The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 09/30/2012 - 10/07/2012

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Full 2012 First U.S. Presidential Debate



October 3, 2012 Debate Transcript:

Click Here

 

2012 Presidential Debate Schedule

October 11, 2012
Vice Presidential
Vice President Joe Biden and Representative Paul Ryan
Topic: Foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)
The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.
October 16, 2012
President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent)
The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.
October 22, 2012
President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Topic: Foreign policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Bob Schieffer (Host of Face the Nation on CBS)
The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate and will focus on foreign policy.

Tickets – Tickets for each debate are controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates and are extremely limited since the debates are primarily produced for television. The majority of tickets are distributed to host university students and faculty through a lottery system. Please click the "Tickets" link next to the college name listed below for further information.
TV Channels – Each debate will be broadcast live on C-SPAN, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, as well as all cable news channels including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC among others.

Friday, October 05, 2012

1st Debate 2012: Top 10 True/False Questions

1. Governor Mitt Romney’s tax plan would burden the middle class.Official_portrait_of_Barack_Obama
President Obama: “[I]ndependent studies looking at this said the only way to meet Governor Romney’s pledge of not reducing the deficit or—or—or not adding to the deficit is by burdening middle-class families.”
False. This incorrect assertion was spread by a biased report from the Tax Policy Center. Romney’s plan can make pro-growth changes to the tax code and doesn’t have to raise taxes on the middle class.
2. Obamacare raises taxes and cuts Medicare.
Former Governor Romney: “You’ve raised [taxes] by $1 trillion under Obamacare [and] cut Medicare by $716 billion.”
True. Over the coming decade, Obamacare’s taxes will reach $1 trillion, including new taxes on workers’ wages and capital income, as well as taxes on insurers and manufacturers of medical products. Obamacare also cuts Medicare by $716 billion from 2013 to 2022 and uses the savings to pay for other provisions in Obamacare, not to help shore up Medicare’s finances. Many of Obamacare’s 18 new or increased taxes and penalties would fall directly on the middle class—like the ever-controversial individual mandate tax, which is primarily paid by middle- and low-income Americans, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office.
3. Seniors would receive vouchers under Medicare reform.
Obama: “The idea, which was originally presented by Congressman Ryan, your running mate, is that we would give a voucher to seniors and they could go out in the private marketplace and buy their own health insurance.”
False. There is no premium support proposal that would issue seniors a voucher. The Ryan proposal, like all major premium support models, is a defined-contribution system that would provide direct payment from the government to a health plan of a person’s choice, including traditional Medicare. Health plans would have to meet government standards, including benefit standards of the traditional Medicare program, plus new and much-needed protections against the costs of catastrophic illness. Moreover, Congressman Ryan is not the first to propose premium support; its origins are bipartisan and date back to the 1990s.
4. Romney would cut taxes by $5 trillion.Mitt_Romney_by_Gage_Skidmore_6
Obama: “Governor Romney’s central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut.”
False. Governor Romney’s tax plan doesn’t cut taxes. His plan is revenue neutral.
5. Dodd–Frank promises to bail out “too-big-to-fail” firms.
Romney: “Dodd–Frank was passed. And it includes within it a number of provisions that I think has some unintended consequences that are harmful to the economy. One is it designates a number of banks as too big to fail, and they’re effectively guaranteed by the federal government.”
True. Dodd–Frank contains language that would make future bailouts of “too big to fail” firms inevitable, but it does nothing of consequence to reduce systemic risk.
6. The oil industry receives $4 billion in corporate welfare that other businesses don’t get.
Obama: “The oil industry gets $4 billion a year in corporate welfare. Basically, they get deductions that those small businesses that Governor Romney refers to, they don’t get.”
False. A large part of that $4 billion figure comes from a broadly available tax provision and expensing options. These are neither subsidies nor corporate welfare. The tax deduction, under Internal Revenue Code Section 199, goes to all domestic manufacturing. Producers of clothing, roads, electricity, water, renewable energy projects, and many other things produced in the United States are eligible for the manufacturer’s tax deduction—including Hollywood movies.
7. Natural gas production is up in spite of Obama’s policies, not because of them.
Romney: “[T]he President pointed out correctly that production of oil and gas in the U.S. is up. But not due to his policies. In spite of his policies. Mr. President, all of the increase in natural gas and oil has happened on private land, not on government land.”
True. Much of the increased oil and gas production is on private lands, over which the Administration has no control. According to a recent report from the Energy Information Administration, energy production decreased 13 percent on federal lands in fiscal year (FY) 2011 compared to FY 2010.
8. Businesses can take a deduction for moving jobs overseas.
Obama: “I also want to close those loopholes that are giving incentives for companies that are shipping jobs overseas.”
False. President Obama falsely claimed businesses can take a deduction for moving jobs overseas. No such deduction exists. Moreover, President Obama demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how the global economy works by suggesting that companies investing overseas destroy jobs at home. A U.S. business investing abroad is good for the U.S. economy because it makes the company more competitive at home and abroad in selling products into global markets, which often creates more jobs for Americans.
9. America’s corporate tax rate is uncompetitive.
Obama: “When it comes to our tax code, Governor Romney and I both agree that our corporate tax rate is too high, so I want to lower it, particularly for manufacturing, taking it down to 25 percent.”
True. At over 39 percent, the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate among industrialized nations. The average of all industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including the U.S. rate, is about 25 percent. To regain standing compared to competing nations, Congress should lower the rate so it is on par with the current OECD average. Despite this, President Obama has proposed to raise taxes on those firms with multinational operations. This would not insource jobs, but outsource ownership of U.S. firms.
10. Social Security is structurally sound.
Obama: “Social Security is structurally sound. It’s going to have to be tweaked, [but] the basic structure is sound.”
False. Social Security is running permanent and growing deficits, threatening a 25 percent cut in Social Security benefits in 21 years. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently confirmed that Social Security has been running deficits of about 4 percent for two years in a row and that these will only get worse over time. CBO projects that Social Security’s deficits will average 10 percent over the next decade and then exceed 20 percent by 2030 as more baby boomers retire.
 
