Wednesday, January 2, 2013
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 late Tuesday night.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 to avert the fiscal cliff late Tuesday night. The vote was 257 to 167. U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Upper St. Clair), who represents Peters Township, voted in favor of passing the legistlation. He explained his reasoning in this statement: “The process and product are imperfect, but what has been achieved can’t be overlooked. We’ve overcome the impasse to permanently lock in lower tax rates for 99 percent of taxpayers. (The) vote opens the door for work to begin in the next session of Congress on significant cuts in federal spending, meaningful tax reform and pro-growth policies to get our country back on solid fiscal footing.” The bill permanently extends current…
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Some lawmakers are in Washington, DC this weekend, trying to hammer out a last-minute deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, but if they don't, average citizens might feel the impact.
Our nation is less than two days from going over the "fiscal cliff"—and the compromise clock is ticking loudly. Senate leaders worked toward a last-minute compromise on Saturday to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly prevent deep spending cuts, such as a 27 percent fee cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients. Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, predicts that nearly 90 percent of households would be affected if Congressional leaders fail to reach a compromise before the Jan. 1 deadline. Among the impacts to average citizens: Those things would hit people in the wallet, which in turn has the potential to adversely affect our already-weak economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said the combination of tax …
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Tell us what you think is the best way for President Obama and Congress to work together to keep tax rates from rising and major spending cuts from being enacted in January.
Last year, Congress and President Barack Obama agreed to a program—now known as the "fiscal cliff"— to reduce the federal deficit. If Congress and the president don't reach an agreement within the next few weeks, tax rates will rise in January for almost all Americans and major spending cuts will automatically occur next year in most government spending programs. Democrats and Republicans don't agree about how to best raise the federal government's revenues. The president and most congressional Democrats favor tax rate increases on the wealthiest Americans. Most congressional Republicans call instead for closing loopholes and reforming the tax code. Both parties have indicated a willingness to implement spending cuts. A point of …
Rick Pfeuffer
10:59 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
This, as almost everything done by our elected representatives of recent history, is a total scam. The only more frightening aspect of this is that "we" continue to elect these folks to act on our behalf. This government has a spending problem, not a taxing problem. My suggestion is that the only way we will begin to understand that is by taxing everyone now for every penny of spending by the … more ›