Soros-Funded Lefty Media Reach More Than 300 Million Every Month
Books, newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, websites and cutting edge videos. The pieces of the George Soros media empire are as diverse as the nations of the world and just as widespread. From nakedly partisan left-wing media like Think Progress, the blog for the Center for American Progress, and a TV show on MSNBC, to the supposedly impartial National Public Radio, Soros has impact on the flow of information worldwide.
It gives him incredible influence. Every month, reporters, writers and bloggers at the many outlets he funds easily reach more than 330 million people around the globe. The U.S. Census estimates the population of the entire United States to be just less than 310 million.
That's roughly the entire population of the United States with the population of Australia thrown in for good measure - every single month.
This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.
Just counting 13 prominent operations of the 180 media organizations he has funded equals 332 million people each month. Included in that total are big players like NPR, which received $1.8 million from Soros, as well as the little known Project Syndicate and Public News Service, both of which also claim to reach millions of readers.
And that's really just the beginning. That tally takes into account only a few of the bigger Soros-funded media operations. Many numbers simply aren't available."Democracy Now!" - "a daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez" - is known for its left-wing take on global news. Its vitriol ranges from attacks on Blackwater founder Erik Prince and supporters of Andrew Breitbart (whom it calls 'Electronic Brownshirts'), to claims the U.S. is opposed to Arab democracy. Just that one Soros-funded operation is heard "on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States." But it posts no formal audience numbers. Phone calls to "Democracy Now!" were not returned.
Laughably, Soros denies he has a media empire, despite spending easily more than $48 million on that empire and having top journalists from more than 30 major news organizations serving on the boards of groups he funds. "Another trick is to accuse your opponent of the behavior of which you are guilty, like Fox News accusing me of being the puppet master of a media empire," wrote Soros in the introduction to his new self-promotional book "The Philanthropy of George Soros." That book, appropriately, was written by former New York Times reporter Chuck Sudetic who now works for Soros' Open Society Foundations. It is the second such Soros promotional book written by a Times staffer.
But Soros wildly understates his own impact. On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on "media reform." She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists.
The event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, which has received $1.4 million from Soros. Free Press has two major agenda items - undermining Internet freedom by pushing so-called "net neutrality," and advocating for government-funded media to the tune of $35 billion a year. Many of those attending or speaking were affiliated with Soros-funded operations.
Free Press is just one of the better funded Soros groups. They also include the Center for American Progress ($7.3 million), which operates the heavily staffed Think Progress blog. That blog "now has 30 writers and researchers," according to Politico. Other well-funded operations include the investigative reporting operations at the Center for Public Integrity ($3.7 million) and Center for Investigative Reporting ($1.1 million), as well as Media Matters ($1.1 million) and the Sundance Institute ($1 million).
That's not all. "Soros' foundations gave 34 grants from 1997 to 2010 to local NPR member stations and specific programs that have totaled nearly $3.4-million, said the foundations' [spokesperson Maria] Archuleta. Recipients included WNYC and Minnesota Public Radio," wrote outgoing NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard.
In fact, Soros funds nearly every major left-wing media source in the United States. Forty-five of those are financed through his support of the Media Consortium. That organization 'is a network of the country's leading, progressive, independent media outlets.' The list is predictable - everything from Alternet to the Young Turks.
A report by the Media Consortium detailed how progressives had created an "echo chamber" of outlets "in which a message pushes the larger public or the mainstream media to acknowledge, respond, and give airtime to progressive ideas because it is repeated many times." According to the report called "The Big Thaw," "if done well, the message within the echo chamber can become the accepted meme, impact political dynamics, shift public opinion and change public policy."
That mindset plays out in much of what the consortium's members do. Alternet describes itself as an "award-winning news magazine and online community that creates original journalism and amplifies the best of hundreds of other independent media sources." It hates Tea Parties and complains about "hatemongering" as the "ugly side of Evangelical Christianity." The site gets 1.5 million unique visitors to its unique view of the world.
