Navigated from IRS scandal: America needs the truth | shared via feedly mobile
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
3 Reasons These 3 Governors Want to #StopObamacare
Shared via feedly // published on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation // visit site
3 Reasons These 3 Governors Want to #StopObamacare
People everywhere are buzzing about Obamacare and with exchanges opening in just 27 days, opponents of the massive bill are doing everything they can to make sure Americans know why and how Congress can stop Obamacare.
Republican lawmakers like Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) spent their August recess staying vocal about why they think defunding Obamacare is the best way to stop it.
Heritage President Jim DeMint visited nine cities across the country during a Defund Obamacare town hall tour to make sure people were informed about the ways Obamacare is unaffordable, unworkable, and unfair.
He told crowds that "this might be the last off-ramp for us to stop Obamacare before it gets so enmeshed in our culture that it's impossible to change."
But what about lawmakers at the state level? Do they want to stop Obamacare?
For Governors Mike Pence (R-IN), Nikki Haley (R-SC), and Bobby Jindal (R-LA), the answer is yes.
Check out the graphics below and find out why these three governors think Obamacare is bad for their states.
Share this graphic on Facebook and Twitter.
Share this graphic on Facebook and Twitter.
Share this graphic on Facebook and Twitter.
The post 3 Reasons These 3 Governors Want to #StopObamacare appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.
What Small Businesses Need to Do for Obamacare Before Oct. 1
What Small Businesses Need to Do for Obamacare Before Oct. 1
Employers with at least $500,000 in annual revenue are legally required to notify workers about the Affordable Care Act's new health-insurance marketplaces
Are Some Americans Paying Federal Income Tax They Don’t Owe?
Shared via feedly // published on TaxVox // visit site
Are Some Americans Paying Federal Income Tax They Don't Owe?
Headline got your attention? No, it isn't a come-on for a new tax avoidance scheme. Rather, it reflects an interesting but little known problem with the federal income tax system: People who have tax withheld from their paychecks but, for some reason, don't file returns. For many, ignoring their 1040 means they are paying tax they don't owe.
According to one estimate, in 2003 more than 8 million people had almost $16 billion in taxes withheld but did not file 1040s. Not only did many pay tax they didn't owe but some likely missed out on refundable credits that could have improved their well-being.
To some degree, this is the flip side of another set of numbers that get far more attention—those American who pay no federal income tax. The other day, the Tax Policy Center estimated that about 43 percent of Americans will be off the federal income tax rolls in 2013, down from 47 percent in 2009.
Nearly three in four non-payers file 1040s. Nearly all pay some tax—sales taxes, payroll taxes, excise taxes and the like. And most have income taxes withheld from their paychecks but get these payments returned from the government in the form of refunds or credits.
There are also people who make money, have no tax withheld, and owe no tax. Think low-income retirees who are living on Social Security or younger adults who work but make very little.
But a surprisingly large number of people do work, do have taxes withheld, but never file 1040s. Because we don't know much about them, TPC treats them as non-payers of income tax even though some do pay through withholding. As a result, our estimate that 43 percent of Americans don't pay federal income tax is probably high.
A 2005 paper for the National Tax Association Proceedings by Jacob Mortenson of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, James Cilke of the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, Michael Udell of Ernst & Young, and Jonathon Zytnick of Yale explores the phenomenon.
Unfortunately, their paper uses what are now fairly old data (from 2003) but there is no reason to believe matters have changed very much in the past decade.
It isn't easy to learn about these non-filing taxpayers, mostly because the IRS only publishes data about those who do file tax returns. But the authors used information returns such as W-2s and 1099s to build a broad profile.
Not surprisingly, non-filers who had tax withheld earned a limited amount of income. The NTA paper figures an average of only about $20,500 in 2003. And the vast majority of their income was from wages. Keep in mind, though, that this estimate is based on what was reported on those information returns. Some non-filers surely had unreported income as well.
A more recent paper for the IRS publication Statistics of Income also found a signficant number of non-filers who had tax withheld. That paper, by Udell and Joshua Lawrence of Ernst & Young and Tiffany Young at Yale, used 2005 information return data. It estimated that non-filers missed out on $3.8 billion in potential refunds of withheld income tax and another $5 billion in refundable credits.
Of course, while many non-filers are owed money by the federal government there are also many who owe taxes, including some who had tax withheld.
It is easy to understand the motivations of those who owe Uncle Sam and don't file (such a course of action isn't very smart but it is explainable). It is much harder to figure out why someone who has tax withheld and is likely eligible for refunds or refundable tax credits doesn't bother. We can all speculate about what is happening here, but it would sure be nice to learn more about these taxpaying non-filers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)