Archive for April, 2010

Costly IRS Mandate Slipped into Health Bill

Friday, April 30th, 2010

“Most people know about the individual mandate in the new health care bill, but the bill contained another mandate that could be far more costly.”

“A few wording changes to the tax code’s section 6041 regarding 1099 reporting were slipped into the 2000-page health legislation. The changes will force millions of businesses to issue hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of additional IRS Form 1099s every year. It appears to be a costly, anti-business nightmare.”

“Under current law, businesses are required to issue 1099s in a limited set of situations, such as when paying outside consultants. The health care bill includes a vast expansion in this information reporting requirement in an attempt to raise revenue for an increasingly rapacious Congress.”

“In a recent summary, tax information firm RIA notes the types of transactions covered by the new 1099 rules:

The 2010 Health Care Act adds “amounts in consideration for property” (Code Sec. 6041(a) as amended by 2010 Health Care Act §9006(b)(1)) and “gross proceeds” (Code Sec. 6041(a) as amended by 2010 Health Care Act §9006(b)(2)) to the pre-2010 Health Care Act categories of payments for which an information return to IRS will be required if the $600 aggregate payment threshold is met in a tax year for any one payee. Thus, Congress says that for payments made after 2011, the term “payments” includes gross proceeds paid in consideration for property or services.

“Basically, businesses will have to issue 1099s whenever they do more than $600 of business with another entity in a year. For the $14 trillion U.S. economy, that’s a hell of a lot of 1099s…”

Complete  commentary  by Chris Edwards @ http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/26/costly-irs-mandate-slipped-into-health-bill/

Ron Paul:End the Mandate!

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

“Last week I introduced a very important piece of legislation that I hope will gain as much or more support as my Audit the Fed bill. HR 4995, the End the Mandate Act will repeal provisions of the newly passed health insurance reform bill that give the government the power to force Americans to purchase government-approved health insurance. “

“The whole bill is rotten, but this provision especially is a blatant violation of the Constitution. Defenders claim the Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate “interstate commerce” gives it the power to do this. However, as Judge Andrew Napolitano and other distinguished legal scholars and commentators have pointed out, even the broadest definition of “regulating interstate commerce” cannot reasonably encompass forcing Americans to engage in commerce by purchasing health insurance. Not only is it unconstitutional; it is a violation of the basic freedom to make our own decisions regarding how best to meet the health care needs of ourselves and our families.”

 Rep. Ron Paul explains his push to repeal the insurance mandate @ http://www.smallgovtimes.com/2010/04/ron-paul-on-his-end-the-mandate-push/

END MARIJUANA PROHIBITION:Freedom Is The Issue

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Every year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of people are arrested for possession of marijuana. Individuals accused of growing or selling marijuana can be sent to prison for years, and can have their car, their house and other property confiscated by the government. Every year, the federal government and the various state and local governments spend billions of tax dollars trying to stop people from growing, selling or using marijuana.

Politicians and police chiefs admit that they are unable to protect us from violent crime. And yet they are using scarce police resources to arrest and prosecute peaceful and otherwise law-abiding marijuana smokers. This makes no sense at all!

Despite the threat of punishment, millions of Americans smoke marijuana on a regular basis. In doing so, they put themselves at risk of police harassment as well as criminal penalties. They also prove by their action that not all Americans support marijuana prohibition.

Read more @ http://www.antiwar.com/berkman/marijuan.html

Grace-Marie Turner: Obamacare will make every day feel like April 15th

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

“New taxes on investments, taxes on medical supplies, taxes on drugs and health insurance, and taxes on you if you are just breathing… the list of taxes Americans will face just got a lot longer thanks to ObamaCare.”

“The health overhaul plan just enacted represents the largest tax hike in U.S. history – $569 billion over 10 years through a dizzying array of taxes and fees that promise to frustrate taxpayers at every turn.  ObamaCare will make every day feel like April 15th.”

“And despite President Obama’s campaign promise that no one making $250,000 or less would see a tax increase, Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation confirms that these tax hikes will hit millions of middle- and working-class families who are struggling to make ends meet.”