Brave New Films, also funded by the Media Consortium, is run by the same people who run Brave New Foundation. Robert Greenwald and Jim Miller produce and distribute videos attacking businesses and conservatives. The site brags about a 2008 election video "that exposes John McCain's double talk, for instance, and receive 9 million views around the world." Their latest effort is yet another attack on Koch Industries, attempting to halt a much-needed pipeline from the Canada to the U.S.
Then there's the Young Turks and MSNBC host Cenk Uygur. In 2010, he was welcomed to the network with a press release detailing his web impact. "One of YouTube's Top 100 Partners, the irreverent talk show averages over 18 million views per month and has over 320 million views overall on its YouTube Channel.'"
The list goes on and on. Project Syndicate calls itself "the world's pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries." It has wide reach. "As of May 2011, Project Syndicate membership included 462 leading newspapers in 150 countries." Its monthly circulation is 72,815,528. Naturally, "support comes from the Open Society Institute," the primary Soros foundation.
Project Syndicate's columnist line-up, spread to 462 newspapers, is impressively left-leaning or globalist: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as lefty economists Jeffrey Sachs and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.
Public News Service describes itself as "a member-supported news service that advocates journalism in the public interest." It is a "network of state-based news services' in 33 states. It claims it reaches 'a combined national weekly audience of 24 million." PNS is proud of its 2010 success. "Last year the Public News Service produced over 4,000 stories featuring public interest content that were redistributed several hundred thousand times on 6,114 radio stations, 928 print outlets, 133 TV stations and 100s of websites. Nationally, an average of 60 outlets used each story."
The Soros 'echo chamber' is even larger. Many of his organizations have a media component - from New Orleans, where he funds The Lens, to nations that were once part of the former Soviet Union. But he doesn't have a media empire.
Location: Pacioretty, c'est mou comme d'la marde - Gilbert Delorme Joined: 01.20.2009
Jan 10 @ 11:30 AM ET
Soros-Funded Lefty Media Reach More Than 300 Million Every Month
Books, newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, websites and cutting edge videos. The pieces of the George Soros media empire are as diverse as the nations of the world and just as widespread. From nakedly partisan left-wing media like Think Progress, the blog for the Center for American Progress, and a TV show on MSNBC, to the supposedly impartial National Public Radio, Soros has impact on the flow of information worldwide.
It gives him incredible influence. Every month, reporters, writers and bloggers at the many outlets he funds easily reach more than 330 million people around the globe. The U.S. Census estimates the population of the entire United States to be just less than 310 million.
That's roughly the entire population of the United States with the population of Australia thrown in for good measure - every single month.
This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.
Just counting 13 prominent operations of the 180 media organizations he has funded equals 332 million people each month. Included in that total are big players like NPR, which received $1.8 million from Soros, as well as the little known Project Syndicate and Public News Service, both of which also claim to reach millions of readers.
And that's really just the beginning. That tally takes into account only a few of the bigger Soros-funded media operations. Many numbers simply aren't available."Democracy Now!" - "a daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez" - is known for its left-wing take on global news. Its vitriol ranges from attacks on Blackwater founder Erik Prince and supporters of Andrew Breitbart (whom it calls 'Electronic Brownshirts'), to claims the U.S. is opposed to Arab democracy. Just that one Soros-funded operation is heard "on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States." But it posts no formal audience numbers. Phone calls to "Democracy Now!" were not returned.
Laughably, Soros denies he has a media empire, despite spending easily more than $48 million on that empire and having top journalists from more than 30 major news organizations serving on the boards of groups he funds. "Another trick is to accuse your opponent of the behavior of which you are guilty, like Fox News accusing me of being the puppet master of a media empire," wrote Soros in the introduction to his new self-promotional book "The Philanthropy of George Soros." That book, appropriately, was written by former New York Times reporter Chuck Sudetic who now works for Soros' Open Society Foundations. It is the second such Soros promotional book written by a Times staffer.
But Soros wildly understates his own impact. On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on "media reform." She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists.
