Obama Weighing Broad Overhaul for Income Tax

[ProSense]

Obama Weighing Broad Overhaul for Income Tax

By JACKIE CALMES

WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering whether to push early next year for an overhaul of the income tax code to lower rates and raise revenues in what would be his first major effort to begin addressing the long-term growth of the national debt.

While administration officials cautioned on Thursday that no decisions have been made and that any debate in Congress could take years, Mr. Obama has directed his economic team and Treasury Department analysts to review options for closing loopholes and simplifying income taxes for corporations and individuals, though the study of the corporate tax system is farther along, officials said.

The objective is to rid the code of its complex buildup of deductions, credits and exemptions, thereby broadening the base of taxes collected and allowing for lower rates — much like a bipartisan majority on Mr. Obama’s fiscal commission recommended last week in its final blueprint for reducing the debt through 2020.

Doing so would offer not only an opportunity to begin confronting the growth in the national debt but also a way to address warnings by American business that corporate tax rates and the costs of complying with the tax code are cutting into their global competitiveness.

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[Hello_Kitty]

1. I smell Catfood. eom

[DJ13]

4. I think its more like digested catfood

:banghead:

[ProSense]

5. You mean the dreaded

commission that went out wimper?

[Hello_Kitty]

11. Right, it was an 11th dimensional chess feint.

Except that many of the recommendations are going to be considered a la carte. "Reforming the tax code" was one of them.

[pa28]

26. It did?

I just read otherwise here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=555813&mesg_id=555813

It's the Simpson-Bowles blueprint for a regressive overhaul of our tax burden.

[donco6]

2. Oh Jesus! What the hell is he going to give up for THAT?

Hang on to your privates, here he comes again.

[Autumn]

3. LOL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ProSense]

6. Apparently, it doesn't matter

You've already decided whatever it is will be the worst.

[donco6]

9. I have lots and lots of precedent to fall back on.

That's why I'm :scared:

[ProSense]

14. I don't see it.

I see a lot of fear mongering, but nothing to back it up.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mikekohr]

18. Kick

[COLGATE4]

29. Nope, nothing to see here. Move along...

none so blind as those who will not see

[ProudDad]

31. Every Administration sell out for the last two years...

backs it up...

It's not fear mongering. It's pointing out the Dem Pattern for the last 4 years and Obama's for the last 2...

If you fear that, then you're finally getting it...

[OHdem10]

7. The Republicans Dream number 2.. The reduced Payroll Tax

was their big idea for years now and I would list
Republican Dream #1. What is going on here---Umm
Uhm----.

[enid602]

8. oxymoron

". . .overhaul of the income tax code to lower rates and raise revenues. . ." That says it all.

[DJ13]

10. Sounds like

Supplyside Jesus

[ProSense]

12. No,

closing loopholes and ending tax breaks may will offset this, and it's likely to make individual rates more fair.

Currently, despite the rates, high-income indidividuals get way too many tax breaks.

[donco6]

13. If he had any interest in closing high-income loopholes -

Why agree to extend the high-end tax cuts? Why on EARTH would we believe he has any intention of doing that? It's total bullshit.

[ProSense]

15. Let me

repeat.

[donco6]

17. I don't do LBLs - say what you need to say. n/t

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[neverforget]

37. "likely to make individual rates more fair" With the Republicans in charge of the house?

:rofl:

[ProSense]

38. This is not

something that is going to happen in a short period of time. The issue will likely be debated for most of the next two years. That doesn't prevent the administration from moving forward with it doing the work required to come up with a proposal.

[BeyondGeography]

19. The Commission had a top rate of 23 percent

offset by the elimination of deductions like mortagage interest over $500K of debt. The problem I have with that is Republicans will be sorely tempted to restore deductions that benefit the wealthy and, of course, fight like animals to keep the top rate at its newly low level. Seems we set ourselves up for a lot of destruction with Simpson-Bowles.

[ibegurpard]

20. "though the study of the corporate tax system is farther along, officials said. "

how surprising...
:eyes:

[I hate liars]

21. Here's an easy way to determine if Obama's proposal is regressive...

Proposing Federal income tax "reforms" is, of course, a favorite ploy of plutocrats who believe that attempting to achieve their ends by amending current tax law is too vulnerable to public scrutiny and protest.

So we need some simple tests to determine whether tax "reform" proposals actually achieve purported fairness and simplification goals or are instead trojan horses designed to make the tax system even more regressive.

One simple test is to compare tax rates under current law with proposed tax rates for individuals and families who do not currently exploit tax loopholes.

If rates go up for such taxpayers (except for minor anomalies at bracket boundaries), we can be pretty sure that the new system is designed to be more regressive than the current one - unless the new system is designed to increase overall revenues - which, of course, won't be the case, because that would make it unpassable in this tax-averse climate.

But we know how this is going to turn out, don't we?

[Hello_Kitty]

25. Welcome to DU, I hate liars.

I'm liking the cut of your jib so far. :thumbsup:

[paulk]

22. "Mr. Obama has directed his economic team"

somehow, that doesn't exactly give me a good feeling...

[ProudDad]

33. YEAH!

Summers, Geitner and the crew?

:hide:

[msongs]

23. obama's war is costing us a lot more than unaccountable $$ billions nt

[Safetykitten]

24. Quite a busy guy. So much to cut and so much to give to others.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. Let me guess - 15% Flat Tax!!

(I'm only half joking)

[COLGATE4]

28. Oh Christ, no!!! By the time that's over and done with we will

really be fucked this time!

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[midnight armadillo]

35. This will wait until the gov fails to raise the debt ceiling next year

and then they'll push hard for a near flat tax.

[kestrel91316]

36. Just watch - the RW will demand an across-the-board tax rate of 20%

with no deductions/loopholes etc (which would devastate the poor), and in the spirit of bipartisanship Obama will hand it to them, no questions asked. Either that, or a national sales tax plus a head tax. Or whatever.

[jeanpalmer]

39. Raising revenue sounds like a tax increase

Didn't he just say it would be wrong to raise taxes in the middle of a recession? This is just a smokescreen for raising taxes. Income tax simplification -- that's how it will be sold.

[quaker bill]

40. Taxing more income at a generally lower rate

Raising taxes will happen. The size of cuts needed to bring the current deficit under control simply will not work. The only real question is who pays. None of this will happen in the "middle of a recession" as the republicans will never pass anything remotely reasonable, so were talking at least 2 years before anything happens.