It's President's Day weekend. Do you know what the candidates' tax proposals are?
What better way to spend Valentine's Day weekend than with presidential contenders?聽It's President's Day weekend, too, after all. Last night Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders noted that his tax increase would reduce 聽average health insurance premiums by $5000 a year. Competitor Hillary Clinton said those numbers don't add up. Meanwhile, you can spend Saturday evening with the GOP hopefuls. And (or)聽
Tax cuts: Too easy to make?聽罢笔颁鈥檚听聽of Marco Rubio鈥檚 tax plan examines how the GOP presidential hopeful would replace the federal income tax with a progressive consumption tax. Rubio would cut taxes at all income levels, but he鈥檇 pay a big price: Without offsetting spending cuts, the nation鈥檚 debt would explode. As TPC鈥檚 Howard聽, most of the $6.8 trillion in tax cuts would go to high-income households. Moreover, with interest costs, 鈥淩ubio would add nearly $8.2 trillion to the debt in the next decade鈥� Perhaps Rubio knows what spending he鈥檇 cut to offset that massive revenue loss. If so, he ought to tell us.鈥�
Tax refunds: Too easy to collect?聽The Wall Street Journal鈥檚聽Richard Rubin聽聽(paywall) the implications of a聽聽from Jacob Mortensen and Andrew Whitten from the Joint Committee on Taxation. 鈥淪oftware and shady tax preparers make it incredibly easy to fiddle with the numbers until you hit the sweet spot that shows the maximum refund.鈥�
Case in point: Maryland.聽State Comptroller聽聽has stopped accepting returns from 37 private tax preparers, citing a pattern of questionable returns from outfits in low-income neighborhoods. When they file fraudulent returns, taxpayers are on the hook for the preparers鈥� misdeeds.
Meanwhile, Congress bans Internet taxes.聽Yesterday the Senate followed the House and voted to聽聽state and local taxation of Internet access. The measure does not address the related issue of when states can require online retailers to collect sales taxes on their transactions. However, Senate leaders promised to allow a vote on that matter later this spring.
And an oil tax will slip through the President鈥檚 fingers.聽House Ways & Means Chair Kevin Brady let Treasury Secretary Jack Lew know that President Obama鈥檚聽has 鈥渘o chance鈥� in Congress. The fact that Brady is from Texas probably didn鈥檛 help the proposal. The price of crude, meanwhile, continues to drop.
This article first聽appeared at .