The event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, which has received $1.4 million from Soros. Free Press has two major agenda items - undermining Internet freedom by pushing so-called "net neutrality," and advocating for government-funded media to the tune of $35 billion a year. Many of those attending or speaking were affiliated with Soros-funded operations.
Free Press is just one of the better funded Soros groups. They also include the Center for American Progress ($7.3 million), which operates the heavily staffed Think Progress blog. That blog "now has 30 writers and researchers," according to Politico. Other well-funded operations include the investigative reporting operations at the Center for Public Integrity ($3.7 million) and Center for Investigative Reporting ($1.1 million), as well as Media Matters ($1.1 million) and the Sundance Institute ($1 million).
That's not all. "Soros' foundations gave 34 grants from 1997 to 2010 to local NPR member stations and specific programs that have totaled nearly $3.4-million, said the foundations' - Doppleganger[spokesperson Maria] Archuleta. Recipients included WNYC and Minnesota Public Radio," wrote outgoing NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard.
In fact, Soros funds nearly every major left-wing media source in the United States. Forty-five of those are financed through his support of the Media Consortium. That organization 'is a network of the country's leading, progressive, independent media outlets.' The list is predictable - everything from Alternet to the Young Turks.
A report by the Media Consortium detailed how progressives had created an "echo chamber" of outlets "in which a message pushes the larger public or the mainstream media to acknowledge, respond, and give airtime to progressive ideas because it is repeated many times." According to the report called "The Big Thaw," "if done well, the message within the echo chamber can become the accepted meme, impact political dynamics, shift public opinion and change public policy."
That mindset plays out in much of what the consortium's members do. Alternet describes itself as an "award-winning news magazine and online community that creates original journalism and amplifies the best of hundreds of other independent media sources." It hates Tea Parties and complains about "hatemongering" as the "ugly side of Evangelical Christianity." The site gets 1.5 million unique visitors to its unique view of the world.
Brave New Films, also funded by the Media Consortium, is run by the same people who run Brave New Foundation. Robert Greenwald and Jim Miller produce and distribute videos attacking businesses and conservatives. The site brags about a 2008 election video "that exposes John McCain's double talk, for instance, and receive 9 million views around the world." Their latest effort is yet another attack on Koch Industries, attempting to halt a much-needed pipeline from the Canada to the U.S.
Then there's the Young Turks and MSNBC host Cenk Uygur. In 2010, he was welcomed to the network with a press release detailing his web impact. "One of YouTube's Top 100 Partners, the irreverent talk show averages over 18 million views per month and has over 320 million views overall on its YouTube Channel.'"
The list goes on and on. Project Syndicate calls itself "the world's pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries." It has wide reach. "As of May 2011, Project Syndicate membership included 462 leading newspapers in 150 countries." Its monthly circulation is 72,815,528. Naturally, "support comes from the Open Society Institute," the primary Soros foundation.
Project Syndicate's columnist line-up, spread to 462 newspapers, is impressively left-leaning or globalist: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as lefty economists Jeffrey Sachs and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.
Public News Service describes itself as "a member-supported news service that advocates journalism in the public interest." It is a "network of state-based news services' in 33 states. It claims it reaches 'a combined national weekly audience of 24 million." PNS is proud of its 2010 success. "Last year the Public News Service produced over 4,000 stories featuring public interest content that were redistributed several hundred thousand times on 6,114 radio stations, 928 print outlets, 133 TV stations and 100s of websites. Nationally, an average of 60 outlets used each story."
The Soros 'echo chamber' is even larger. Many of his organizations have a media component - from New Orleans, where he funds The Lens, to nations that were once part of the former Soviet Union. But he doesn't have a media empire.
Braces for the Kids Just Got More Expensive: Obamacare Tax Hike Case Study
In 2013, the tax increases in Obamacare will increasingly conspire against kitchen-table family healthcare decisions.
Location: Pacioretty, c'est mou comme d'la marde - Gilbert Delorme Joined: 01.20.2009
Jan 11 @ 4:34 PM ET
Braces for the Kids Just Got More Expensive: Obamacare Tax Hike Case Study
In 2013, the tax increases in Obamacare will increasingly conspire against kitchen-table family healthcare decisions.
