Tax Cuts

Polls show that frustration with Washington has never been higher — and who could argue? Most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Most lawmakers openly concede that nothing will get done before the November elections. The leaders of both parties are already trading threats over the possibility of a national debt default next year. Barack Obama got elected by promising to change the tone in Washington, but clearly he's failed, as George W. Bush did before him. That should be a clue that the partisan animosity consuming the political system doesn't originate in the White House.

The House will vote this summer on continuing wide-ranging tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Friday as the GOP sharpened its plans for confronting Democrats on one of the election's top issues. In a memo to fellow Republican lawmakers, Cantor said the House would vote on extending those tax cuts before leaving Washington for its August recess. Without congressional action, tax rates on wages, dividends, capital gains and other earnings will rise and most Americans will face higher taxes.

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans and Democrats vowed yesterday to seek significant changes to the $819 billion economic stimulus package passed by the House, foreshadowing a likely bruising debate next week on how best to end the recession. Democrats promised more money for roads, bridges, and more traditional public works programs than in the version approved by the House on Wednesday. "We're going to be offering some amendments to improve the package and hopefully make it more amenable to some of the Republicans," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who wants to add $3 billion for...

House Republicans plan to introduce measures next week that would move up an income tax cut from January to October and increase how much income someone can earn before taxes kick in. House GOP spokesman Ari Adler said Thursday the bills will be introduced Tuesday. House Republican Speaker Jase Bolger says he wants to return $90 million of a budget surplus to taxpayers. The Michigan League for Human Services says the move is an election-year gimmick. It says the money would be better spent offering preschool or dental care to low-income children.

WASHINGTON - On a rare down day in the presidential campaign, all three major candidates returned to their day jobs in the US Senate yesterday for key budget votes. They were not officially on the campaign trail, but they cast votes and debated issues that will probably emerge in the fall campaign. The Senate voted 52 to 47 to reject a move to extend President Bush's tax cuts for middle- and higher-income taxpayers, investors, and people inheriting businesses and big estates.

WASHINGTON - In the nation's first-ever $3 trillion budget, President Bush seeks to seal his legacy of promoting a strong defense to fight terrorism and promoting tax cuts to spur the economy. Democrats, who control Congress, are pledging fierce opposition to Bush's final spending plan, perhaps even until the next president takes office. The 2009 spending plan being sent to Congress today will project huge budget deficits, about $400 billion for this year and next and more than double the 2007 deficit of $163 billion.

WASHINGTON — President Obama sought to retake the political initiative yesterday after a bruising election, inviting Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to meet with him on the economy and jobs. The White House confirmed Obama would consider extending Bush-era tax cuts even for wealthy Americans for a year or two. The Nov. 18 meeting will be closely watched, in particular, for any signs of cooperation between Obama and his two frequent Republican antagonists, John Boehner, House speaker-in-waiting, and Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader.

WASHINGTON -- The House passed a bill yesterday that was sought by President Bush to deliver tax cuts worth $70 billion to investors and to keep 15 million taxpayers from being hit by the alternative minimum tax. The House passed the measure by a 244-to-185 vote. The Senate is expected to clear the bill today. The bill provides a two-year extension of the reduced 15 percent tax rate for capital gains and dividends, currently set to expire at the end of 2008. It would also extend, for this year, recent changes to the alternative minimum tax, originally aimed at...

Kansas House and Senate negotiators are continuing their discussions on measures to reduce state tax rates. Three senators and three House members scheduled meetings throughout Thursday as they try to find a compromise between tax-cut measures approved by each chamber. Both proposals are loosely based on recommendations from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. The governor is pushing legislators to cut taxes this year, saying the move would stimulate the Kansas economy. Both chambers' bills would cut income taxes for individuals and some businesses.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday that Congress should make President Bush's tax cuts permanent and cover the $1 trillion price by trimming future benefits in Social Security and other entitlement programs. Greenspan told the Senate Budget Committee that Congress, "as a first order of business," should restore budget rules that cap discretionary government spending and require increases in entitlement benefits or cuts in taxes to be offset by other program cuts or other tax increases.

