President Obama will propose a budget on Monday that forecasts a $901 billion deficit in 2013, and includes plans to make targeted investments in areas like infrastructure while hiking taxes on the rich.
Facebook's upcoming IPO will make founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg a billionaire -- but it will also stick him with an eye-popping tax bill that could reach as high as $2 billion.
CNNMoney: Obama's tax recordupdated: Mon Jan 30 2012 11:39:00
Republicans portray President Obama as the tax-hiker-in-chief.
Joseph J. Thorndike is a contributing editor at Tax Analysts and a columnist for Tax Notes Today, where a longer version of this article first appeared. He is also director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts, which includes an archive of presidential tax returns. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his own.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday launched a three-day visit to five battleground states in the November election by pressing State of the Union themes of core American values and having the wealthy pay more taxes.
President Obama delivered a State of the Union address Tuesday that was deeply saturated with the message of income inequality, a populist idea that the White House hopes will resonate on the campaign trail.
For a century, the bedrock principle of our tax code has been progressivity: The rich pay a larger share of income than the middle class and poor. Yet Mitt Romney's revelation that he paid 14% in federal income taxes on more than $40 million in income in 2010 and 2011 reveals an increasingly open secret: Progressivity is dead for the superrich.
Newt Gingrich is the latest Republican candidate to challenge the conventional wisdom that Mitt Romney is destined to capture his party's nomination.
One of the lessons of modern American presidential history is that there is nothing more devastating than turning a candidate's supposed strength into a weakness. Karl Rove masterfully made John Kerry's distinguished military service a liability through a series of Swift Boat attacks in the 2004 campaign.
Mitt Romney says he pays full taxes and he's honest in his dealings; Gingrich and Santorum respond, talk about their taxes.
So Mitt Romney thinks his effective tax rate is about 15%.
During Monday's Republican presidential debate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he probably would release a tax return in April -- though he declined to commit -- asserting that recent GOP nominees waited until tax season in election years.
The IRS not only doled out fewer tax refunds last year, but it also cut smaller checks with the average refund slipping by nearly $100.
How would millionaire and billionaire investors like Warren Buffett fare under the GOP presidential hopefuls' tax plans?
If Republican primary voters are inclined to reward candidates who have big, bold, game-changing plans for the tax code, Mitt Romney might be in trouble.
Presidential candidate Rick Santorum's proposals to change taxes haven't drawn much attention yet. But that is likely to change now that his standing in the Republican field has risen.
The rich have gotten richer, thanks to the stock market and the Bush tax cuts, a recent report has found.
Same-sex spouses are paying as much as $6,000 a year in extra taxes because the federal government doesn't recognize gay marriage, according to an analysis conducted for CNNMoney by tax specialists.
CNNMoney asked tax preparer H&R Block to run a variety of scenarios comparing tax liabilities of same-sex and opposite-sex families for our story about gay marriage and taxes. Here's how H&R Block's Tax Institute did the math.
A top White House economic adviser said on Wednesday that congressional deadlock on extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance benefits could threaten the U.S. economy.
If Congress fails to pass an extension of the payroll tax holiday, it would put a serious dent into economic growth in 2012 and could even help tip the U.S. back into a recession, according to economists.
My fiancé and I are in our late 20s and we contribute to our 401(k) plans. But we'd like to supplement our retirement savings by making additional small contributions (maybe $100 a month) over time. We wouldn't touch this money except in an absolute emergency. Any suggestions? -- M. Barber
House Republicans say the two-month payroll tax cut extension passed overwhelmingly by the Senate would inject uncertainty into the economy.
Every Republican presidential hopeful has a plan to cut taxes.
Republicans demanding specific ideological provisions as part of a deal to extend the payroll tax cut appear to be going against their party's anti-tax orthodoxy, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday.
President Obama calls on Congress to do what's right for the American people by extending the payroll tax cut.
Setting up a showdown with the White House and Senate Democrats, House Republican leaders Thursday proceeded with plans to vote next week on a proposal to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits while easing the path for approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Senators Collins and McCaskill propose bipartisan payroll tax cut plan
Based on recent history and what's likely to happen to the nation's infrastructure, it's an inescapable conclusion: We will need new and different sources of funding if we are to have the type of transportation system that is needed to support economic prosperity.