Perhaps you don't see $200-$400 as much money, But I hate it when I get "nickeled and dimed" to death
According to the IRS, 10 million families took advantage of this tax deduction in 2009, the latest year of available data. Almost all are middle class. The average taxpayer claiming this deduction earned just over $53,000 annually. ATR estimates that the average income tax increase for the average family claiming this tax benefit will be $200 - $400 per year.
Millions noticing paychecks lighter today, due to payroll tax hike
Gabriella Hoffman’s paycheck is a little lighter today, thanks to a payroll tax increase that is forcing millions of Americans to make the kind of tough budget cuts their representatives in Washington lawmakers seem unwilling to tackle.
Hoffman, a 21-year-old Virginian who works at a nonprofit, estimates her paycheck will be roughly $30 less this biweekly pay period, or about $780 annually, thanks to the end of a two-year cut on payroll taxes, which fund Social Security. The tax has risen back up to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent, costing someone making $50,000 annually about $1,000 per year and a household with two high-paid workers up to $4,500.
“Any tax increase is not good for young people,” she said. “What it does is diminish your hard work and you’re slapped on the wrist. This administration is punishing people who are making money. They don’t like the concept of free enterprise. They think these problems will be solved in Washington by taking away more of people’s incomes.”
Official White House Response to Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016. This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For
By Paul Shawcross
The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:
The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?
However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.
Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo -- and soon, crew -- to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.
Even though the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.
We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.
We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country's future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.
If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
Paul Shawcross is Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget
Great picture. Signed on to raise taxes on the middle class from his vacation in hawaii after he swore not to raise taxes on them in 2010. Electronically signed signature while he's riding waves. Inaugural ball expected to cost double what his last did. His last party cost five times what any inaugural ball cost. Beyonce, Jayzee, Alicia Keys. Awesome. All at tax payers expense. I am as of Jan 1 paying a siginificant amount more than I was before in taxes on top of the third the fed takes already. Not much but in two months thats expected to go up even more. I make under 250,000 a year. What gives? What happened to his Robinhood plan? You libs are a couple fries short of a happy meal if you signed up for this? Anyone who believes any of this guy's bs is out of their minds. Look at your pay checks for (frank)s sake
The deal that Congress and President Obama struck that finally—but only partially—avoided the fiscal cliff resulted in seven tax increases.
Those hikes combined with six tax increases from Obamacare that also began on New Year’s Day.
13 Tax Increases That Started January 1, 2013
Tax increases the fiscal cliff deal allowed:
1. Payroll tax: increase in the Social Security portion of the payroll tax from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent for workers. This hits all Americans earning a paycheck—not just the “wealthy.” For example, The Wall Street Journal calculated that the “typical U.S. family earning $50,000 a year” will lose “an annual income boost of $1,000.”
2. Top marginal tax rate: increase from 35 percent to 39.6 percent for taxable incomes over $450,000 ($400,000 for single filers).
3. Phase out of personal exemptions for adjusted gross income (AGI) over $300,000 ($250,000 for single filers).
4. Phase down of itemized deductions for AGI over $300,000 ($250,000 for single filers).
5. Tax rates on investment: increase in the rate on dividends and capital gains from 15 percent to 20 percent for taxable incomes over $450,000 ($400,000 for single filers).
6. Death tax: increase in the rate (on estates larger than $5 million) from 35 percent to 40 percent.
7. Taxes on business investment: expiration of full expensing—the immediate deduction of capital purchases by businesses.
Obamacare tax increases that took effect:
8. Another investment tax increase: 3.8 percent surtax on investment income for taxpayers with taxable income exceeding $250,000 ($200,000 for singles).
9. Another payroll tax hike: 0.9 percent increase in the Hospital Insurance portion of the payroll tax for incomes over $250,000 ($200,000 for single filers).
