Domestic Taxes

The White House was quick to say this morning that President Obama is unlikely to change his mind about letting tax cuts expire for the nation's wealthiest taxpayers. 

"The president has been clear about his support for extending tax cuts 
for the middle class and about ending the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2
 percent of Americans, which would cost $700 billion over 10 years to 
extend at a time when we are dealing with a fiscal crisis and the
 independent CBO [Congressional Budget Office] has listed it as the least effective form of growing the economy," White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage told The Hill on Tuesday. 

Peter Orszag, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget, argued Tuesday that Congress should extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years and then let them all expire. 

In his speech Wednesday, President Obama is expected to propose allowing businesses to write-off 100 percent of new investments in plants and equipment, according to several reports. 

President Obama will use a speech in Cleveland on Wednesday to call for a $100 billion business tax credit, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The plan would increase and permanently extend the research and development tax credit, one proposal that had reportedly been on the table to help jump-start job creation after disappointing unemployment numbers -- an upward tick to 9.6 percent -- were announced Friday.

It would be paid for by closing other corporate tax loopholes, an administration official told the Post on condition of anonymity.

The Post also reported that the White House will take a pass at this point on one of the other proposals on the table, a payroll tax holiday.

A new Tea Party tracking poll showed that 71 percent of likely voters and 76 percent of independents believe a tax increase of at least 10 percent will occur over the next decade if federal spending is not curbed. 

Democrats pounced Friday on a top Republican's suggestion he knew of plenty of spending cuts to pay for the extension.

Data compiled by the American Payroll Association (APA) shows nearly 140 million tax returns will be hit with a tax hike if Congress fails to extend a slew of tax cuts set to expire in less than four months. 

Nearly three-quarters of likely voters polled (71 percent) believe they should have a say in reforming Social Security, according to a new survey by Rasmussen Reports. 

Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.) on Thursday asked fellow Democratic members to support a letter to President Obama asking him to keep Social Security as it is. 

The American Medical Association (AMA) and 90 other medical organizations on Thursday sent a letter to the Treasury Department expressing their opposition to a change in tax policy that would allow trial lawyers to deduct certain litigation expenses. 

The Pew Economic Policy Group on Thursday outlined cost projections for different scenarios involving the extension of tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush.