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Congress
Raises the Cap On National Debt
The Senate voted on Thursday to raise the ceiling
on US borrowing authority to $8.965 trillion, an increase of $781 billion from
the previous level. The legislation, which narrowly passed with a 58-42 vote
largely along party lines, was viewed by supporters as a necessary measure to
avoid a possible government default on debt this month. This step, which
represents the fourth debt cap raise since 2002, will now go to President Bush
for his signature.
Source: National Libertarian Party (online), March
17, 2006
America's wackiest taxes
History is littered with odd tax schemes. William Pitt the Younger
introduced a tax on windows in Britain. Peter the Great taxed souls, and
Nero, urine.
Let no man say that we here in America cannot compete for oddity of tax
laws. We have some really weird assessments on the books.
Source: CNN, February 22, 2005
Private Firms to Chase Delinquent Taxpayers
When Reps. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
teamed up in September to get the House to pass an amendment blocking
the use of private companies to collect back taxes from delinquent
taxpayers, it seemed the Bush administration plan might be doomed for
at least a year.
But in the final hours of drafting a 3,300-page spending bill last
month, House and Senate negotiators eliminated Capito's and Van
Hollen's handiwork, clearing the way for the Internal Revenue Service
to hire commercial debt collectors. These private agents could keep as
much as 25 percent of the amounts they recovered.
Source: The Washington Post (online), December 5, 2004
Property taxes rising nationwide
While fuel prices may be starting to skid,
there's another expense closer to home that is upsetting many
Americans: rising property taxes.
From Madison, Wis., to Bucks County, Pa., the
local tax assessor is dipping deeper into homeowners' pockets as real
estate prices rise and states share less of their tax revenue with
local governments.
Source: Christian Science Monitor, December 3, 2004
U.S. Tax Take at Post WWII High
For millions of middle-class families
singled out for tax relief by Congress, the federal income tax burden is
hundreds of dollars a year less than it was just four years ago. Yet the
overall U.S. tax take from the economy is higher than at any time since
World War II.
Source: Washington Post,
April 8, 2000
Clinton
Demanding Tax Law Changes
Budget analysts observe...that the demands Clinton
is proposing would have the net effect of redistributing wealth from those
who pay taxes to those who do not
Source: http:www.reagan.com/
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