10. Medical device tax: 2.3 percent excise tax paid by medical device manufacturers and importers on all their sales.
11. Reducing the income tax deduction for individuals’ medical expenses.
12. Elimination of the corporate income tax deduction for expenses related to the Medicare Part D subsidy.
13. Limitation of the corporate income tax deduction for compensation that health insurance companies pay to their executives.
A List of Barack Obama's First Term Tax Increases
Middle Class Americans Hit Hardest
By Dustin Hawkins, About.com Guide
In 2008, Barack Obama frequently made this promise to American voters: "I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase. Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax." But as Obama’s first term comes to a close, that has clearly not been the case. In fact, one of his very first acts as president was to raise taxes on products consumed primarily by those whom he promised not to raise taxes on. Below is a general list of taxes raised by President Obama in his first term.
Product and Service Taxes
One of President Obama’s first acts as President in February of 2009 was to more than double the taxes on tobacco products. This affected about 60 million Americans and disproportionally hurt poor and middle class families. Cigarette taxes jumped from $3.90 to more than $10 per carton. Cigar smokers, meanwhile, saw their taxes increased by over 4,000%. Not only was this a major tax increase, but it mostly harms those making less than $250,000 and living at or below the poverty level. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2010 about 33% of people living below the poverty level were smokers.
A second anti-consumer tax was found in ObamaCare and it levied a 10% tax on tanning bed services, affecting about 30 million Americans. Obviously, a vast majority of these users fall below the richest 1% and make less than $250,000 per year, meaning another broken promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000. In both instances, President Obama decided to target certain and specific products or services he deems unhealthy and levied heavy taxes on them. Under this reasoning products such as potato chips, sodas, violent video games, and football equipment might be subject to heavy federal taxation in the near future.
Obamacare Tax Increases
The largest grouping of taxation can be found in ObamaCare, the president's signature legislation. While the president has attempted to declare that the most controversial portion of the bill - the individual mandate - is not a tax, both the US Supreme Court and his own lawyers have determined otherwise. In fact, the Obama administration argued in front of multiple courts in defense of the law that the individual mandate was constitutional as it was a tax. At the Supreme Court, it was argue that "the legislative history is replete with members of Congress explaining that this law is constitutional as an exercise of the taxing power... Not only is it fair to read this as an exercise of the tax power, but this Court has an obligation to construe it as an exercise of the tax power, if it can be upheld on that basis." The individual mandate will almost exclusively affect those making less than $250,000.
Punishing Responsible HealthCare Users through Taxation
Through Obamacare, the president also raised a number of taxes that have negative effects on responsible taxpayers and those who have been fair participants in the system. Ironically, Obama not only implements the individual mandate tax to punish those who do not purchase health insurance, he also implements a tax on those who are too responsible in purchasing insurance.
First up, Obama imposed a new $2,500 maximum contribution limit for Flexible Spending Accounts. Flexible Spending Accounts enable employees to direct funds from their paychecks on a pre-tax basis to an account used specifically for medical purposes during that year. Simply put, responsible people who had expected expenses coming up in a given year, perhaps a pregnancy or major dental surgery, could put money into a Flexible Spending Account and immediately pay those bills.
In addition to severely limiting the contribution amounts to Flexible Spending Accounts, Obama also raised the limit where families become eligible to write off medical expenses. This ObamaCare provision increases the write-off threshold by 25% to 10% of adjusted gross income. Not surprisingly, this also almost exclusively affects those making under $250,000. A family of 4 making $65,000 with medical bills of $6,000 would have been able to write off those expenses prior to the passage of ObamaCare. Under his new rules, that family is no longer experiencing “high medical costs” and will be forced to pay taxes on those expenses. Wealthier families would not have met either minimum anyway and are therefore unaffected by the passage.
Also as a result of the passage of ObamaCare, individuals making $200,000 per year will see their Medicare taxes increase by 66%, to 2.35%, while self-employed individuals will pay a Medicare rate of 3.8%.
Other Trickle Down Tax Increases
President Obama has also implemented a number of other tax increases that will directly affect consumers, even if they don’t technically pay the taxes themselves. One example is a 2.3% tax on medical device makers. Pacemakers, prosthetic limbs, and monitoring devices will all be subjected to this new tax. Is it more reasonable to assume that the medical device suppliers will simply just absorb this tax or pass it on to the consumers of those products, the patients?
