will the underwear bomber end a presidency?

[Rick Gippner]

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaBear That may be true, but there is one huge reason why the Fed's will never go there. It isn't because of Western Culture, the Christian right, Societal norms, etc... I won't give any clues just yet, but who wants to offer some guesses as to why the status quo is more precious to Washington Politicians from both parties than any other peripheral argument?

Besides, marriage regulation is a function of state government not the Federal government.

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rick Gippner Besides, marriage regulation is a function of state government not the Federal government.

For now at least... The Fed's do have a way of ignoring the 10th Amendment every chance they get, usually using the Interstate Commerce Clause as their way in...
There is one, and ONLY one overriding Federal interest/consequence that keeps even the most ardent activist silent on the issue... c'mon guys, there's your hint

[Pleakpond]

putting gay couples into married filing jointly tax bracket vs. two single bracket earners.

[Meg]

Larry............. filing status for taxes

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pleakpond putting gay couples into married filing jointly tax bracket vs. two single bracket earners.

Quote: Originally Posted by Meg Larry............. filing status for taxes

Give those two a
The most important thing to D.C. Politicians is money and power.

[Rick Gippner]

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaBear Give those two a The most important thing to D.C. Politicians is money and power.

Nope, I just ran my tax software and if my state recognizes registered domestic partnerships, then the tax rates and deductions are the same as married filing joint.

[Pleakpond]

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaBear Give those two a The most important thing to D.C. Politicians is money and power.

OK - I had typed a really nice long post and when I hit send, Bito had logged me out - poof!

Anyway, the gist of it was - Larry, I thought that's where you were heading and I threw you a curve ball. Like anything in the tax code, the real answer is - it depends.

As is stands right now (2010 and tax year 2009) A gay couple filing as married probably won't pay any more than two singles. That is making the assumption that they are DINKs which I think is a reasonable assumption. The first income is taxed on the graduated rates and the second income is taxed all at the higher rates. This is because of the Bush tax cuts from 2001 & 2003.

Now the real fun comes at the end of this year. The marriage penalty relief provisions are scheduled to go away and unless basically one of the couple does not work at all, then two singles (gay or straight) will pay less than a married couple like it used to be.

So Larry - depending on the year in question - I might or might not get my cigar. (actually a Heinekin would be better)

So the question is - does Congress extend the Bush changes or do they go after the evil rich and all their ill-gotten gains and in the process hit everybody. Or something in between. It will be fun to watch

Oh and before Bob gets all twisted off at my racist term I used above. DINK = double income no kids.

[PapaBear]

Rick.
The IRS is not obligated to recognize Gay Marriage even in States that have legalized it. The Feds write Federal Tax Laws to suit their own desires, and that desire is all about $$$ You are attempting to apply "logic" to the Federal Bureaucracy. What the hell were you thinkin'???

Quote: Originally Posted by Pleakpond OK - I had typed a really nice long post and when I hit send, Bito had logged me out - poof! Anyway, the gist of it was - Larry, I thought that's where you were heading and I threw you a curve ball. Like anything in the tax code, the real answer is - it depends. As is stands right now (2010 and tax year 2009) A gay couple filing as married probably won't pay any more than two singles. That is making the assumption that they are DINKs which I think is a reasonable assumption. The first income is taxed on the graduated rates and the second income is taxed all at the higher rates. This is because of the Bush tax cuts from 2001 & 2003. Now the real fun comes at the end of this year. The marriage penalty relief provisions are scheduled to go away and unless basically one of the couple does not work at all, then two singles (gay or straight) will pay less than a married couple like it used to be. So Larry - depending on the year in question - I might or might not get my cigar. (actually a Heinekin would be better) So the question is - does Congress extend the Bush changes or do they go after the evil rich and all their ill-gotten gains and in the process hit everybody. Or something in between. It will be fun to watch Oh and before Bob gets all twisted off at my racist term I used above. DINK = double income no kids.

You're hitting on all 8 cylinders.
I'll see your Heinie and raise you a Becks Dark
Wait a minute...That came out wrong somehow
If your real good I'll even go for a Laphroaig Single Malt...

Plan "A" (as announced by the current leadership) is to dump the existing tax cuts by allowing them to expire, which nails everyone from the top to the bottom. Especially the middle and bottom. That way they can say they didn't raise anyones taxes, Bush did, because it was BUSH's tax cuts that ran out

Next come "targeted" tax cuts for Middle & Lower Income workers. The targeted cuts currently proposed are less than the Bush cuts that are set to expire as things stand now. It will still be Bush's fault. (That Bastard had it planned this way all along to make Obama look bad) He was such an evil genius

The upper-middle and upper class will see a targeted increase to offset the lost revenue. Everyone will see a tax increase for medical care if the health ins. legislation goes through as proposed, with every one in the higher income brackets getting an extra tax surcharge because they are evil and the bane of human existence.