Read More Here:

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Debate Series: Romney 1 - Obama 0

In the first Presidential Debate in a series of 3 held at the University of Denver, Mitt Romney was clearly the winner. Romney appeared to be relaxed and confident. His answers were direct and to the point and included numbers and statistics. Obama's answers were more like well worn out campaign rhetoric, he appeared to be uneasy,tired and unprepared.

Here Are Some Highlights of the Debate:




OBAMA: On energy, Governor Romney and I, we both agree that we’ve got to boost American energy production, and oil and natural gas production are higher than they’ve been in years. But I also believe that we’ve got to look at the energy sources of the future, like wind and solar and biofuels, and make those investments.
ROMNEY: [T]he president pointed out correctly that production of oil and gas in the U.S. is up. But not due to his policies. In spite of his policies. … [A]ll of the increase in natural gas and oil has happened on private land, not on government land. On government land, your administration has cut the number of permits and licenses in half. If I’m president, I’ll double them, and also get the oil from offshore and Alaska. And I’ll bring that pipeline in from Canada.
OBAMA: Governor Romney’s central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut – on top of the extension of the Bush tax cuts – that’s another trillion dollars – and $2 trillion in additional military spending that the military hasn’t asked for. That’s $8 trillion.
ROMNEY: I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut. I don’t have a tax cut of a scale that you’re talking about. … Under the president’s policies, middle-income Americans have been buried. They’re just being crushed. Middle- income Americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. This is a -- this is a tax in and of itself. I’ll call it the economy tax. … My number-one principal is, there will be no tax cut that adds to the deficit. I want to underline that: no tax cut that adds to the deficit.
OBAMA: [U]nder my plan, 97 percent of small businesses would not see their income taxes go up. … [U]nder Governor Romney’s definition, there are a whole bunch of millionaires and billionaires who are small businesses. Donald Trump is a small business.
ROMNEY: [T]he last 3 percent of businesses happen to employ half of all the people who work in small business. Those are the businesses that employ one-quarter of all the workers in America. And your plan is to take their tax rate from 35 percent to 40 percent. … The National Federation of Independent Businesses has said that will cost 700,000 jobs. … My priority is … to create more jobs, because there’s nothing better for getting us to a balanced budget than having more people working, earning more money, paying more taxes.
Romney countered each of Obama’s four references to the fictitious “$5 trillion tax cut” and finally chided him, saying: “[Y]ou may keep referring to it as a $5 trillion tax cut, but that’s not my plan.”
Not having his own record of economic success to run on, Obama twice looked back to the 1990s, while Romney also looked back – over the past four years – and talked about his ideas for the future:
OBAMA: [F]or incomes over $250,000 a year … we should go back to the rates that we had when Bill Clinton was president, when we created 23 million new jobs, went from deficit to surplus, and created a whole lot of millionaires to boot. … Bill Clinton tried the approach that I’m talking about. We created 23 million new jobs. We went from deficit to surplus. And businesses did very well.
ROMNEY: My plan is not like anything that’s been tried before. My plan is to bring down rates, but also bring down deductions and exemptions and credits at the same time so the revenue stays in, but that we bring down rates to get more people working. … We’ve got 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work in this country. … [W]hen the president took office, 32 million people on food stamps; 47 million on food stamps today; economic growth this year slower than last year, and last year slower than the year before. Going forward with the status quo is not going to cut it for the American people who are struggling today.