At the same time, Obama has been fighting his entire first term to eliminate the Bush tax cuts, but only for those making more than $250,000. Of course, this figure would include hundreds of thousands of small business owners, independent medical practices, and other job creators. Will these small business owners simply absorb the higher taxes or will they pass on those taxes through increases in the price of their products and services? And while $250,000 may seem like a lot of money, it is also important to remember that small business usually pay far higher taxes than regularly-employed workers. They are required to pay both the employee and employer side of both Medicare and Social Security, have to pay for employee unemployment insurance, and of course, new Obamcare mandates.
The deal that Congress and President Obama struck that finally—but only partially—avoided the fiscal cliff resulted in seven tax increases.
Those hikes combined with six tax increases from Obamacare that also began on New Year’s Day.
13 Tax Increases That Started January 1, 2013
Tax increases the fiscal cliff deal allowed:
1. Payroll tax: increase in the Social Security portion of the payroll tax from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent for workers. This hits all Americans earning a paycheck—not just the “wealthy.” For example, The Wall Street Journal calculated that the “typical U.S. family earning $50,000 a year” will lose “an annual income boost of $1,000.”
2. Top marginal tax rate: increase from 35 percent to 39.6 percent for taxable incomes over $450,000 ($400,000 for single filers).
3. Phase out of personal exemptions for adjusted gross income (AGI) over $300,000 ($250,000 for single filers).
4. Phase down of itemized deductions for AGI over $300,000 ($250,000 for single filers).
5. Tax rates on investment: increase in the rate on dividends and capital gains from 15 percent to 20 percent for taxable incomes over $450,000 ($400,000 for single filers).
6. Death tax: increase in the rate (on estates larger than $5 million) from 35 percent to 40 percent.
7. Taxes on business investment: expiration of full expensing—the immediate deduction of capital purchases by businesses.
Obamacare tax increases that took effect:
8. Another investment tax increase: 3.8 percent surtax on investment income for taxpayers with taxable income exceeding $250,000 ($200,000 for singles).
9. Another payroll tax hike: 0.9 percent increase in the Hospital Insurance portion of the payroll tax for incomes over $250,000 ($200,000 for single filers).
10. Medical device tax: 2.3 percent excise tax paid by medical device manufacturers and importers on all their sales.
11. Reducing the income tax deduction for individuals’ medical expenses.
12. Elimination of the corporate income tax deduction for expenses related to the Medicare Part D subsidy.
13. Limitation of the corporate income tax deduction for compensation that health insurance companies pay to their executives.
A List of Barack Obama's First Term Tax Increases
Middle Class Americans Hit Hardest
By Dustin Hawkins, About.com Guide
In 2008, Barack Obama frequently made this promise to American voters: "I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase. Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax." But as Obama’s first term comes to a close, that has clearly not been the case. In fact, one of his very first acts as president was to raise taxes on products consumed primarily by those whom he promised not to raise taxes on. Below is a general list of taxes raised by President Obama in his first term.
Product and Service Taxes
One of President Obama’s first acts as President in February of 2009 was to more than double the taxes on tobacco products. This affected about 60 million Americans and disproportionally hurt poor and middle class families. Cigarette taxes jumped from $3.90 to more than $10 per carton. Cigar smokers, meanwhile, saw their taxes increased by over 4,000%. Not only was this a major tax increase, but it mostly harms those making less than $250,000 and living at or below the poverty level. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2010 about 33% of people living below the poverty level were smokers.
A second anti-consumer tax was found in ObamaCare and it levied a 10% tax on tanning bed services, affecting about 30 million Americans. Obviously, a vast majority of these users fall below the richest 1% and make less than $250,000 per year, meaning another broken promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000. In both instances, President Obama decided to target certain and specific products or services he deems unhealthy and levied heavy taxes on them. Under this reasoning products such as potato chips, sodas, violent video games, and football equipment might be subject to heavy federal taxation in the near future.
