Liberty Central – D.C. Reports 11/3/11

Video of our meeting on the Fair Tax

Here’s a video of the meeting NETTP hosted on the Fair Tax:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NETarrantTeaParty1#p/u/6/sYXSlPagMHc

Liberty Central – D.C. Reports 9/08/11

Liberty Central is excited to serve as an Ambassador-at-Large to our grassroots friends.  We are continually meeting with conservative leaders and coalition groups, as well as our conservative champions on the Hill to provide a dialogue between grassroots and D.C.  Here is a quick report on what’s brewing inside the Beltway this week:

For the remainder of this week, and continuing into next week, the House will focus on the following:

• Intelligence reauthorization

• FAA extension

• The House must consider resolution of disapproval for the first tranche of the debt ceiling increase by September 22

• Tax fights regarding the gas tax expiring at the end of September, as well as the payroll tax

• Monday, the Super Committee is scheduled to meet with the head of the CBO

• REINS Act, requiring Congressional approval for regulations which have an economic impact of $100 million or more

• A possible short-term continuing resolution to carry us through November

The Senate is required to consider a disapproval resolution (recently offered by Mitch McConnell) for the first tranche of the debt ceiling increase by next Wednesday, 9/14.

It will also take up the patent bill, likely to include the Coburn amendment ending fee diversion.  Finally, FAA and highway reauthorizations are up for consideration as these expire on 9/16 and 9/30, respectively.

In anticipation of the pending budget battles, here’s a reminder of the legislation passed in the House but not considered in the Senate:

Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act – HR 910

Energy Tax Prevention Act – HR 2018

Consumer Financial Protection & Soundness Improvement Act – HR 1315

Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act – HR 1230

Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act – HR 1229

Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act – HR 1231

Jobs & Energy Permitting Act of 2011 – HR 2021

North American-Made Energy Security Act – HR 1938

Budget for Fiscal Year 2012 – H.Con.Res.34

Katy E. Blackwell

Liberty Central, Inc.

Liberty Central – D.C. Reports 9/04/11

Warren Buffett’s Tax Dodge

from: REVIEW AND OUTLOOK August 17th, 2011

The billionaire volunteers the middle class for a tax increase.

Barney Kilgore, the man who made the Wall Street Journal into a national publication, was once asked why so many rich people favored higher taxes. That’s easy, he replied. They already have their money.

That insight is worth recalling amid the latest political duet from President Obama and Warren Buffett demanding higher taxes on “millionaires and billionaires.” Mr. Buffett is repeating his now familiar argument this week, coinciding with Mr. Obama’s Midwestern road trip on the economy. Since the media are treating Mr. Buffett as a tax oracle, let’s take a closer look at some of the billionaire’s intellectual tax dodges.

• The double tax oversight. The Berkshire Hathaway magnate makes much of the fact that he paid only 17.4% of his income in taxes, which he considers unfair when salaried workers often pay more. But Mr. Buffett makes most of his income from his investments, in particular from dividends and capital gains that are taxed at a rate of 15%.

What he doesn’t say is that much of his income was already taxed once as corporate income, which is assessed at a 35% rate (less deductions). The 15% levy on capital gains and dividends to individuals is thus a double tax that takes the overall tax rate on that corporate income closer to 45%.

This onerous tax on capital is a U.S. competitive disadvantage in the global economy, which is why Congress agreed in 2003 to cut the rates on dividends and capital gains. Even as the rest of the world is cutting tax rates on corporate income, Mr. Buffett wants to raise U.S. rates in a way that would make America less attractive for investment. Under a sensible tax reform, the feds would impose either a corporate tax or a dividend and capital gains tax, but not both.

• The middle-class bait-and-switch. Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Buffett speaks about raising taxes only on the rich. But somehow he ignores that the President’s tax increase starts at $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Mr. Obama ought to call them “thousandaires,” but that probably doesn’t poll as well.

The President needs to levy his tax increase at such a lower income level because that’s where the money is. In 2009, 237,000 taxpayers reported income above $1 million and they paid $178 billion in taxes. A mere 8,274 filers reported income above $10 million, and they paid only $54 billion in taxes.

But 3.92 million reported income above $200,000 in 2009, and they paid $434 billion in taxes. To put it another way, roughly 90% of the tax filers who would pay more under Mr. Obama’s plan aren’t millionaires, and 99.99% aren’t billionaires.

Mr. Buffett says it’s only “fair” to raise his taxes, but he’s lending his credibility to raising taxes on millions of middle-class earners for whom a few extra thousand dollars in after-tax income is a big deal. Unlike Mr. Buffett, those middle-class earners aren’t rich and may earn $250,000 for only a few years of their working lives. How is that fair?

• The charity loophole. For billionaires like Mr. Buffett, the single most important deduction in the tax code is for charitable giving. Middle-class earners can’t give nearly as much money away to reduce their overall tax burden. Yet we don’t hear Mr. Buffett calling for the elimination of that deduction in the name of fairness.

Mr. Buffett has also already sheltered the bulk of his fortune from federal taxes by putting them into a foundation that will give the money away. That’s an act of generosity, but if the government’s purposes are so vital, why doesn’t he simply give the money to the IRS?

Rebecca Quick of CNBC put that question to Mr. Buffett in 2007. His answer: “Well, that’s a choice and it’s an option . . . If I had to give it to a single individual, or make some young Buffett a multibillionaire, or give it to the government, I’d absolutely give it to the government. I think that on balance the Gates Foundation, my daughter’s foundation, my two sons’ foundations will do a better job with lower administrative costs and better selection of beneficiaries than the government.”

