Wednesday, February 6, 2013

President Obama Warns That More Tax Increases Could Be On The Horizon

After five weeks and approximately 4,000 webinars, Americans are finally getting up to speed on the tax changes emerging from the year-end fiscal cliff deal. But if the President has his way, we may find soon be back at the drawing board, trying to make sense of a new batch of tax increases.

While the late-December negotiations accomplished the necessary task of addressing the expiring Bush tax cuts, the other half of the fiscal cliff – the scheduled cuts in spending that were slated to take effect on January 1, 2013 – were merely postponed, with the sequester now scheduled for March 1st.

On that date, approximately $85 billion in spending cuts will kick in, and if nothing changes, $110 billion in annual cuts will take effect on October 1st and continue for the next eight years. These cuts would hit defense spending hard as well as other domestic programs, such as education, housing, and Medicare.

Just as we saw with the fiscal cliff deal, however, neither political party wants the sequester to take effect as scheduled, as the indiscriminate cuts would deal a harsh blow to the still-recovering economy.

In a statement issued earlier today, President Obama proposed delaying sequestration in the near term in the hopes that Congress could use the additional time to compose a viable budget. The President would buy some time with a mix of alternative spending cuts and yes…you guessed it…additional tax revenue.

Specifically, the President stated that he would be willing to cut spending on social programs so long as they are done “hand-in-hand with a process of tax reform so that the wealthiest individuals and corporations can’t take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren’t available to most Americans.”

The President offered no additional details, leaving those who follow this sort of thing to wonder exactly what type of loopholes might be on the chopping block. But if you look to the President’s previous but as-of-yet-unfulfilled tax proposals, and further consider that the stated goal of the current administration is to trim an additional $1.5 trillion from our deficit over the next decade in order to stabilize our debt, some big tax changes may be afoot. Changes like these: Read the full article to see the changes.
 
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