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Grace-Marie-Turner-Obamacare-will-make-every-day-feel-like-April-15th-90773369.html#ixzz0l7TMJ4Fa

Ron Paul: Obama Is Another Corporatist, Not a Socialist

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

“The idea that President Barack Obama is a socialist is popular among many conservatives; all of us have seen automobiles sporting the bumper sticker reading, Don’t Blame Me; I Didn’t Vote For the Socialist — obviously referring to Obama. Not so fast, says, of all people, Ron Paul (R-Texas). ”

Addressing the Southern Republican Leadership Conference during its third day, Dr. Paul told the audience, “The question has been raised about whether or not our president is a socialist….  I am sure there are some people here who believe it. But in the technical sense, in the economic definition of a what a socialist is, no, he’s not a socialist.”

Dr. Paul continued, “He’s a corporatist. And unfortunately we have corporatists inside the Republican party and that means you take care of corporations and corporations take over and run the country.”

Steven Yates takes an in-depth look at Corporatism and who loves it @ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/economy/commentary-mainmenu-43/3303-ron-paul-obama-is-another-corporatist-not-a-socialist

Can Romney Lead the Fight against ObamaCare?

Monday, April 12th, 2010

“Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have just run major stories on presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s difficulties in getting people to understand the difference between his Massachusetts universal-health-care plan, which featured an individual mandate, subsidies, and forbidding insurance companies to deny coverage for preexisting conditions, and the Obama-Reid-Pelosi plan, which features an individual mandate, subsidies, and forbidding insurance companies to deny coverage for preexisting conditions.”

“President Obama is putting Romney on the spot by telling Matt Lauer that his bill is similar to Romney’s. Daniel Gross of Newsweek recommends that Obama hire Romney — someone who has management experience, no current job, and “relevant experience in implementing a large-scale health-care reform program, ideally one that involved using an individual mandate and the private insurance system to attain near-universal health insurance” — to run ObamaCare.”

David Boaz looks at the new face of big government conservatism @ http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/12/can-romney-lead-the-fight-against-obamacare/

Bush Was a Statist, Not a Conservative

Monday, April 12th, 2010

“A former White House speechwriter, Mark Thiessen, has jumped to the defense of his former boss, writing for the Washington Post that George W. Bush “established a conservative record without parallel.” Even by the loose standards of Washington, that is a jaw-dropping assertion. I’ve been explaining for years that Bush was a big-government advocate, even writing a column back in 2007 for the Washington Examiner pointing out that Clinton had a much better economic record from a free-market perspective.”

Daniel Mitchell debunks a defense of Bush’s big government conservatism @http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/12/bush-was-a-statist-not-a-conservative/

IRS Gains Broader Powers Under Health Reform

Monday, April 5th, 2010

“Congressional Democrats broadly expanded the powers of the Internal Revenue Service in health reform, says a new analysis from ranking Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee.”

“Republicans on the Subcommittee on Oversight say that this means the IRS can seize tax refunds and can audit taxpayers in order to enforce the new “individual mandate tax,” [IMT] which penalizes taxpayers if they don’t buy health insurance.”

“The IRS could get an estimated 16,500 new workers at an additional taxpayer cost of $10 billion to enforce the insurance mandate, which already faces mounting constitutional challenges, these Republicans say.”

Read more: http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/03/22/irs-gains-broader-powers-under-health-reform/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogs%2Femac+%28Blogs+-+EMac%27s+Stock+Watch%29#ixzz0kGpYcPlE

The Iraq War: Still a Massive Mistake

Monday, April 5th, 2010

“There’s a growing narrative that Iraq’s solidifying democracy makes the seven years of US war and occupation a worthy enterprise.”

“Some observers have even spun Iraq’s March 7 elections as proof that democracy promotion via military occupation can succeed. Don’t believe the hype. The Iraq war remains a mistake of mammoth proportions. And Iraq’s election represents a pyrrhic victory, as the economic, political, and moral costs of the occupation far outweigh any benefits.”

“First are the sacrifices in terms of blood and treasure. The broad consensus is that the war has cost the US economy well over $700 billion – with the meter still running. The Iraq war has also left nearly 4,400 American troops dead, more than 31,000 physically disabled, and countless more psychologically traumatized.”

Malou Innocent looks at the cost  to America and to Iraq of the Iraq War @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11658