All kinds of ideas are flying around Capitol Hill about how to extend the payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of the year, but a long-standing battle over tax increases and divisions among congressional Republicans have prevented any from gaining traction so far.
A perpetual deadlock in Congress has resulted in eight extensions of the national transportation bill, causing roads to crumble, bridges to fall, and transit to break down.
Remember your first road trip? That sweet taste of independence as you were finally unleashed on America's free and open highways?
In case you haven't heard, President Obama wants the wealthiest to pay more in taxes.
President Obama urged Congress to act on the payroll tax cut before the Christmas recess.
Senate Democrats on Monday offered a new proposal to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires at the end of the year, and President Barack Obama quickly urged Congress to help middle-class Americans by passing it.
Amazon and eBay had it out in a public brawl in Washington on Wednesday during a congressional hearing about allowing states to collect sales tax on Internet purchases.
The Senate blocked competing Democratic and Republican proposals for a payroll tax cut extension.
A top Republican leader agreed Thursday with President Barack Obama and Democrats that extending the payroll tax cut would help the economy, but the parties remained divided over how to pay for the move.
Come January, will 160 million American workers owe a) more than; b) less than; c) the same as they've been paying in payroll taxes this year?
The debate in Congress this week about whether to pay for extending the payroll tax cut by imposing a new tax on millionaires will have nothing to do with solving our nation's economic challenges and everything to do with election-year politics. Senate Democratic leaders have already signaled they will use the debate as a purely partisan exercise designed to embarrass Republicans into opposing tax cuts for the poor while defending tax cuts for the rich.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday challenged Republicans to "fight as hard for middle-class families as you do for those who are more fortunate," telling a Pennsylvania crowd to push Congress to extend the payroll tax cut enacted a year ago.
When Newt Gingrich first released his economic plan, Donald Trump was still considering a 2012 bid and NASA had a space shuttle program.
Congress has a way of waiting to the very last minute to resolve big issues, so December is usually a busy month on Capitol Hill. This year will be no exception. But next year? Next year will be no exception on steroids.
Senate Democrats this week will propose extending the payroll tax cut and imposing a surtax on people earning more than $1 million to pay for it, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said Sunday.
No one ever said tax reform would be easy. But the failure of the super committee points up just how hard it will be in the next year.
Members of Congress's so-called super committee huddled in small groups behind closed doors on Capitol Hill on Friday, battling growing pessimism over their seeming inability to meet a now-imminent deadline for a bipartisan deficit reduction deal.
Brooke Baldwin talks to Bob Cusack of "The Hill" about the supercommittee's deadline for a plan to cut $1.2 trillion
A week before their deadline, Democrats and Republicans on a special joint deficit committee blamed each other for a failure to compromise on how to reform the tax code and entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
A group of two dozen millionaires stormed Capitol Hill on Wednesday, demanding lawmakers raise their taxes.
They have been meeting for two months, poring over concepts and ideas already hashed out by three other groups over the past year.
It's been a big bone of contention from Day 1 on the congressional debt committee. Will Republicans accept any kind of revenue dedicated to debt reduction, and if so what kind and how much?
Republicans on Capitol Hill gave conflicting messages to the debt committee this week.
The corporate tax rate is 35%. But an examination of 280 of the nation's largest corporations suggests that many aren't paying anything close to that.
"Wherever the olive tree grows, you won't find much tax being collected," the mayor of a small town in southern Spain told me a few years ago. He shrugged; such was life.
CNN's Max Foster takes a look at the history of the euro and the controversy surrounding it.
No matter how you slice it, the richest Americans would do better under Rick Perry's tax proposals, but the picture is more of a mixed bag for those on the lower rungs, according to an analysis released Monday by a nonpartisan tax research group.
Howard Gleckman is a resident fellow at the Urban Institute and editor of TaxVox, the blog of the nonpartisan research organization Tax Policy Center. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.
CNN's Erin Burnett talks to David Malpass, economic adviser to Rick Perry, about the governor's new flat tax proposal.
The Greek government says it seized 555 yachts last year in a clamp-down on tax evasion.
Rick Perry has said he wants to scrap the tax code and make taxes simpler.
A new Obama campaign memo slams Texas Gov. Rick Perry's and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's tax proposals, leveling a charge that's now a campaign theme: the rich will benefit at the expense of the middle class if a Republican claims the White House in 2012.
GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain changes the math on his 9-9-9 tax plan. CNN's Joe Johns reports.