Mr. Buffett is no doubt right about the relative efficiency of private donors, but should billionaire philanthropists get such a large tax preference? Another case of fairness?

Mr. Buffett is one of the great stock-pickers of his time, and we don’t begrudge him a single dollar of his wealth. We only wish that, having already made himself rich, he weren’t so intent on making it harder for others to become rich too. If he’s worried about being undertaxed, we’d suggest he simply write a big check to Uncle Sam and go back to his day job of picking investments.

What’s Going on at the National Level – from Liberty Central 7/13/11

TRAVELING PRIMER SERIES: Recapping the 82nd Legislative Session – Austin, TX

TRAVELING PRIMER SERIES: Recapping the 82nd Legislative Session – Austin, TX
Foundation Offices

July 27th, 2011

The Texas Public Policy Foundation

invites you to a policy briefing

Recapping the 82nd Legislative Session

The 82nd legislative session has dominated the news over the last five months. Do you know the whole story behind the budget shortfall and the “Rainy Day Fund?” What does the budget mean for state agencies, higher education institutions, and programs like Medicaid? What can industries and small businesses expect in terms of new regulations and laws? Join senior experts from the Texas Public Policy Foundation as we recap the 82nd legislative session.

featuring reports from:

The Honorable Arlene Wohlgemuth
Texas Public Policy Foundation Executive Director and Director of the Center for Health Care Policy

The Honorable Talmadge Heflin
Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy

Kathleen Hartnett White
Senior Fellow and Director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment

Mario Loyola
Director, Center for Tenth Amendment Studies

Wednesday, July 27, 2011
11:30 am – 1:00 pm (complimentary lunch)
Texas Public Policy Foundation Offices
900 Congress Ave., Ste 400
Austin, Texas 78701

Click here to register!

Keller ISD Uses Knife-To-Throat Tactics

By MQSullivan

For sheer brashness, Keller ISD gets high marks. For fiscal responsibility, they fail miserably. The Metroplex-area school district has put a knife to the throat of every classroom teacher (and therefore school-age child), demanding taxpayers pay up, or else.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial board, in supporting this thuggish behavior, notes that the district is demanding voters agree to a massive tax hike… or it “would eliminate 93 teaching jobs, 16 librarian positions and other staff. Fine arts programs would lose 34 positions…”

Of course, the FWST doesn’t mention that this is a school district spending more than $10,900 per child – with only $4,550 going to the classroom. Or that the superintendent makes a $225,000 annual salary. Or that they have their own natatorium. Or that they have a 1-to-1 ratio between teachers and non-teachers.

Nope, taxpayers need to fork over more cash or the teachers feel the axe and kids get left in an empty classroom.

This is just one more disgusting example of how the out-of-touch the edu-administration establishment really is. They clearly feel no sense of fiduciary responsibility to their bosses (the taxpayers), shame for their behavior to the teachers in their employ, or concern for the children in their care.

The over-spending ISD, and their cheerleaders at the FWST, lay the district’s fiscal problems at a legislature not giving them as much money as they demand. They inexplicably chastise Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for suggesting that there is adequate dollars available to pay for education.

Remember, 60 percent of the state’s General Revenues are now going toward education. And that public education saw an increase in spending at the same time the state budget is being cut $15 billion.

No, the Keller ISD leviathan demands more money.

Keller ISD – and many others like it – are clearly not interested in adequately funding education, despite their claims to the contrary. They regularly under-fund classrooms; how else does one explain that less than 40% of Keller ISD’s expenditures are devoted to the instructional expenses?

No, the bureaucrats in the administration buildings are interested in padding their pockets and pushing programs, while doing the bare minimum to educate Texas’ kids and reward our teachers.

There is simply never enough money for those who recklessly spend it, no matter how much fear and crisis they may try to manufacture.

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

Lt. Governor Dewhurst says Keller ISD should have the money it needs without raising taxes

The following appeared in the letters to the editor in the Star-Telegram:

Keller school funding

The budget the Legislature passed cuts $15 billion from current spending. However, we actually appropriated over $3 billion more in state funding for public education. What this means for the Keller school district, according to the Texas Education Agency, is a $2.7 million increase in funding for the 2011-12 school year. It’s true, the school district isn’t getting as much as they expected, but only in government is lowering a projected increase called a budget cut. According to Keller ISD, the district also maintains a $52 million reserve — $8 million more than required.

Each district has the discretion to ask voters to raise local school property taxes, and Keller ISD residents should exercise that discretion thoughtfully. We all know tightening the belt is never easy. But even with projected enrollment growth over the next two years, Keller ISD should have the money it needs to keep good teachers in the classroom without raising property taxes.

– David Dewhurst, lieutenant governor, Austin

HEADS UP KELLER RESIDENTS!!

Keller ISD wants to raise property taxes by $0.13 and this proposition is currently on the ballot.  This will make Keller tie for having the highest rate in Texas!  Our Keller members believe they are Taxed Enough Already and feel that the school board should work on better spending of the money they already collect… before they give ‘em more!  So they have created a group called KISD Families For Fiscal Responsibility.  For more information on this issue and this group, please go to KISD Families for Fiscal Responsibility or on their facebook page.

Here’s more information from our Keller members:

Concurrent with the Keller City Council and Fort Worth Mayor run-off elections on June 18, voters in the Keller ISD boundaries will also see this Proposition on the ballot to ratify the Board of Trustees approval of a $.13 property tax increase:

Keller Independent School District Special Election

Proposition:   Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $1.67 per $100 valuation in Keller ISD for the current year, a rate that is $0.13 higher per $100 valuation than the school district rollback tax rate.