Bush Prepares for Changes in Programs and Cabinet (the Cheney Tax Plan)

[Rose Siding]

snip>
A Republican adviser to the White House said there were two distinct strains of thinking within the administration about tax simplification.

One group, which the adviser said included Vice President Dick Cheney, supports throwing out the existing tax system and replacing it with a new one, built around the idea of exempting savings and investment from taxation and effectively levying a tax only on consumption. The new system, in this view, could be either a national sales tax or a single-rate flat income tax that as a practical matter only applies to income that people do not save or invest.

The other group, which the adviser said includes Treasury Secretary John Snow and Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, prefers an approach styled after what President Ronald Reagan and Congress did to reshape the tax code in 1986. They want to keep in place the progressive income tax structure, but to reduce rates and offset the foregone revenue by closing loopholes, cutting out special interest tax breaks and eliminating most deductions except those for home mortgage interest and charitable giving.

"That's the debate," said the adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so he would not run afoul of the White House, which prefers to announce policy decisions only after internal differences have been ironed out.

There are similar differences within the administration on how to cover costs of shifting to a system in which workers can invest a part of their Social Security payroll taxes in private retirement accounts.

http://nytimes.com/2004/11/07/politics/07term.html

It's hard to believe that just last year we argued about whether all or just part of Bush's tax cuts should be rolled back. Good times!

[maddezmom]

1. time for dick to cover his earnings from Halliburton

and make sure all his cronies get the payback they paid for during the elections. :(

[creeksneakers2]

2. In other words

They are planning to dump the entire tax burden on the working and middle classes.

[cubsfan forever]

3. To the working and middle class folks

who voted for b/c: "Hungry? Eat your bumper-stickers!"

Professor 2

[theHandpuppet]

6. Bingo!

And yet a goodly portion of the 60 mil fools who voted for Tweedledumb and Tweedledick are the very people who are going to get screwed over. It's Malice in Wonderland time, folks!

[durablend]

7. PRAISE THE LORD!

ALL (red states) HAIL GOD W BUSH!!!

[teryang]

4. Supermen do not suffer the shackles of taxation

That is only for weaklings.

[tanyev]

5. I think we're about to be Cheneyed.

[thecrow]

8. Not much of a choice is it?

On the one hand the middle class gets f'ed.
On the other hand.... oh wait... there is no other hand.

[Rose Siding]

9. The con is begun with this "ownership society" crap

Americans are easy to persuade. I remember seeing stats about a huge percentage of the public actually believing they fell into the catagory of "rich" whenever mention was made of rolling back tax cuts on the "rich". 20% or more believed they were in the top 2%.

[snippy]

10. I have seen several Tax Cut Monkeys and Reich Wingers say that

the plan is to create a back door consumption tax on only wages and salaries. All investment income will be nontaxable and unlimited deductions will be allowed for contributions to investment accounts.

[against all enemies]

11. After they go bankrupt, will Bush supporters still vote Repub?

[Rose Siding]

12. Yes!

snip> On Sept. 10, 2001, Cary Leslie was earning about $55,000 a year. On Sept. 12, the decline began. No one was flying. No one was renting cars. Down went the commissions he gets when customers sign up for insurance coverage. ''Maybe $35,000," Cary Leslie said of what he earns now, and that includes income from a second job he took a year ago, delivering pizzas Friday and Saturday nights.

Forty hours a week at the car-rental counter, 12 hours a week running pizzas, the pinch of gasoline at $2 a gallon, savings drained, the realization that he and his wife are ''kind of the working poor" -- and still it was moral concerns, rather than economic ones, that guided both of them on Election Day.

''I don't blame President Bush for anything that's happened with my income," Cary Leslie said. Rather, he looks at Bush as someone who believes in ''personal responsibility," which Cary Leslie believes in as well.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2004/11/07/for_evangelical_family_bushs_victory_due_to_values_prayer?pg=2

[AG78]

13. Yes

As long as there's a threat of gay marriage and God being killed.

They will vote Republican, see the Hollywood liberal elite get a tax cut, get pissed, and vote Republican again because they'll tell them that the Hollywood liberal elite controls the country. And then the Hollywood liberal elite will get another tax cut. Bush supporters will vote Republican again because they're pissed, and the Hollywood liberal elite will get another tax cut. That cycle will continue endlessly.

The Culture War...catch it!

[CBHagman]

14. NO CHENEY CONSUMPTION TAX

This ought to go over like a lead balloon with retailers and the workers, but we have to start hammering it this very week. I'll try to dig out Cheney's office number and contacts this week and post them. I may even go over to the whoreson's housing and start protesting.

Anyway, we have yet another glimpse into the depravity of Dick Cheney. His cardiologist cannot save him from the essential sickness of his soul.

[Rose Siding]

15. Cox News Service has similar coverage (aren't they very conservative?)

thanks to question everything for finding this one

Bush's tax plan may aid owners, not earners
Aim is promoting 'ownership' society; critics say it may shift burden off wealthy.

By MARILYN GEEWAX
Cox News Service


WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush says a dramatic overhaul of the tax code is a top priority of his second- term agenda. Though its details are hazy, the plan already is raising questions about fairness and affordability.

Bush has long made it clear he wants to restructure the tax system to promote an "ownership society" that encourages millions of average Americans to own property and financial securities.

"I believe strongly in ownership, because I know if you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of the United States of America," Bush said in a typical campaign comment as he traveled in Michigan last August.

That vision will play out in the tax code with reforms that further reduce taxes on dividends, interest payments and capital gains, said Stephen Moore, founder of the conservative Club for Growth and author of a new book, "Bullish On Bush: How George Bush's Ownership Society Will Make America Stronger."

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/11/07/sections/business/your_money/article_302357.php

[IronLionZion]

16. This would help people like George Soros

:wtf:

Some people make all their income from investments....and make a lot of it! Why shouldn't they get taxed too?

I'm going to get flamed for this, but I would support a tax on consumption because then rich people don't escape as easily. Everyone who buys stuff gets taxed. And it's transparent so it's harder or even impossible to cheat.

But I bet you Cheney will find a way to screw us. I've heard of people in the UK declaring themselves a small business (like timber :P) to avoid their national sales tax.

[uncertainty1999]

17. Alternative minimum tax = elephant in the room

The Dems should go after AMT aggressively (AMT was supposed to prevent millionaires from escaping taxation via loopholes, but is starting to snare upper middle class families in it - it prevents them from taking typical deductions. AMT is targeting lower and lower income levels each year, so that in some relatively short number of years, something outrageous like 50-90% of us will pay AMT.