Lehrer asked how each candidate would tackle the federal deficit, and Romney knocked it out of the park, while Obama first blamed Bush (“When I walked into the Oval Office, I had more than a trillion-dollar deficit greeting me”) then threw around some crazy numbers, which Romney rebutted:
ROMNEY: What things would I cut from spending? Well, first of all, I will eliminate all programs by this test, if they don’t pass it: Is the program so critical it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? And if not, I’ll get rid of it. Obamacare’s on my list. … I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. ... I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for.
OBAMA: [W]e went after medical fraud in Medicare and Medicaid very aggressively, more aggressively than ever before, and have saved tens of billions of dollars, $50 billion of waste taken out of the system. And I worked with Democrats and Republicans to cut a trillion dollars out of our discretionary domestic budget. … I’ve put forward a specific $4 trillion deficit reduction plan. It’s on a website. You can look at all the numbers, what cuts we make and what revenue we raise.
ROMNEY: You’ve been president four years. You said you’d cut the deficit in half. It’s now four years later. We still have trillion-dollar deficits. The CBO says we’ll have a trillion-dollar deficit each of the next four years. … I love this idea of $4 trillion in cuts. You found $4 trillion of ways to reduce or to get closer to a balanced budget, except we still show trillion-dollar deficits every year.
When Obama tried to sell “a balanced, responsible approach” to cutting corporate taxes and accused Romney of wanting to repeal the Dodd-Frank banking regulations, the Republican gave him a quick economics lesson:
OBAMA: The oil industry gets $4 billion a year in corporate welfare. Basically, they get deductions that those small businesses that Governor Romney refers to, they don’t get. Now, does anybody think that ExxonMobil needs some extra money, when they’re making money every time you go to the pump? Why wouldn’t we want to eliminate that?
ROMNEY: [T]he Department of Energy has said the tax break for oil companies is $2.8 billion a year. And it’s actually an accounting treatment, as you know, that’s been in place for a hundred years. … And in one year, you provided $90 billion in breaks to the green energy world … like 50 years’ worth of breaks [for oil and gas companies], into solar and wind, to Solyndra and Fisker and Tester and Ener1. I mean, I had a friend who said you don’t just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers, all right? So this is not the kind of policy you want to have if you want to get America energy secure.
OBAMA: Governor Romney has said he wants to repeal Dodd-Frank. … Does anybody out there think that the big problem we had is that there was too much oversight and regulation of Wall Street? Because if you do, then Governor Romney is your candidate. But that’s not what I believe.
ROMNEY: [W]e have to have regulation on Wall Street. … But I wouldn’t designate five banks as too big to fail and give them a blank check. … We need to get rid of that provision because it’s killing regional and small banks. … Dodd-Frank correctly says we need to have qualified mortgages, and if you give a mortgage that’s not qualified, there are big penalties, except they didn’t ever go on and define what a qualified mortgage was. It’s been two years. … [B]anks are reluctant to make loans, mortgages. Try and get a mortgage these days. It’s hurt the housing market because Dodd-Frank didn’t anticipate putting in place the kinds of regulations you have to have.