Obamacare Tax Increases
The largest grouping of taxation can be found in ObamaCare, the president's signature legislation. While the president has attempted to declare that the most controversial portion of the bill - the individual mandate - is not a tax, both the US Supreme Court and his own lawyers have determined otherwise. In fact, the Obama administration argued in front of multiple courts in defense of the law that the individual mandate was constitutional as it was a tax. At the Supreme Court, it was argue that "the legislative history is replete with members of Congress explaining that this law is constitutional as an exercise of the taxing power... Not only is it fair to read this as an exercise of the tax power, but this Court has an obligation to construe it as an exercise of the tax power, if it can be upheld on that basis." The individual mandate will almost exclusively affect those making less than $250,000.
Punishing Responsible HealthCare Users through Taxation
Through Obamacare, the president also raised a number of taxes that have negative effects on responsible taxpayers and those who have been fair participants in the system. Ironically, Obama not only implements the individual mandate tax to punish those who do not purchase health insurance, he also implements a tax on those who are too responsible in purchasing insurance.
First up, Obama imposed a new $2,500 maximum contribution limit for Flexible Spending Accounts. Flexible Spending Accounts enable employees to direct funds from their paychecks on a pre-tax basis to an account used specifically for medical purposes during that year. Simply put, responsible people who had expected expenses coming up in a given year, perhaps a pregnancy or major dental surgery, could put money into a Flexible Spending Account and immediately pay those bills.
In addition to severely limiting the contribution amounts to Flexible Spending Accounts, Obama also raised the limit where families become eligible to write off medical expenses. This ObamaCare provision increases the write-off threshold by 25% to 10% of adjusted gross income. Not surprisingly, this also almost exclusively affects those making under $250,000. A family of 4 making $65,000 with medical bills of $6,000 would have been able to write off those expenses prior to the passage of ObamaCare. Under his new rules, that family is no longer experiencing “high medical costs” and will be forced to pay taxes on those expenses. Wealthier families would not have met either minimum anyway and are therefore unaffected by the passage.
Also as a result of the passage of ObamaCare, individuals making $200,000 per year will see their Medicare taxes increase by 66%, to 2.35%, while self-employed individuals will pay a Medicare rate of 3.8%.
Other Trickle Down Tax Increases
President Obama has also implemented a number of other tax increases that will directly affect consumers, even if they don’t technically pay the taxes themselves. One example is a 2.3% tax on medical device makers. Pacemakers, prosthetic limbs, and monitoring devices will all be subjected to this new tax. Is it more reasonable to assume that the medical device suppliers will simply just absorb this tax or pass it on to the consumers of those products, the patients?
At the same time, Obama has been fighting his entire first term to eliminate the Bush tax cuts, but only for those making more than $250,000. Of course, this figure would include hundreds of thousands of small business owners, independent medical practices, and other job creators. Will these small business owners simply absorb the higher taxes or will they pass on those taxes through increases in the price of their products and services? And while $250,000 may seem like a lot of money, it is also important to remember that small business usually pay far higher taxes than regularly-employed workers. They are required to pay both the employee and employer side of both Medicare and Social Security, have to pay for employee unemployment insurance, and of course, new Obamcare mandates.
Funny how anyone who voted for this guy have nothing to say to this? This statement was one of many lies he brought to the lemming population who took it as truth and elected this guy.
Funny how anyone who voted for this guy have nothing to say to this? This statement was one of many lies he brought to the lemming population who took it as truth and elected this guy. - Cptmjl
i just love that they apparently think people read the longcat cut and pastes. - kicksave856
When people who've bought into the Left Wing Progressive Ideology start to read something that contradicts what they've taken as the truth for so long, they don't want to feel fooled, mislead, uniformed, had the wool pulled over their eyes or might have to do some research to find out where the actual truth really lies, they tend to stop reading as it's easier to go with the flow and label the source as "DENIERS" or supported by the oil industry or big bankers and then return to the flock of sheeple.
