Census: State, local government tax collection hit all-time high

HARRISBURG — Local and state governments are collecting more tax money from individuals and businesses than ever.

The U.S. Census Bureau released Wednesday its State and Local Government Finance Summary, examining fiscal 2011 numbers. State and local governments collected a record-breaking $3.4 trillion in revenue from all sources that year.

From that figure, $2.6 trillion is considered “general revenue,” which includes a record-high$1.3 trillion in tax collections.

BREAKING IT DOWN: This chart breaks down where state and local governments got their $2.6 trillion worth of revenue in 2011.

According to the census report, several of these indicators are signs of improvement for state and local government finance, in other words, more evidence of a slowly recovering economy.

It also means more money from taxpayers — individual income tax revenue collections went up by 9.5 percent to $284 billion in 2011. Corporate income taxes increased 10.7 percent, to $48.5 billion.

“Tax revenue increased in 2011 for the first time in 2 years, led by gains in sales and gross receipt taxes and individual income taxes,” the report noted. “Additionally, unemployment compensation declined for the first time in 4 years.”

The overall revenue boost also came from gains in insurance trust revenue, which includes pension funds and programs such as unemployment compensation and Social Security. That revenue grew by nearly 30 percent, from $512.8 billion in 2010 to $663.6 billion in 2011, marking a second straight year of increases.

Via:Watchdog.org

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Fox News Poll: Voters say repeal ObamaCare, expect new law will cost them

INDEPENDENTS FAVOR REPEAL BY 40% MARGIN 65% TO 25%

Voters think ObamaCare is going to hurt their wallet and over half want the law repealed, according to a new Fox News national poll.

By a large 47-11 percent margin, voters expect the 2010 health care law will cost them rather than save them money in the coming year.  Another 34 percent think the law won’t change their family’s health care costs.  

Those negative expectations come at a time when a majority of the public remains unhappy with the way thing are going in the country (63 percent dissatisfied), and over half say they haven’t seen any signs the economy has started to turn the corner (57 percent).

Republicans are three times as likely as Democrats to think ObamaCare will cost them money over the next year (70 percent vs. 23 percent).  One Democrat in five expects the law will result in savings for their family (21 percent).

The poll asks people to take an up-or-down vote on ObamaCare: 40 percent say they would vote to keep the law in place, while just over half -- 53 percent -- would repeal it.  

Over half of those under age 45 (51 percent) as well as those 45 and over (56 percent) would vote to repeal ObamaCare

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Most Republicans want the law repealed (by 85-13 percent) and so do independents (by 65-25 percent).  Most Democrats favor keeping ObamaCare (by 72-21 percent).

Via: Fox News

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Obama’s Speeches Already Costing Over $1.3 Million

BUT  NO MONEY AVAILABLE TO RE-OPEN WHITE HOUSE TOURS!

President Obama’s speeches are already costing taxpayers well over $1 million – and probably closer to $2 million – as the president jets around the country campaign-style to drum up support for his agenda.

The tally includes a two-stop trip Wednesday that took Obama to Galesburg, Illinois and Warrensburg, Missouri; an excursion Thursday to Jacksonsville, Florida; and a fourth speech planned for Tuesday in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Further trips are on tap but haven’t been announced.

The bill for Air Force One, which is known to cost about $180,000 per hour to fly, totals close $1.3 million alone based on the travel time already incurred and the estimated travel time Tuesday.

Additional costs include tens of thousands of dollars for a cargo plane that accompanies the president everywhere he flies, spending on the chopper that takes him from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base where he hops aboard Air Force One, staff, motorcades, and logistics on the ground in the places he visits.

The White House says it’s worth it. “Traveling across the country and laying out his vision for how best to accomplish those priorities is an important part of his job,” said White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest Thursday.

Nevertheless, it’s also an expensive part, particularly during a moment when government services are being cut due to the sequester and a budget battle looms for Obama with Republicans in Congress.

Via: White House Dossier

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SENATE DEMOCRATS WANT TO INCREASE IRS FUNDING BY $276.5 MILLION

While Congress continues to investigate widespread IRS scandals, Senate Democrats are calling to increase the Internal Revenue Service's budget.

According to The Hill, Democrats are using a Financial Services subcommittee bill to push for the changes to take place next year. It would raise IRS funding to $12.07 billion, "an increase of $276.5 million."

House Republicans, on the other hand, are talking about cutting the IRS budget by 24%, and Senate Republicans are aghast that Democrats appear to be rewarding the agency after a long train of alleged harassment against private citizens and Tea Party groups.

Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) said, "Count the IRS among the winners in the bill despite the political targeting that appalled all of us and eroded the public's trust."