Read More Here: http://www.teapartynation.com/forum/topic/show?id=3355873%3ATopic%3A2246718&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

The Debate: 10 Things Obama Won't Say


  1. The real unemployment rate is 15% with young people unemployed at levels not seen in generations.
  2. With his current agenda and proposed second-term spending, Obama will increase taxes on middle class families by thousands of dollars each year.
  3. Household income has dropped by more than $4000 per year under Obama.
  4. Gas prices are more than double from when he took office.
  5. The labor participation rate is at an all-time low and male employment has fallen to its lowest point on record.
  6. Obamacare is expected to increase healthcare costs for American families by more than $3000.
  7. Healthcare costs for young adults have already increased by 45 percent, affecting students and their future employers.
  8. The National Debt has increased faster under Obama than under any president in history to a staggering $16 trillion.
  9. Obama spent more than $1 billion of taxpayer money on failed companies like Solyndra instead of increasing domestic energy sources through initiatives like the Keystone XL Pipeline.
  10. Despite all the claims of shovel-ready jobs, Obama’s $787 stimulus has failed to put Americans back to work.
Reade Moere Here: http://americanmajorityaction.org/majority/10-things-obama-wont-say-in-the-debate/

    Tuesday, October 02, 2012

    Only 9% of Americans Cooperate with Pollsters




    It has become increasingly difficult to contact potential respondents and to persuade them to participate. The percentage of households in a sample that are successfully interviewed – the response rate – has fallen dramatically. At Pew Research, the response rate of a typical telephone survey was 36% in 1997 and is just 9% today.






    That means 91% of sampled households are NOT having their opinions recorded by pollsters.

    Breaking down the numbers a bit, we can see that this is due to two reasons: 38% of the households contacted were unreachable in the first place, leaving only a 62% “contact rate.” But among that 62%, only 14% “cooperated” with the pollsters; the remaining 86% of contactees presumably slammed down the phone or simply refused to answer. Since 86% of 62% of the population are non-cooperators, that leaves us with the astonishing conclusion that…

    53% of Americans actively refuse to answer poll questions.

    The real breakdown chart should look like this:


    38% could not be reached
    53% were contacted but actively refused to answer
    9% cooperated and answered the polling questions

    Consider these newly released stats showing that distrust of the media has hit an all-time high, and most importantly that Republicans and independents are twice as likely to distrust the media as Democrats:


    There’s only one possible conclusion to reach: That the non-cooperating 86% of contactees are twice as likely to be Republicans and independents as they are to be Democrats.

    This imputes a HUGE skew into all poll results, a skew that is rarely acknowledged.

    Read More Here: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/09/30/we-are-the-91-only-9-of-americans-cooperate-with-pollsters/

    Monday, October 01, 2012

    10 Obama 
Mideast Policy Mistakes


    1. Egypt policy

    The administration has been consistently one-step behind events in crafting an Egypt policy. The White House’s initial backing of President Hosni Mubarak lost any support it might have gained from the crowds in Tahrir Square. Then the United States shocked its Mideast allies by pulling support from the Egyptian leader. The United States is now faced with a hostile regime in Cairo, where a Muslim Brotherhood-headed government could hardly be bothered to act when a mob tried to overrun the U.S. embassy.

    2. Iran nuclear program

    During his 2008 campaign, Obama posited that the Iranian leadership was bellicose mostly in reaction to misguided policies of the Bush administration. Unlike his predecessor, he would be willing to sit down and talk with the mullahs, confident that his powers of persuasion would convince them to lay down their nuclear ambitions. Four years later, Obama seems has been more concerned about cutting back our nuclear arsenal than trying to stop Tehran.

    3. Diplomatic security

    How could a U.S. ambassador be at an unsecured consulate in a hostile location in the Arab world on the anniversary of September 11? Christopher Stevens’ murder by a terror mob need could have been avoided if the U.S. heeded the warnings that violence was afoot. The State Department had even issued a travel alert to Americans about going to Libya, yet the consulate had minimal security.

