Tired of all of the rhetoric and none of the truth?

95% of the working class got a tax cut last year. That’s the largest tax cut in US history for middle class and working Americans.

So how is it that the angry and scared members of the radical fringe dominate the news cycle every night?

They scream about deficits and “outrageous taxes.” Where were they when President Bush added almost $5 trillion to our national debt? [1]

Meanwhile our country faces critical challenges in our infrastructure, education, economy and overall quality of life.

Taxes and government are an essential part of all of these.

The answer isn’t “big government” but effective government.

The Other 95 Percent

1. First Time Homebuyers Credit. This credit was originally enacted in 2008, but was extended and enhanced twice in 2009, most recently in The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009. A tax credit of up to $8,000 is now available for qualified first-time homebuyers in 2009. In addition, a tax credit of up to $6,500 is available for qualified existing homeowners who purchase a new principal residence.
2. Making Work Pay Credit. This credit is targeted to lower and middle income taxpayers and is equal to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples. To qualify for the maximum credit, a single person must have earned income of no more than $75,000 and no partial credit is given if earned income exceeds $95,000. For married couples, the earned income limit for a maximum credit is $150,000 with individuals making $190,000 or more receiving no credit.
3. Unemployment Compensation. The first $2,400 of unemployment compensation received in 2009 in excluded from income for federal income tax purposes. This exclusion was only for 2009 and has expired unless it is adopted again sometime this year.
4. Sales and Use Tax Paid on Automobiles. This is a temporary deduction for sales and excise taxes paid relating to the purchase of a qualified new automobile, light truck, or motorcycle purchased through December 31, 2009.
5. Education Incentives. The Recovery Act significantly enhanced the HOPE scholarship credit and renamed it the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC). The new credit has a higher maximum credit amount, is partially refundable, and is available to some higher income earners. It is also expanded to apply to the first four years of post-secondary educations (as opposed to two before.) This credit is set to expire at the end of 2010.
6. Child Tax Credit. The Recovery Act enhanced the child tax credit by making a larger portion of the credit refundable for 2009 and 2010.
7. Earned Income Tax Credit. The Recovery Act increased the Earned Income Tax Credit.
8. Bonus Depreciation. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Recovery Act”) extended bonus depreciation deduction for property placed in service in 2009. This allows businesses to deduct 50% of the qualifying property in the first year that it is placed in service.
9. Section 179 Expensing. The Recovery Act also extended the $250,000 limit on qualifying property that can be expensed by qualifying small businesses under Section 179.
10. Work Opportunity Tax Credit Expansion. The credit rewards employers that hire individuals from targeted groups. The Recovery Act expanded the targeted group to unemployed veterans and disconnect youth.
11. Energy Tax Credits. The 2009 Recovery Act expanded and extended many energy tax incentives for businesses.
12. COBRA Premium Assistance. This provision allows individuals that have been involuntarily terminated to pay only 35% of their COBRA health insurance premiums to their former employers for nine months, and their former employers are required to treat this as full payment. The employers then get to claim a tax credit for the other 65% of the premium on their payroll tax returns. Thus, it should result in no additional liability to the employee or the employer. Currently, COBRA Premium Assistance is only available for individuals involuntarily terminated prior to February 28th, 2010. There are a couple of bills that are proposing to extend this even further.
13. NOL Carryback. Both of the major acts past this year expanded the ability of small and medium sized businesses to count the losses sustained in 2008 or 2009 to recoup taxes paid in the prior five years.

Shame, shame on those dems for not giving the little people a break. Tsk tsk.

“Voters want to see the end of ‘too-big-to-fail’ financial firms but don’t care about the other, more arcane details that divide the two parties.”

Has Congress allowed themselves to become so polarized over the heat of the health care debate that they’ve dismissed good sense when faced with it? Is everyone unwilling to work together even when it is for the common good of all?

“This is so unlike the health care debate,” said Corker, noting that some of his Republican colleagues have made misjudgments on that point over the last month. “I don’t think people realize that this is an issue that almost every American wants to see passed. “I think that again a major strategic error has occurred.”

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Bob Corker: GOP erred on financial reform