Then of course comes the "Carbon Credit" taxes, which will raise ordinary utility costs for the average family a few $K per year.

Oh and don't forget that the IRS will be in charge of making sure we all have "federally approved" medical insurance under the current health care proposals (unless you are a union member), and if you do not you will be assessed an annual penalty of anywhere from $700 to several $K depending on how much you earn.

This of course will be bad for the job market, and once again Obama has renewed his pledge to push hard for targeted tax cuts for small business in the form of making them exempt from "Capital Gains Taxes" in order to offset any burden they might endure and stimulate job creation in the private sector.

There is of course one small problem with that particular bit of sophistry from El Hefe Grande' (a little "racist" lingo for Bob). Small business do not pay Capital Gains Taxes. Homeowners who sell their homes do. Retirees who are living on stock investment income do. They of course do not get the exemption.

"Capital Gains Tax Exemptions" for Small Business is the functional equivalent of providing guaranteed maternity care insurance for 75 year old gay Men

The small businesses pay ordinary Income Taxes, which are slated to go back up to 41%... before adding in the Carbon, Insurance, and other penalties waiting in the wings.

B.O.H.I.C.A.

[Meg]

"This of course will be bad for the job market, and once again Obama has renewed his pledge to push hard for targeted tax cuts for small business in the form of making them exempt from "Capital Gains Taxes" in order to offset any burden they might endure and stimulate job creation in the private sector.

There is of course one small problem with that particular bit of sophistry from El Hefe Grande' (a little "racist" lingo for Bob). Small business do not pay Capital Gains Taxes. Homeowners who sell their homes do. Retirees who are living on stock investment income do. They of course do not get the exemption."

Larry I had to go look that up because although it sounded familair I had not listened to all of the speech....and there it was on youtube getting a round of applause. (he also claims to have made 25 new tax cuts?? so how does one find out what is what?) but what bothered me was he wants to take the stimulus monies the banks have payed back and instead of paying down our debt he wants to do another stimulus, it is not like it is money we had...rememeber we borrowed it from China! were does it end!

now I gotta go look up if small businesses pay capital gains taxes or not

is there a tax accountant in the house?

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by Meg "This of course will be bad for the job market, and once again Obama has renewed his pledge to push hard for targeted tax cuts for small business in the form of making them exempt from "Capital Gains Taxes" in order to offset any burden they might endure and stimulate job creation in the private sector. There is of course one small problem with that particular bit of sophistry from El Hefe Grande' (a little "racist" lingo for Bob). Small business do not pay Capital Gains Taxes. Homeowners who sell their homes do. Retirees who are living on stock investment income do. They of course do not get the exemption." Larry I had to go look that up because although it sounded familair I had not listened to all of the speech....and there it was on youtube getting a round of applause. (he also claims to have made 25 new tax cuts?? so how does one find out what is what?) but what bothered me was he wants to take the stimulus monies the banks have payed back and instead of paying down our debt he wants to do another stimulus, it is not like it is money we had...rememeber we borrowed it from China! were does it end! now I gotta go look up if small businesses pay capital gains taxes or not is there a tax accountant in the house?

90%+ of small businesses pay their taxes as ordinary income on their tax returns be they operating as DBA's, Subchapter S Corporations (most), or LLC's. Capital Gains taxes are from buying and selling property, buying and selling stocks and bonds, etc... None of those activities are part of ordinary "small business" operations except in a very tiny number of instances.

Another line that got mixed applause and laughter was his promise to push for more offshore drilling and new Nuclear Power plants. A smattering of polite applause, a lot of dirty looks from his more liberal House and Senate members, and mainly "I'll believe that $#!t when I see it" looks from Republicans. Bush pushed for those things and was shut down by the environmental lobbies every time. It was one of the Senate Democrats favorite things to filibuster (which is bad now because Republicans are doing it) Obama's own Interior Dept announced just a week or two ago that they were going to tighten up the drilling permit process and shut down any "fast tracking" of drilling permits on Fed Lands. That drew a lot of fire from Republicans and at least one Democrat (Boren, Oklahoma) who fired off a very heated letter to the White House in response.

His proposed "budget freeze" is just funny as hell. During the campaign one of his favorite taunts of McCain was the fact that McCain had called for a Budget Freeze... Now of course it's a great idea... because it's his... and it will "freeze" a budget at levels at least 2-3 trillion $$$ higher than last years because they won't go into effect until 2011.

Government Math is such fun

BTW. Anybody care to guess why Nuclear Power plants are now a good idea again??? Follow the money, and no, it ain't because of "global warming"