#406 (1/8) - ''Buffett Tax on Rich Will Hurt Average Americans"........

A SPECIAL NOTE: TODAY marks 14 days before the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision that spearheaded the legalizaion of the abortion of the unborn in America. I am in the midst of a 40 day period of prayer and (limited) fasting to honor the memory of the over 55 million ! unborn that have been murdered and the tens of millions of their mothers, fathers, and siblings who have been victimized by this great American Holocaust. 

CHALLENGE: This Sunday, ask your pastor that as a pro-life church (which I trust yours describes itself), how will they recognize Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on  Jan. 20th as will thousands of other pro-life churches in America. If he says he has no plans to do so, ask him why not. I'd love to hear the response you get.

PLEASE PRAY: 1.) For the girls/women each day contemplating an abortion; the abortionists and their staff; the crisis pregnancy centers seeking to serve the women facing unplanned pregnancies. 2)  For the passage of even more state laws that will effectively help to limit the number of abortions being performed. 3.)The defunding of Planned Parenthood that performs over 300,000 abortions (about 1/3 the toal) for profit and still receives almost 1/2 billion dollars in federal tax dollars. 4.) That one day America might finally pass a constitutional amendment promoting the Sanctity of Every Human Life - in effect oulawing both abortion and euthanasia. 5) For churches/Christians being pro-life- not just claiming to be but demonstrating it conclusively by their actiions.

NOTE: I have addressed this topic  before but once more the fallacy of the concept is explained below in a concise way. Also, note the news item following that talks about a 'fair tax' hypocrite you might know.

''Buffett Tax on Rich Will Hurt Average Americans"- November 29, 2012

Billionaire Warren Buffett, writing in the New York Times, proposed a minimum tax of 30 percent on incomes of $1 million to $10 million and 35 percent on incomes above that. Unfortunately, Buffett's proposed tax hike is just another way of removing investment capital -- the engine of economic growth -- from the U.S. economy. It would also do next to nothing to close our long-term budget deficits, now running at $1 trillion plus a year, says Investor's Business Daily.

• Last year, according to the Treasury Department, the U.S. deficit was $1.1 trillion.
• According to a study by Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, a Buffett-style 30 percent tax on all millionaires would generate just $5 billion.
• That's less than one-half of 1 percent of our budget.

Buffett and others have said tax hikes on the rich are "fair."

• The top 1 percent earn about 16 percent of all income in the United States, but they pay 37 percent of all the federal income taxes.
• The 400 richest Americans pay about as much in taxes as the bottom 50 percent -- about 72 million Americans -- do.
• As a group, millionaires have an effective income-tax rate -- that is, what they actually pay -- of 24 percent.
• For the rest of us, it's 11 percent.

As for Buffett's idea for a "minimum" tax on the rich, the United States already has one. It's called the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). It was put in place in 1969, after it was revealed that 155 people with incomes over $200,000 had paid zero in income taxes in 1967. It was meant to catch a handful of rich folks who were not paying their "fair share." Next year, thanks to bracket creep, the AMT will snare as many as 20 million middle class Americans.

Moreover, as economist Alan Reynolds of the American Enterprise Institute pointed out, the 1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act raised taxes on the rich to make things more "fair" and to boost revenues to reduce the deficit. How did that work out?

• In 1989, income tax revenues as a share of gross domestic product totaled about 8.3 percent.
• By 1992, after the tax hikes kicked in, they dropped to 7.6 percent.

Source: "Buffett Tax on Rich Will Hurt Average Americans," Investor's Business Daily, November 27, 2012.
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"Gore Sought to Skirt Taxes on TV Sale Profits," Jan. 7, http://news.newsmax.com/?Z6CDYbduE5FJg1J5Tg6vS6E1IXbkxlU1Z  [As an example of liberal hypocrisy regarding the rich paying their "fair share," I present the following. - Stan]

Al Gore’s sale of his cable channel Current TV to Al Jazeera has an intriguing footnote: The former vice president sought to close the sale before Jan. 1 to avoid higher taxes in the new year.
Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant financed by the government of Qatar, reportedly paid $500 million for Gore’s low-rated channel, meaning Gore stands to gain $100 million for his 20 percent stake in Current.
“Mr. Gore and his partners were eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31, lest it be subject to higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1, according to several people who insisted on anonymity,” The New York Times reported. But the deal was not signed until Wednesday, Jan. 2.

Gore said in an interview in November that the “most fortunate” in America should pay their “fair share” in taxes. Fox talk show host Greta Van Susteren said on Thursday: “Apparently he doesn’t want to apply that rule to himself, or he has a different idea of what his fair share is.” .. Observers may also find irony in the fact, noted by Politico, that “Current, which was co-founded by climate change advocate Al Gore, agreed to be bought out by a broadcaster owned by the Qatari government, and therefore funded by oil.” ...