by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.
As the Santa Ana winds began to slow, firefighters began to gain control of some of the fires in the southern California with estimates of the insurance costs of the destruction place at over $ 1 billion.
Thousands since 2000 have moved into areas of California at the highest risk of wildfires, raising questions about development.
In an unprecedented move, the U.S. plans to introduce a package of unilateral financial sanctions against Iran's military organizations as state-sponsors of terror, marking the first time the U.S. has so designated another nation's military.
Experts are raising their estimates of what the mortgage crisis will cost investors, saying it will be around $400 billion, but the total loss of real estate wealth is estimated at between $2 trillion to $4 trillion, less than the financial market collapse at the start of the decade which erased $7 trillion in wealth.
China said its economy, the world's fastest growing, increased at an extremely robust 11.5 percent during the third quarter, a slight slowdown from the second quarter which may help the government better manage inflation.
The State Department who oversaw Blackwater USA's security contract in Iraq resigned Wednesday as normally tight-mouthed current and former Blackwater security contractors in Baghdad suggested as unneccessary the use of force in September by some of the company's employees, an incident which left the 17 Iraqis dead.
The Pentagon wants to control private security contractors in Iraq like Blackwater USA, a goal that may collide with the State Department which would have to relinquish oversight of the controversial companies.
A new federal law requiring that shipping containers bound for the U.S. be x-rayed to prevent their use by terrorists is likely to provide a boost to the companies that make the devices as well as the world's most modern ports, which are largely in Asia.
The Kuwaiti firm which built the trouble-plagued new U.S. embassy in Baghdad has received new U.S. contracts, including one to build a new embassy in Saudi Arabia.
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Comments
No mention of the dems trying to raise the individual tax rate to 43%. Current rate 35%, let Bush tax cuts expire, back to 39% and add this surtax ontop for 43+%.
Come on leftie SWAMP writers, this should be a cause to celebrate.
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20071024%5cACQDJON200710242253DOWJONESDJONLINE001107.htm&
Posted by: Terry | October 25, 2007 12:23 PM
Terry, from your link:
"Middle and upper-middle income families would benefit under the plan by a repeal of the alternative minimum tax starting Jan. 1, 2008.
Upper-income families, however, would pay for that repeal with a 4% surtax on incomes above $150,000 for a single earner or incomes above $200,000 for a married couple. That surtax would grow to 4.6% for incomes above $500,000.
The surtax will also make possible an expansion of the earned income tax credit, an increase in the standard deduction, and an increase in the value of the child tax credit for those earning too little to owe federal income taxes.
A third section of the plan would address a number of pressing tax issues, including a temporary patch of the alternative minimum tax prior to Jan. 1, 2008, and the extension of a number of expiring tax provisions.
Absent a patch, the alternative minimum tax will expand to hit roughly 25 million taxpayers, up from 4.4 million in 2006, increasing their taxes by a total of nearly $50 billion, according to congressional estimates."
I don't see anything in there that justifies your figures.
Posted by: BC | October 25, 2007 1:57 PM
BC,
Because you don't take the unsaid in the article - the lapsing of the Bush tax cuts that will occur in 2010. That will drive the highest tax rate to over 43%. Follow my math - I know you are smarter than John E - don't disappoint me.
As fara as the AMT - the issue is what happens in the high tax BLUE states that is causing this headache. Truthfully, they should eliminate the AMT.
As far as the points you make, it is total redistribution of wealth. Expansion of the welfare program called the EITC.
Posted by: Terry | October 25, 2007 5:14 PM