New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg let the cat out of the bag when he announced that half the city’s income comes from 42,000 of its residents. So in a city of 8.2 million, less than half of one percent of the people carry 50 percent of the tax burden.
On the national scale, the top 10% of income tax filers pay 70% of the taxes and earned 47% of the income.
The Tax Foundation reports that the top 1% of American tax filers paid more taxes in 2006 than the bottom 90%. The numbers were $408-billion paid compared to $299-billion. Of 136 million returns filed that year, a mere 1.4 million Americans paid more than this other 122 million combined.
And 23-million Americans who paid zero in income taxes still received federal “refunds” of $46 billion last year.
Is this what passes for fairness today? Is this why some have Tea Parties to protest, while millions don’t care because they are paying nothing?
Read more here.
Ethanol: The political fuel
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Can it be that not everything green is good? Take ethanol. It's now under attack from its old buddies, the environmentalists. Some other former friends are also forsaking it.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Ethanol Policy Threatens to Starve the World
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Ethanol policy and subsidies are increasing energy prices and food prices simultaneously. As ever-larger amounts of farm acreage and food production is diverted toward ethanol it is already increasing the likelihood of starvation and famine.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
The High Cost of Congress
Thursday, January 17, 2008
This article appears at WorldNetDaily.
We can’t afford Congress. It’s driving America’s cost-of-living through the roof.
Any tax cut or “economic stimulus” we might get this spring is peanuts compared to how Washington keeps jacking up the price of everything that’s important.
By itself, last month’s energy bill will make food, cars, gasoline and even light bulbs more expensive. Washington is also the culprit behind high medical bills and health insurance, washing machines that have doubled in price, and our wonderful, more-expensive “lo-flo” toilets that don’t flush right.
All this is on top of what red tape already costs us. A 2004 government report admitted that federal regulations cost our economy at least $1.1 trillion each year. That’s $3,666 per person, so multiply that by the number of people in your household. And remember that’s before the 2007 energy bill. And in addition to taxes.
The new energy laws are a leftist’s dream and a supply-sider’s nightmare. As 2008 starts, we’re paying $3 (often more) for a gallon of gasoline. That’s up about a fourth (64 cents) from a year ago. The Heritage Foundation calculates the new energy bill will boost gas prices over $5 a gallon by 2016. Yet rather than let us produce more oil domestically, Congress keeps areas off-limits from drilling that could raise supply and lower prices.
Someday you might save gas, since Congress has dictated that new cars must soon get 10% more miles per gallon. But that depends on your being able to afford a new car. Sticker shock on new cars will get worse because engineering them to meet the mandate will raise car prices by $5,000 to $7,000 per car, according to General Motors.
Compounding the engineering challenge is the Congressional requirement that more ethanol be mixed into the gasoline. That lowers mpg because ethanol contains less energy. In return for this mileage reduction, your tax dollars are used to pay ethanol producers a 51-cent-per-gallon subsidy. Since the new law compels the sale of 35 billion gallons of ethanol—up from the currently mandated 8 billion gallons a year—the subsidy costs to taxpayers will rise from $4 billion to $17.5 billion annually.
This is why food prices keep going up. As more corn goes into ethanol, food processors must bid against the government subsidy to buy corn. So must livestock producers who need the corn to feed the cattle, chickens and other animals. Even before the four-fold increase in the ethanol mandate, one-fifth of corn production already goes to ethanol. This will worsen the $9 billion a year extra that consumers already pay in food prices because ethanol subsidies have taken so much corn out of the food and feed supply. Thanks to Congress, the era of cheap and plentiful food in America may be over. (Sadly, they’ll just propose more food stamps as a “solution”.)
Could we just plant more corn (and maybe end $23 billion in farm subsidies)? The ethanol mandate is so massive there’s not room to plant more corn to avoid higher food prices. The National Environmental Trust estimates the new mandate will require us to plant an additional 82.5-millon acres of corn (129,000 square miles). That would take every square inch of Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio—presuming you could evacuate the people and plant every acre.
Then there’s Congress’ bright idea about light bulbs—banning Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent bulb. As a smart shopper, I can buy them on sale for only 25 cents each. But I can’t find the new curly-cue fluorescent bulbs for less than $2 apiece. I’ve bought some anyway, since they’re said to last eight times longer and save 80% more energy. But I resent Congress’ telling me I’ve got no choice. I’m tempted to be ornery and stock up on the old-school bulbs before they’re banished to consumer prison. (I had the same dismay when the feds banned 99-cent cans of Freon, making us spend a hundred dollars to fix the coolant in our car air-conditioning.)
There’s a cultural factor, too. We lose a little refinement when the piggy-tail lights replace decorative bulbs in candelabras, mirror lights, etc., or we can’t find small incandescent lights for Christmas decorations.
These mandates come from the same folks who brought us the $900 washing machine (up from $400 or so before l federal mandates kicked in) and the pricier 1.6-gallon-per-flush toilet, which wastes water because you have to flush multiple times.
Federal red tape is also the biggest reason why health care is so expensive. For each hour spent with patients, our doctors, nurses and their staff must spend almost another hour doing the paperwork dictated by federal regulations.
No wonder we’re losing jobs to the rest of the world. They don’t drown themselves in silly red tape that makes the price of their products uncompetitive. But we do.
Presidential candidates take note: If you want to woo middle class voters, don’t offer them one-shot rebates or other “economic stimulus” gimmicks. Bring back common-sense, and make life in America affordable again.
--Ernest Istook is a former U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, and now a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Any tax cut or “economic stimulus” we might get this spring is peanuts compared to how Washington keeps jacking up the price of everything that’s important.
By itself, last month’s energy bill will make food, cars, gasoline and even light bulbs more expensive. Washington is also the culprit behind high medical bills and health insurance, washing machines that have doubled in price, and our wonderful, more-expensive “lo-flo” toilets that don’t flush right.
All this is on top of what red tape already costs us. A 2004 government report admitted that federal regulations cost our economy at least $1.1 trillion each year. That’s $3,666 per person, so multiply that by the number of people in your household. And remember that’s before the 2007 energy bill. And in addition to taxes.
The new energy laws are a leftist’s dream and a supply-sider’s nightmare. As 2008 starts, we’re paying $3 (often more) for a gallon of gasoline. That’s up about a fourth (64 cents) from a year ago. The Heritage Foundation calculates the new energy bill will boost gas prices over $5 a gallon by 2016. Yet rather than let us produce more oil domestically, Congress keeps areas off-limits from drilling that could raise supply and lower prices.
Someday you might save gas, since Congress has dictated that new cars must soon get 10% more miles per gallon. But that depends on your being able to afford a new car. Sticker shock on new cars will get worse because engineering them to meet the mandate will raise car prices by $5,000 to $7,000 per car, according to General Motors.
Compounding the engineering challenge is the Congressional requirement that more ethanol be mixed into the gasoline. That lowers mpg because ethanol contains less energy. In return for this mileage reduction, your tax dollars are used to pay ethanol producers a 51-cent-per-gallon subsidy. Since the new law compels the sale of 35 billion gallons of ethanol—up from the currently mandated 8 billion gallons a year—the subsidy costs to taxpayers will rise from $4 billion to $17.5 billion annually.
This is why food prices keep going up. As more corn goes into ethanol, food processors must bid against the government subsidy to buy corn. So must livestock producers who need the corn to feed the cattle, chickens and other animals. Even before the four-fold increase in the ethanol mandate, one-fifth of corn production already goes to ethanol. This will worsen the $9 billion a year extra that consumers already pay in food prices because ethanol subsidies have taken so much corn out of the food and feed supply. Thanks to Congress, the era of cheap and plentiful food in America may be over. (Sadly, they’ll just propose more food stamps as a “solution”.)
Could we just plant more corn (and maybe end $23 billion in farm subsidies)? The ethanol mandate is so massive there’s not room to plant more corn to avoid higher food prices. The National Environmental Trust estimates the new mandate will require us to plant an additional 82.5-millon acres of corn (129,000 square miles). That would take every square inch of Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio—presuming you could evacuate the people and plant every acre.
Then there’s Congress’ bright idea about light bulbs—banning Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent bulb. As a smart shopper, I can buy them on sale for only 25 cents each. But I can’t find the new curly-cue fluorescent bulbs for less than $2 apiece. I’ve bought some anyway, since they’re said to last eight times longer and save 80% more energy. But I resent Congress’ telling me I’ve got no choice. I’m tempted to be ornery and stock up on the old-school bulbs before they’re banished to consumer prison. (I had the same dismay when the feds banned 99-cent cans of Freon, making us spend a hundred dollars to fix the coolant in our car air-conditioning.)
There’s a cultural factor, too. We lose a little refinement when the piggy-tail lights replace decorative bulbs in candelabras, mirror lights, etc., or we can’t find small incandescent lights for Christmas decorations.
These mandates come from the same folks who brought us the $900 washing machine (up from $400 or so before l federal mandates kicked in) and the pricier 1.6-gallon-per-flush toilet, which wastes water because you have to flush multiple times.
Federal red tape is also the biggest reason why health care is so expensive. For each hour spent with patients, our doctors, nurses and their staff must spend almost another hour doing the paperwork dictated by federal regulations.
No wonder we’re losing jobs to the rest of the world. They don’t drown themselves in silly red tape that makes the price of their products uncompetitive. But we do.
Presidential candidates take note: If you want to woo middle class voters, don’t offer them one-shot rebates or other “economic stimulus” gimmicks. Bring back common-sense, and make life in America affordable again.
--Ernest Istook is a former U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, and now a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Ten Days Before Iowa
Monday, December 24, 2007
by Ernest Istook
Note: The Iowa Caucuses will occur only ten days after Christmas. So, with apologies to "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Moore":
'Twas ten days before Iowa as they sought the White House.
Every pollster was stirring, even polling each mouse;
The airwaves were filled with the candidates’ flairs,
In hopes nomination soon would be theirs.
The voters were nestled all snug in their beds,
While politics-free visions danced in their heads.
Iowa was due first, New Hampshire on tap
But for now they just wanted a Christmas Eve nap,
When there on the TV arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
The Internet was humming; talk radio was brash.
Mainstream media was spewing its usual trash.
I ignored for the moment the new-fallen snow
Since campaign advertising was a flashier show.
Then what to my tired eyes and ears did appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight candidates sincere.
All chasing the driver, so mired in the muck
I knew in a moment they were hounding the lame duck.
More eager than buzzards the candidates they came,
Pursued by reporters who called them by name:
"Now, Clinton! Now, Thompson! Now, Obama and Huckabee!On, Giuliani! On, Edwards! On McCain! And on Romney!”
To the top of the polls, then the bottom they’d fall!
Now bash away! Bash away! Bash away all!
Dumb questions were asked at a hurricane pace,
To be met with one-liners, and attacks face-to-face.
So up to the house-top the wild mob they flew,
With the sleigh full of promises, and whispering campaigns, too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The comebacks and charges, till I’d had quite enough.
As I reached out my hand to turn off the sound,
Down the chimney the whole circus came with a bound.
They were all dressed in mud, from each head to each foot,
Reputations were tarnished with ashes and soot;
Old slogans and charges each flung in attacks
And they looked like some peddlers or maybe some hacks.
Their eyes—oh, how beady! Yet their dimples how merry!
Their cheeks were like roses; their smiles, they were scary.
They smelled like new plastic; they were made up with flair.
And one of them boasted four-hundred-dollar hair.
The stump of a lead one watched fall from his grip,
Another wore a halo, which started to slip.
One looked like a lawyer, as played on the telly.
One shook when she laughed, and denied she was smelly.
Two were movie star handsome, like they came off a shelf.
One was white-haired and somber, a non-jolly old elf.
The other kept saying he’d bring change to all
And each claimed that we should just ignore Ron Paul.
They spoke endless words, and they spun in their work:
Promised to fill every stocking; denied being a jerk.
Many voters decided that they’d just hold their nose
As to who’d get the nod. Then up the chimney all rose.
They sprang to private jets, ignoring Al Gore’s epistle.
They flew off to New Hampshire, showing toughness and gristle.
But I heard them exclaim, ere they flew out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all please vote right!"
--Ernest Istook is a former U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, now a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a radio talk show host.
Note: The Iowa Caucuses will occur only ten days after Christmas. So, with apologies to "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Moore":
'Twas ten days before Iowa as they sought the White House.
Every pollster was stirring, even polling each mouse;
The airwaves were filled with the candidates’ flairs,
In hopes nomination soon would be theirs.
The voters were nestled all snug in their beds,
While politics-free visions danced in their heads.
Iowa was due first, New Hampshire on tap
But for now they just wanted a Christmas Eve nap,
When there on the TV arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
The Internet was humming; talk radio was brash.
Mainstream media was spewing its usual trash.
I ignored for the moment the new-fallen snow
Since campaign advertising was a flashier show.
Then what to my tired eyes and ears did appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight candidates sincere.
All chasing the driver, so mired in the muck
I knew in a moment they were hounding the lame duck.
More eager than buzzards the candidates they came,
Pursued by reporters who called them by name:
"Now, Clinton! Now, Thompson! Now, Obama and Huckabee!On, Giuliani! On, Edwards! On McCain! And on Romney!”
To the top of the polls, then the bottom they’d fall!
Now bash away! Bash away! Bash away all!
Dumb questions were asked at a hurricane pace,
To be met with one-liners, and attacks face-to-face.
So up to the house-top the wild mob they flew,
With the sleigh full of promises, and whispering campaigns, too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The comebacks and charges, till I’d had quite enough.
As I reached out my hand to turn off the sound,
Down the chimney the whole circus came with a bound.
They were all dressed in mud, from each head to each foot,
Reputations were tarnished with ashes and soot;
Old slogans and charges each flung in attacks
And they looked like some peddlers or maybe some hacks.
Their eyes—oh, how beady! Yet their dimples how merry!
Their cheeks were like roses; their smiles, they were scary.
They smelled like new plastic; they were made up with flair.
And one of them boasted four-hundred-dollar hair.
The stump of a lead one watched fall from his grip,
Another wore a halo, which started to slip.
One looked like a lawyer, as played on the telly.
One shook when she laughed, and denied she was smelly.
Two were movie star handsome, like they came off a shelf.
One was white-haired and somber, a non-jolly old elf.
The other kept saying he’d bring change to all
And each claimed that we should just ignore Ron Paul.
They spoke endless words, and they spun in their work:
Promised to fill every stocking; denied being a jerk.
Many voters decided that they’d just hold their nose
As to who’d get the nod. Then up the chimney all rose.
They sprang to private jets, ignoring Al Gore’s epistle.
They flew off to New Hampshire, showing toughness and gristle.
But I heard them exclaim, ere they flew out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all please vote right!"
--Ernest Istook is a former U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, now a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a radio talk show host.
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