CNNMoney: What's a flat tax?updated: Mon Oct 24 2011 10:41:00
Step aside 9-9-9. A new flat tax proposal is coming to town.
Rick Perry is calling for a flat tax to stop his campaign from flatlining. But it might be just what he needs to revive his presidential ambitions. Because a flat tax is not just a big idea; it could prove to be both good politics and good policy.
Under Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax reform plan, 84% of U.S. households would pay more than they do under current tax policies, according to a report released Tuesday by a nonpartisan research group.
Herman Cain's tax proposals have rocketed him to the top of the pack in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination.
As you may have heard, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has a tax proposal he calls the "9-9-9 plan."
Both Republican presidential candidates and President Obama think many Americans aren't paying their fair share of income tax.
Herman Cain has a plan to radically reform the nation's tax system and make things a lot simpler for taxpayers.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett this week showed a little more leg in his campaign to get Congress to raise taxes on the uber-rich.
Just when states thought their tax revenues were finally on the mend...
If Senate Democrats have their way, millionaires and billionaires will pay more in taxes for President Obama's jobs bill. How much?
President Barack Obama sent a tough message to Republicans on Thursday, ahead of an expected Senate battle over his $447 billion jobs bill.
As Obama pushes his jobs plan, he challenges people to compare the GOP plan to his plan and see if it holds any weight.
Raise taxes on the rich, and you'll put the nation's "job creators" at risk.
For many in Washington, it's an article of faith: Tax reform = economic growth.
President Obama wants to tax the rich more and has proposed the "Buffett Rule." Christine Romans explains it to you.
Taxing the rich more. It's a central theme in the debt-reduction proposals put forth by President Obama on Monday. It's a familiar theme for Obama, but this time he added a twist by proposing the "Buffett Rule" for millionaires.
Republicans react to President Obama's proposed tax surcharge dubbed the "Buffett Rule." CNN's Kate Bolduan reports.
Our government is utterly broke. There are signs everywhere one looks. Social Security can no longer afford to send us our annual benefit statements. The House can no longer afford its congressional pages. The Pentagon can no longer afford the pension and health care benefits of retired service members. NASA is no longer planning a manned mission to Mars.
The White House will propose a new tax rate for people earning more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings in taxes as middle-income Americans, administration and White House officials told CNN on Sunday.
President Barack Obama will propose a new tax rate for millionaires.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham says President Obama's plan for a new tax rate for millionaires amounts to "class warfare."
House Speaker John Boehner drew a line in the sand on taxes on Thursday, saying that a special debt committee tasked with cutting at least $1.2 trillion from federal deficits shouldn't consider tax hikes.
Some were optimistic. More were highly skeptical. And others were left scratching their heads. That's how some small business owners felt about President Obama's jobs package, which was unveiled Thursday.
Amazon has struck a deal with lawmakers that will give the company one more year before it must start collecting sales tax on purchases made in California.
President Obama unveiled a stimulus plan Thursday night that he says will boost hiring and provide a jolt to the stalled economy if it becomes law.
Here is the text of an overview of the American Jobs Act released Thursday night by the White House:
President Obama has passed 17 tax breaks and credits for small businesses. But when it comes to job creation, they don't add up to much.
Jessica Yellin reports the plan includes cuts in payroll taxes and increases in unemployment insurance.
Note to President Obama: Don't expect a hiring tax credit to spur much hiring.
Nobody likes having to pay more in taxes. And it's true that the country is on track to spend more than it can afford.
In a recent New York Times op-ed article, Warren Buffett asserts that the super-rich do not pay enough taxes. He suggests that any new budget deal should raise rates on the super-rich, especially on their "unearned" income from interest, dividends and capital gains.
Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann criticizes Warren Buffett's comments that taxes should be increased on the rich.
In Sunday's New York Times, Warren Buffett discusses the need to raise taxes on the wealthy. He's absolutely right. Tax increases, in general -- as well as tax increases on the wealthiest households, in particular -- need to be a part of the solution.
President Obama stops in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, during a three day bus tour.
Warren Buffett is once again begging Congress to tax him more.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, saying he doesn't want to be "coddled" by Congress, says that wealthier Americans should pay higher taxes, and that higher taxes do not dampen job growth.
As the government looks for ways to climb out of its massive hole of debt, all eyes are on the rich.
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