Plenty of Kansas legislators' fingerprints are on the aggressive income tax cuts signed into law this week by conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, including those of some GOP moderates now describing it as a budget crisis in the making. But Brownback now owns the legislation, even though it strayed significantly from the tax plan he outlined in January and he and his allies sought less aggressive alternatives in the legislative session's final days. He not only signed the bill, but he pushed for the debate making it possible and ultimately embraced what passed.

New Jersey lawmakers received a sobering update of the state's finances Wednesday — with revenues growing at half the anticipated rate and the state's economy projected to lag the nation's well into next year. The shortfall has Democrats questioning the "Jersey Comeback" Gov. Chris Christie has been touting and the viability of the 10 percent income tax cut he has proposed. Christie wants to close the current year's budget gap by borrowing against the state's transportation capital fund, reducing salary increases and spending less in other areas.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican legislative leaders worked out a budget agreement Wednesday that would allow for a small cut in individual income taxes, twice as much money for film credits, a slight increase in education funding and a down payment on school employees' health care costs in retirement. The tax cut would amount to $90 million, but most people might not notice it since wealthier taxpayers may save only around $100 and low-income families may save only $10. The state expects to receive nearly $7 billion in income tax revenue this fiscal...

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney says that if he is elected Congress should wait until he takes office to block automatic spending cuts and to keep tax cuts from expiring. In an interview with Time magazine Wednesday, the Republican presidential candidate said he wants Congress to deal with major issues to keep the nation from going over a "fiscal cliff" after the January swearing-in. Romney said he wants permanent legislation to deal with those problems instead of a temporary effort.

New Jersey's disappointing tax collections through the first 10 months of the fiscal year and the resulting revenue shortage might mean a more modest residential tax cut than state lawmakers had originally proposed. Democratic Assemblyman Vincent Prieto of Hudson County, who heads the Assembly Budget Committee, told The Associated Press that there's room for compromise among three rival tax relief plans proposed in conjunction with Gov. Chris Christie's $32.1 billion budget. However, he said no tax cut should be enacted unless the state has the money to pay for it. "We have to...

Republicans will have to drop their insistence on retaining tax cuts for the rich and plans to reshape Medicare before there can be a bipartisan deal on controlling federal deficits and averting a wide-scale tax increase in January, the Senate's top Democrat said. In a letter to GOP senators released Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blamed congressional Republicans' "strict adherence to tea party ideology" for the two sides' failure to reach such a deal. Reid, D-Nev., also said the GOP's "blind adherence to tea party extremism is making it...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is committed to making its tax cuts permanent at the same time it intends to cut the budget deficit in half within five years, Treasury Secretary John Snow said yesterday. Snow warned that Congress would threaten the economic recovery if it rolled back the administration's tax cuts, something that President Bush's Democratic opponents are urging because of the exploding budget deficit. Instead, Snow said, the administration would focus on getting Congress to make the tax cuts permanent, saying this would be at the "very center" of the administration's fiscal...

Kansas legislators' tax cut negotiations quickly halted Tuesday when senators realized that the best offer they could get from the House was one they've already seen. Three senators and three House members reviewed a new proposal from the Senate, with the House rejecting the offer. Negotiators are trying to draft an alternative proposal that would replace one approved last week and sent to the governor. The previous plan cuts individual income tax rates and eliminates income taxes for 191,000 partnerships, sole proprietorships and other businesses.

A little more than half of Oklahoma taxpayers would see a tax cut next year for an average annual savings of $60 under a Republican-backed income tax plan, according to an analysis of the proposal released on Friday. The Oklahoma Tax Commission analysis shows 54 percent of Oklahoma tax filers would get a tax cut, while an additional 21 percent would see no change in their tax liability. Nearly 25 percent of Oklahomans would actually have an increase in their tax liability under the plan.

The New Jersey Senate's chief budget officer refused Thursday to declare a plan to cut residents' taxes dead, despite reports of a continuing tax collection slump that could trigger hundreds of millions of dollars in spending cuts to balance the state budget. Sen. Paul Sarlo, a Bergen County Democrat, estimated that up to $1 billion may have to be shaved from the state budget this year and next to accommodate a revenue shortage of $351 million 10 months into the fiscal year. Gov. Chris Christie's budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 relies on...