Those who benefit most should pay the most

Americans for Tax Fairness has a powerful new video out that spells out this ridiculous argument over the stupidly and incorrectly-named “fiscal cliff”. The video shows just how absurd the Republicans’ position and arguments are. They want a massive tax break for the upper 2% to continue and are holding a $2,200 per family tax break for the rest of us hostage in order to preserve it.

Have a look (after the Eclectablog Cliff.)

A successful myth, of course, but a myth nonetheless

A study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released last week shows that the claim by Republicans that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on the wealthiest among would harm small businesses is a myth. In fact, only 2.5% of small business owners are in the top two tax rates and only 0.5% of them are millionaires.

Ammunition to fight back against these lies after the jump.

Ezra Klein makes a truly interesting point this morning with regards to the failure of the Deficit Commission “Super Committee”. Their failure to come to an agreement and the trigger pulled by that outcome is a dream situation for progressives. Imagine if the Democrats offered Republicans a deficit deal that had more than $3 in tax increases for every $1 […]

Wrong. U.S. airlines led by United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) may pocket $1.3 billion in higher fares tied to the Federal Aviation Administration’s partial shutdown as Congress deadlocks on the agency’s funding. The FAA already has been unable to collect $28.6 million a day in aviation taxes since midnight on July 22. Missed receipts may climb by $1 billion if […]

I love this image that I nicked from the Maddow Blog: When did we become such a selfish, self-loathing, uncaring, unsharing society that the idea of paying taxes to support our enviable way of life was something to be scorned, cursed and eradicated? Massive tax breaks for the oil industry companies which are literally making more money than any other […]

Gee, what surprise. Turns out most Democrats think Congress should pass the tax cut deal hammered out by president Obama. So says a report by the Pew Research Center and another by ABC News/Washington Post. Republicans like it about the same or even a bit more. Pew Research says 63% support it. ABC/WasPo says 68%. Most of the major self-described […]

On my way to work I pass by a town called Hell, Michigan. This morning it was frosty, frozen and snow-covered. Now I know why. Charles Krauthammer points out what so many on both sides of the political divide seem to have missed: the tax cut/unemployment extension deal negotiated by the Obama administration achieves more progressive goals than it does […]

First of all, a big welcome to folks coming in from Blackwaterdog’s most-excellent blog “The only adult in the room”. My blog entry yesterday certainly got some attention. I got over 1,100 hits on my website. It was shared on Facebook almost 1,000 times. The Daily Kos version was the #2 diary of the day, getting over 1,500 comments and […]

Like so many other progressives, I’ve been pretty politically-existentially angsty about the recent tax cut deal President Obama struck with the hostage takers Republicans. However, after listening to his press conference yesterday and learning more about it, I’ve come to realize that, not only did he really have no choice but to cut a deal, the deal he got is […]

Rep. John Shaddeg of (surprise, surprise) Arizona thinks that extending unemployment benefits will basically take money OUT of the economy because unemployed people will SAVE money rather than spending it and that it’s not the spending of money that moves the economy. No shit. Here he is on MSNBC’s Morning Joe yesterday being asked a question by Mike Barnicle: BARNICLE: […]