    4. Libya explanation

    Long after the entire world knew that the strike on the Libyan consulate was a terrorist attack, the Obama administration continued its laughable explanation that the assault was solely the result of a spontaneous mob enraged by an anti-Islamic film. As Sen. John McCain pointed out, protesters don’t usually bring rocket-propelled grenades to a political rally.

    5. Disdain for Israel

    The one ally the United States could always count on in the Middle East—Israel—has consistently gotten the shaft from the White House. Obama has shown nothing if not disdain for the Jewish state, at one point offending Israeli officials by urging a return to 1967 borders. Now Obama can’t even find time in his schedule for a face-to-face meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    6. Leading from behind in Libya

    Hillary Clinton asked, “How can this happen in a country we helped to liberate?” when the U.S. ambassador was murdered. The answer goes back to the method of liberation—Obama’s sanctioning of NATO air strikes. Little regard was given to the make-up of the rebels that finally steamed-rolled to victory who are vying for power.

    7. Iran protests

    Before the Arab Spring, there were the Iranian protests of 2009, where any assistance from Washington, could have helped to tip the balance of power away from the hard-line Islamist leaders. Instead, Obama was still convinced of his own power to sweet-talk Ahmadinejad and he left the nascent democracy movement out to dry.

    8. Syria muddle

    That the Syrian uprising has turned into a crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, with Russia and China teaming against the West to support the Assad regime, is a sign that Obama’s “reset” with the Kremlin is headed to the dustbin of history. The Obama administration truly is leading from behind in Syria, with no real strategy to influence the outcome, deal with its aftermath or, mostly importantly, advance U.S. interests.

    9. Hurt sensibilities

    After the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was breached by an unruly mob, the diplomatic staff put out a statement condemning “the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims”—referring to the anti-Muslim film the crowd was protesting. While Obama later distanced himself from the statement, it is not surprising that an embassy under his watch would offer such drivel, as the placating of Muslims seems to be engrained in the administration’s DNA.

    10. Cairo hubris

    The hubris of Barack Obama is astonishing. Who else would actually believe that a speech to the Arab world would somehow persuade Muslims everywhere to set aside their hatred of America? Yet Obama’s key strategic initiative in the Middle East was going to Cairo in June 2009, where he sought a “new beginning” with Islam. The speech seems almost quaint today, talking about his own common bond to the faith during his childhood in Indonesia, where now mobs are burning him in effigy.

    Reade More Here: http://www.humanevents.com/2012/09/29/top-10-obama-%E2%80%A8mideast-mistakes/

    One Nation Under Fraud - The Documentary




     
    "This is the documentary that shows the beauty of America and the destruction that Barack Obama is inflicting on her. With shocking evidence, humor and the American people, "One Nation Under Fraud" is the film that Obama and his supporters will do anything to prevent you from seeing."





    "After watching “One Nation Under Fraud”, you not only wonder how obama got into the White House, you wonder how he got into the country." Lynn N.
     

    "If you see the documentary, “One Nation Under Fraud” and you still vote for Obama, you should be arrested for impersonating an American citizen." C.J.



    One Nation Under Fraud 14 minute Preview

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    Military Absentee Ballots Are AWOL in 2012

    This is yet another reason why I believe the polls are skewed, just look at the drop in Military absentee ballots compared to 2008.  While I believe that many of the Military would be voting for Romney, you can't discount the fact that some will vote for Obama.  This drop in Military absentee ballots proves that things are not the same as 2008 along with the fact that Democrat voter registrations are down from 2008 as well. Therefore you cannot use the 2008 data to base your poll results.  It doesn't add up. - Jay


    A 92 percent drop in absentee-ballot requests by military personnel in Virginia is raising concerns that the Pentagon is failing to carry out a federal voting law.

    With only 1,746 military voters in Virginia requesting absentee ballots so far this year — out of 126,251 service members in the state — the Military Voter Protection Project says the system has broken down.

    Compiling data from Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Alaska, Colorado and Nevada, Eversole’s organization found that military families have requested 55,510 absentee ballots so far this year. That’s a sharp decline from the 166,252 sought in those states in 2008.





    “The fact is that an incredibly small percentage of military voters are requesting absentee ballots for the 2012 election, even though a majority of military members — roughly two-thirds — will need to vote by absentee ballot,” Eversole said.

