Federal 2015 tax tables

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin President Biden’s recent infrastructure proposal has a $2 trillion plus price tag and he’s looking for a way to pay for at least some it. During his campaign, President Biden said he would not raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 per year. Since direct tax increases on most people would break his campaign promise, Biden is looking elsewhere. One piece of his current plan is to raise the federal corporate income tax rate from 21% to 28%. While this does not directly violate his pledge, there is plenty of evidence that raising corporate income taxes affects all workers by reducing wages, slowing employment growth, and impeding innovation. Federal corporate income tax changes are relatively rare, but with 50 states there is a lot of change and variation at the state level. Rates vary from a high of 11.5% in New Jersey to a low of 2.5% in North Carolina. Economists have studied state corporate tax changes for … [Read more...] about Higher Corporate Taxes Affect Everyone

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Chuck Schumer (NY) recently agreed to a slimmed down version of the failed Build Back Better plan they are calling the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Manchin and other proponents of the IRA argue it will boost economic growth and reduce inflation, but this is unlikely, especially in states like West Virginia that face problems unaddressed by the IRA. The IRA spends nearly $400 billion on energy tax credits and about $100 billion on health care subsidies, primarily for people who buy Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance plans. This proposed spending would be paid for by increasing corporate income taxes, “better” IRS enforcement, increasing taxes on investment returns, and savings from implementing price controls on certain drugs purchased by the government via Medicare and other programs. The tax increases and costs savings are projected to generate $305 billion more than the spending, and … [Read more...] about Inflation Reduction Act Won’t Help West Virginia

BIDEN INVOKES EMERGENCY WAR POWERS TO BUILD SOLAR PANELS… NY POST: Biden draws heat for invoking Defense Production Act to boost solar panels President Biden drew criticism Monday after invoking the Defense Production Act to potentially expedite the production of solar panels — with journalists and Republicans questioning the rationale for using special wartime powers. Renewable energy advocates, meanwhile, cheered the White House announcement that Biden would invoke the act “to accelerate domestic production of clean energy technologies, including solar panel parts.” […] The Biden administration did not specify a national-defense reason for using the act to boost solar panels. When Biden was vice president, the Obama administration aggressively pushed for solar energy production — sparking the Solyndra scandal when a politically-connected firm went bankrupt after getting $535 million in federal loan guarantees. KOREAN WAR-ERA LAW WIELDS POWER OVER AMERICAN … [Read more...] about Editor Daily Rundown: Biden Invokes Emergency War Powers To Build Solar Panels

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Almost everyone who grew up in the United States after the end of World War II understood that an indicator of economic success if not the indicator was owning “your own home.” Homeownership attained mythic status representing not just climbing a rung up an economic ladder but a social and psychological one; owning a home meant being a full member of society. But is it really a good idea? While there are real, measurable economic gains that can be attributed to owning a home – or rather borrowing for one – has it had deleterious effects? Is it time to ask this question more seriously along with the essential one: “Is there an alternative and do we even need one?” A film by The Economist a couple years ago sets the stage for this conversation. The film’s title, “How an obsession with home ownership can ruin the economy,” might overstate the case just a bit, but it lays out in 12 minutes some of the most compelling challenges … [Read more...] about Is Home Ownership Still A Good Idea?

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Perhaps one of the most iconic portrayals of a greedy landlord is Benoit from Puccini’s La Boehme . The character arrives on the scene at the opening of the play looking to collect rent and then proudly confesses infidelity to the poor artists he’s trying to shake down. They pretend to be outraged by his immorality, eject him, and use the rent money for a night on the town. The image of the poor but righteous tenants is so compelling a modern musical adaptation of the opera is called Rent . But are housing providers really trying to squeeze every last cent from their residents? A study from Berkeley indicates that often, housing providers leave money on the table, giving discounts and often failing to keep up with the market. The study, Affordable Housing Without Public Subsidies: Rent-Setting Practices in Small Rental Properties , takes a look at how housing providers set their rents and how those rents relate to … [Read more...] about Study: Housing Providers’ Rent Increases Often Don’t Match Market