.
Please participate in our Book Exchange. $5 Hard Cover $2 Paperback. Historical novels, commentary and political viewpoints are the theme . Knowledge is key.
DATE: Monday, August 15, 2011
TIME: Doors open at 5:30 PM, Buffet at 6:00 PM ($15 including non-alcoholic beverages, tax, & gratuity). Cash bar.); Meeting at 7:00 PM
PLACE: Doubletree Inn 4431 PGA Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Cash and/or check payable at door
Keynote Speaker: US Congressman Allen West, Florida District 22. Question and Answer session to follow his talk.
Click here to RSVP with name and number of buffet attendees: RSVP
For More Information
Email
Call: 561.463.2174
Palm Beach County Tea Party
The numbers behind the debt limit problem
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data shows expected revenue to the U.S. Treasury for 2011 of $2,228.45 billion and “mandatory” expenses of $2,108.28 billion to give a net income before other expenses of $120.17billion. The CBO lists interest on the debt as $225 billion. This means the “mandatory” expenses have to be reduced by $105 billion to service the debt.
The “mandatory” expenses include funds for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans, civilian and military pensions, agriculture, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ($11 billion), food stamps ($77 billion), earned income and child tax credits ($77 billion), family support ($27 billion), child nutrition ($18 billion), foster care ($7 billion), and Making Work Pay and other tax credits ($21 billion). The items in parentheses add up to $238 billion, more than enough to service the debt with $133 billion left for welfare and other programs. If servicing the debt is given the top priority over welfare programs and other expenses, the debt is easily serviced but the expansive government would have to be reigned in.
Kill Obamacare in the debt talks
The politicians trying to decide what to do about a national debt that has exceeded the statutory debt limit should quickly agree to two items supported by a large majority of the American people
1. Kill Obamacare
2. Kill all talk of any tax increases
Eliminating Obamacare will eliminate the many bureaucracies that have been established to write the new regulations that will enable the government to swallow up one-sixth of our economy. It will also eliminate the legions of people who were hired to write those regulations
Eliminating talk of tax increases will help protect our fragile economy from the deleterious effects of the federal government extracting additional financial resources in a time of recession.
While the politicians worry and debate about how to reduce unaffordable so-called “mandatory” expenditures like food stamps and Fannie Mae, there should be no hesitancy about tossing out Obamacare and tax increases.
