fiscal cliff – RI Future

Regressive Taxes Now Defines Progressive Victory

Bob Plain — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:21:17 +0000

President Obama makes his case for re-election at DNC. (Photo by John McDaid)

Progressives, liberals and Democrats have been getting their political butts kicked for so long that marginal defeats are starting to feel like victories. Such can certainly be said about Obama’s compromise on tax policy.

The president campaigned on reversing tax breaks on those who make more than $250,000 a year. Instead he settled for increases on those who make more than $450,000 and less than $113,000 (yeah, that’s who pays payroll taxes).

According to the New York Times, those who earn between $450,000 and $1 million will see an average income tax increase of about $6,700. Those who earn less than $50,000 will see an increase of about $1,000 in payroll taxes.

While taxes went up on 77 percent of Americans, the roughly 1 percent who makes between $250,000 and a half million were not asked to sacrifice to help the country avoid the fiscal cliff.

I spoke with someone in the enviable position yesterday. It didn’t really occur to them that the fiscal cliff deal had broken in their financial favor. That’s because it won’t have any impact on their spending; when one clears a cool quarter million every year, financial planning about how large you want to live in retirement compared to how much you want to leave to your kids to spend – not about how much or little you will participate in economic transactions.

I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of Rhode Islanders who were spared a tax increase this week will not notice it one way or another. They will go on vacation, or out to dinner, or renovate their kitchens, or start a small business with little to no regard for what happened – or didn’t happen – in Washington D.C, just like the person with whom I spoke yesterday. I’d also be willing to bet that the vast majority of Rhode Islanders who earn more than $250,000 don’t objected to paying higher taxes, as is also the case with the person I spoke with yesterday.

Americans Call for Tax Increases on the Wealthy

Bob Plain — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:41:32 +0000

House Republicans may not want to see taxes raised on the rich, but the American people sure do. Reporting from outside the Capitol building is Graham Vyse, a former Chafee communications staffer who is now a grad student at American University’s Journalism and Public Affairs program.

Fiscal Cliff Negotiations, As Told By SNL, Robert Reich

Bob Plain — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:50:05 +0000

Let’s hope this isn’t how negotiations go between President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner as they try to hammer out a deal on the fiscal cliff. Although the real joke is that Democrats could cave in spite of all the negotiating power they have…

Just in case Obama and the Democrats do start feeling bad for Boehner and start thinking of caving in, Robert Reich offers this piece of advice:

And for a local spin on the fiscal cliff, check out Rhode Island Public Radio’s week-long series on how the deal could affect the Ocean State.

Whitehouse: GOP Holding Middle Class Hostage

Bob Plain — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 04:59:45 +0000

“Republicans fighting for millionaires and billionaires is not a new story,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on the floor of the US Senate yesterday. It happens to be the current story too.

Well, in the case of the fiscal cliff, House Republicans are actually fighting for the 2 percent, or the affluent American families who earn more than $250,000 a year.

“…threatening middle class families with higher taxes is their strategy,” Whitehouse said. “The hostage strategy, with the middle class as the hostages, as Republicans fight for who they really care about.”

Watch it here:

Democrats, Don’t Throw My House Off the Fiscal Cliff

Russ Conway — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 10:42:54 +0000

With the election over, across the country progressives are wondering, will the 2nd Obama administration be more progressive than the first? I’m not holding my breath on that one. Of particular concern for me and for you if you’re a home owner, is the potential for a disastrous change in the home mortgage deduction.

We’re the folks on the front-end of our mortgages, who bought at the height of the boom in Providence and elsewhere and who have diligently made our mortgage payments. We’re the ones who decided to ride out the storm and who have the misfortune of not having a loan owned by Fannie or Freddie, with the potential for a below market refi. Our mortgage rates are near double the current rate and the banks have next to no incentive to modify the loan. Hey, we’re the ones who are still paying! Yes, if you’re like me there’s been no bailout for you, and unfortunately the “grand bargain” (Orwellian language if I ever heard it) may put you into foreclosure. Progressives take note.

At issue is the elimination of the so called “tax loophole” of the mortgage deduction. You may not be in this position, but if you’re a homeowner, a second round of foreclosures in the neighborhood is the last thing you need and is a recipe for a double-dip recession if I ever heard one. The question for progressives is, what grand bargain do we strike with the Obama administration? Is our support unconditional? A Romney administration would certainly have been worse, but is a restoration of the Bush tax cuts to the modest levels of a decade ago enough?

Progressives, the time is now to speak up. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid are all on the table, yet again asking the working class to bailout the bankers. I say a vote for a grand bargain is a vote for a grand betrayal, further sinking the middleclass. Will progressives demand more?