income

Nation's Current Account Deficit Declines by 12.1% for Q2 2012

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The U.S. international transactions release is an odd duck. The current account is kind of like an economic income statement of the U.S. vs. the rest of the world. The current account deficit was $117.4 billion for Q2 2012, a 12.1% decline from Q1's current account deficit of $133.6 billion.

 

Income Taxes Lowest Take Since 1950?

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Income taxes are at their lowest since 1950, their share of the total economy that is, according to AP article.

As a share of the nation's economy, Uncle Sam's take this year will be the lowest since 1950, when the Korean War was just getting under way.

And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike.

Yet, is it fair to compare tax revenues from before the great job slaughter of the last three years? Isn't it even less fair to compare tax revenues to percentage of GDP, when more and more Americans are not sharing in the booty?

From the CBO director's blog, we can see that personal income tax revenues increased 10% from this time last year.

Receipts for the first four months of fiscal year 2011 were about $64 billion (or 9 percent) higher than receipts during the comparable period last year, CBO estimates. Nearly all of that increase was from individual income and social insurance taxes, which together rose by $60 billion (or 10 percent).

Withholding from employees’ paychecks for income and payroll taxes increased by $45 billion (or 8 percent), at least partly reflecting higher wages and salaries; the increase would have been slightly larger but for the Making Work Pay tax credit, which was in effect in 2010, and the temporary payroll tax reduction, which started in January 2011.

Tax Cuts, Tax Cuts - Hello, We Need INCOME!

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This is completely insane. We now have two more tax cuts coming through the Senate.

One to give home buyers a $15,000 tax break to anyone who buys a home and another in the Stimulus to buy a car.

How many super rich are going to gobble up houses as a result!

How many rich will buy a car?

We need income people! The layoffs are like a blizzard and the last thing working America needs are more incentives to go into more debt, more consumerism and less real production.

Her amendment would provide tax breaks to those who purchase new cars and light trucks between Nov. 12, 2008, and the end of this year that cost less than $49,500. Families earning more than $250,000 wouldn’t be eligible for the break. Mikulski estimated the amendment would save car buyers $1,500 on a $25,000 purchase.