    “We’re not seeing the same level of emphasis [on military voting] that we saw four years ago,” Eversole told Virginia Watchdog.
    The former Navy JAG Corps officer blames “the federal bureaucracy and a little bit of stubbornness by the Department of Defense. The buck stops at the Federal Voting Assistance Program.”

    “Many [troops] believe their votes won’t count,” Alt said. “They’re given such short shrift that they consider it a waste of time.”

    Eversole doesn’t blame politics, but, rather, “a lot of bureaucratic mumbo jumbo.”

    “At the end of the day they just don’t want to do it,” he said.
     

    Read re Here: http://watchdog.org/55187/va-military-absentee-ballots-going-awol-in-2012/

    Sunday, September 30, 2012

    Huge Drop In Democrat Voter Registration


    There has been a huge drop in Democrat voter registration, especially in the swing states.  This backs up what I have been saying about the Main Stream News Media polls being skewed.  They obviously can not rely on the 2008 data on Democrat voters if there has been a huge drop in Democrat voter registrations.

    Voter registration in the Buckeye State is down by 490,000 people from four years ago. Of that reduction, 44 percent is in Cleveland and surrounding Cuyahoga County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one.
     “I think what we’re seeing is a lot of spin and hype on the part of the Obama campaign to try to make it appear that they’re going to cruise to victory in Ohio,” Cuyahoga County Republican Chairman Rob Frost said. “It’s not just Cuyahoga County. Nearly 350,000 of those voters are the decrease in the rolls in the three largest counties, Cuyahoga, Hamilton and Franklin.”
     
    Frost points out that those three counties all contain urban centers, where the largest Democrat vote traditionally has been.

    Ohio is not alone. An August study by the left-leaning think tank Third Way showed that the Democratic voter registration decline in eight key swing states outnumbered the Republican decline by a 10-to-one ratio. In Florida, Democratic registration is down 4.9 percent, in Iowa down 9.5 percent. And in New Hampshire, it’s down down 19.7 percent. (Read More)

    Five Worst Obamacare Taxes Coming in 2013


    The Obamacare Medical Device Tax – a $20 billion tax increase: Medical device manufacturers employ 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. Obamacare imposes a new 2.3 percent excise tax on gross sales – even if the company does not earn a profit in a given year. In addition to killing small business jobs and impacting research and development budgets, this will increase the cost of your health care – making everything from pacemakers to prosthetics more expensive.

    The Obamacare “Special Needs Kids Tax” – a $13 billion tax increase: The 30-35 million Americans who use a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) at work to pay for their family’s basic medical needs will face a new government cap of $2,500 (currently the accounts are unlimited under federal law, though employers are allowed to set a cap).
    There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are several million families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. This Obamacare tax provision will limit the options available to these families.

    The Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income – a $123 billion tax increase: This is a new, 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income:

    Capital GainsDividendsOther*
    201215%15%35%
    2013+ (current law)23.8%43.4%43.4%
    The table above also incorporates the scheduled hike in the capital gains rate from 15 to 20 percent, and the scheduled hike in dividends rate from 15 to 39.6 percent.

    The Obamacare “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deductions – a $15.2 billion tax increase: Currently, those Americans facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). This tax increase imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. By limiting this deduction, Obamacare widens the net of taxable income for the sickest Americans. This tax provision will most harm near retirees and those with modest incomes but high medical bills.

    The Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Hike -- an $86.8 billion tax increase: The Medicare payroll tax is currently 2.9 percent on all wages and self-employment profits. Under this tax hike, wages and profits exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 in the case of married couples) will face a 3.8 percent rate instead. This is a direct marginal income tax hike on small business owners, who are liable for self-employment tax in most cases. The table below compares current law vs. the Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Hike:

    First $200,000
    ($250,000 Married)
    Employer/Employee
    All Remaining Wages
    Employer/Employee
    Current Law1.45%/1.45%
    2.9% self-employed
    1.45%/1.45%
    2.9% self-employed
    Obamacare Tax Hike1.45%/1.45%
    2.9% self-employed
    1.45%/2.35%
    3.8% self-employed

    Click here to view PDF form.


    Read more: http://atr.org/five-worst-obamacare-taxes-coming-a7217#ixzz27wBWpb5Y