Subcommittee Chairman Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) countered GOP concerns by saying the bill that increases funding for the IRS "also contains language to force the IRS to improve its management."

Via: Breitbart

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THE 4 W’S OF DEFUNDING OBAMACARE

Obamacare is a predictable failure because it is based on the idea that government manipulation and control of the health care system can improve outcomes for patients, reduce costs and increase choice.   It can’t, and it was only a matter of time before even Democratic support for the law began to erode.

The question is what Congress can do now given President Obama’s intransigence on the issue.  The answer is the total and complete defunding of Obamacare.  In Iowa, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)made the compelling case to do just that:

WHO has the power to make sure Obamacare is stopped in its tracks?  Our Senators andRepresentatives have the power to do so by defunding the law.  The Constitution grants Congress the “power of the purse.”  Through legislation, Congress can make certain the Obama administration is not given another dime to implement this disastrous law.  We must also keep the pressure on Congress and give them our support by making calls, using Twitter and Facebook, writing emails, and visiting offices.

Via: Heritage Action for America

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Feds tell Web firms to turn over user account passwords

Secret demands mark escalation in Internet surveillance by the federal government through gaining access to user passwords, which are typically stored in encrypted form.

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.

If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations where passwords are reused.

"I've certainly seen them ask for passwords," said one Internet industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We push back."

A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies "really heavily scrutinize" these requests, the person said. "There's a lot of 'over my dead body.'"

Some of the government orders demand not only a user's password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. A salt is a random string of letters or numbers used to make it more difficult to reverse the encryption process and determine the original password. Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts.

"This is one of those unanswered legal questions: Is there any circumstance under which they could get password information?"
--Jennifer Granick, Stanford University

A Microsoft spokesperson would not say whether the company has received such requests from the government. But when asked whether Microsoft would divulge passwords, salts, or algorithms, the spokesperson replied: "No, we don't, and we can't see a circumstance in which we would provide it."

Via: CNet

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Conservatives: Defund Obamacare or shut down the government

This Law Is No Fund: The new conservative plan to beatObamacare

WASHINGTON — Conservatives on Capitol Hill are drawing a line in the sand: they will not vote to stop the government from shutting down if Obamacare is not defunded.

Led by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, a dozen senators sent a letter Thursday saying they will not support any resolution to continue funding the federal government if President Obama’s health-care law remains funded.

Under current law, the government is funded until Sept. 30, meaning a continuing resolution needs to be passed to keep the government from shutting down.

“The Obama Administration’s recent decision to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate and eligibility verification for the individual exchanges is further proof the law is a failure that will inevitably hurt businesses, American families, and the economy,” Lee said.

“In light of this admission, I and several of my colleagues will be informing Sen. Reid that we will not vote for a continuing resolution that funds Obamacare,” he added.

Among those who signed onto the letter: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Over in the House, a large contingent of House Republicans are pushing a similar strategy, led by Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina.

“Congressman Meadows is leading a letter, currently co-signed by 66 Members, encouraging House leadership to defund Obamacare through the appropriations process,” spokeswoman Emily Miller told The Daily Caller on Thursday.

Via: Daily Caller

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President Barack Obama’s Six Months of Blunders

WASHINGTON — The other day another pundit came to my side. I have been watching this steady trickle of sages joining the cause ever since the spring of 2012 when I pronounced, at book-length complete with footnotes, The Death of Liberalism.

Now the veteran columnist Daniel Henninger of the nigh unto infallible Wall Street Journal has pronounced the glum news. On July 10 Dan wrote, “July 3 was the quiet afternoon that a deputy assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy announced in a blog that the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate would be delayed one year.” And Dan stated with marmoreal solemnity: “Mark July 3, 2013, as the day Big Government finally imploded.” Others too have made similar discoveries, none more memorably than Victor Davis Hanson who celebrated July 4, 2011 by stating that the Founding Fathers’ vision of government had been vindicated. Obamacare had been rushed into law and with its trillion-dollar overruns atop all the other federal overruns would prove to be “unsustainable.” He called the Liberals “Frankensteins.” I called them zombies. Nonetheless, whatever living corpse you choose, with Obamacare, came the last gasp of liberal overreach.

As Wes Pruden said in the Washington Times on July 5, this “one-year delay in enforcing the employer insurance mandate for Obamacare, which might not even be legal,” had top White House advisors heading for the exits and “Minions…hastily assigned to explain the delay.” He added, “Obama and his gang obviously don’t know what to do next.” That is correct. This White House has already transcended that of Warren Gamaliel Harding and of Jimmy Carter. It is the most incompetent in modern American history.

Via: The American Spectator

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