Taxes

There's a reason President Obama, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and many others are touting tax reform these days. On the campaign trail, it taps into deeply held beliefs about the way American society ought to work and the role of government. Seventy-seven percent think it's important to replace the entire federal tax code with something simpler. Seventy-one percent favor a tax code with lower tax…

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer gave quite a tongue lashing to Mark Shields on Inside Washington this weekend. When the liberal PBS contributor said Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) budget proposal lacked vertebrae, Krauthammer scolded, "Talk about absence of spine, your guys haven’t introduced a budget at all on anything" (video follows with transcript and commentary, file photo):

Readers are strongly advised to fasten their seatbelts before continuing. You've been warned. On CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS Sunday, the perilously liberal host actually complained about America's tax code being too progressive while noting, "The top ten percent in America pay a larger share of total taxes, 45.1%, than do the top ten percent in any of the 24 countries examined" (video follows…

Charlie Rose surprised Rep. Paul Ryan on Tuesday's CBS This Morning by promoting the latest smear from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Rose displayed their fake horror-movie poster with Ryan's face beside House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner. It included the caption, "Just when you thought Medicare was safe, THEY'RE BACK. This time, they want to finish it…

Apparently, Grover Norquist and the Republican Party are to blame for the rising debt, according to CNN's Fareed Zakaria. In his Sunday interview with Norquist, Zakaria argued that the GOP tax-cutting agenda failed to also cut spending, which led to the country's increase in borrowing. Zakaria's sloppy logic also revealed itself later when he posed to Norquist that tax cuts didn't…

National Review's Reihan Salam on Sunday proved once again that liberal media members no matter what their number are no match for one well-informed conservative. On CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, Salam took on the host, Time magazine's Joe Klein, and the Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel on a far-ranging discussion about how both sides of the aisle view taxes, the Tea Party, and social change with…

On Wednesday's CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose promoted a talking point used by liberals, including President Obama, that Warren Buffett and other billionaires want their taxes raised. After playing a clip of Chris Christie ripping Buffett, Rose asked Jack Welch, "Do you agree with the governor of New Jersey, or do you agree with...Buffett, that there ought to be more tax on the super-rich?"…

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift on PBS's McLaughlin Group Friday voiced predictable praise for President Obama's just released budget claiming you can't "drastically cut a deficit before you invigorate the economy or you’re going to look at a lost decade." National Review's Rich Lowry quickly refuted this nonsense telling his progressive co-panelist, "This isn’t a Keynesian budget. It’s a flat out…

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on Friday marvelously exposed the poor state of American politics and today's media. While the entire panel on PBS's Inside Washington gushed and fawned over this week's bipartisan agreement to extend the payroll tax holiday through the rest of 2012, Krauthammer said it was like buying crack cocaine - "A payroll tax cut has no effect at all, it’s going…

In an attempt to frame Republican opposition to the President's 2013 budget proposal as merely political posturing, NBC Today co-host Ann Curry announced to viewers on Tuesday: "President Obama unveiled his new budget plan on Monday and with this being an election year, his Republican rivals were quick to lash out in opposition." In the report that followed, chief White House correspondent…

On February 2, Blake Ellis at CNN Money (HT to a NewsBusters tipster), in an item which treated minor regulatory changes relating to annuities as some kind of "rescue plan" for retirees, gave President Obama credit for "measures ... (he) has put in place to help Americans save for retirement, including automatic enrollment in 401(k)s." There's no word on whether Ms. Ellis also believes that…

National Journal's Ron Brownstein challenged the assumption that the Bush tax cuts created much economic growth, noting that they failed to stem the rising number of Americans living in poverty. Brownstein made his liberal points Thursday morning on CNN to guest Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). "What in that record gives you confidence that extending those tax cuts will produce better economic…

The media may be busy trying to reelect Barack Obama, but it's never too early for them to start grooming the 2016 field. Look no further than the Washington Post, for example. "O'Malley to set ambitious agenda," read the teaser headline posted this morning at the  Post's website. "Watch the Maryland governor deliver his sixth State of the State address now," read the caption beneath a photo…

Oh joy. Today at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, in response to the Congressional Budget Office's release today of an awful 10-year baseline outlook, Andrew Taylor made sure that his first paragraph was only about the projected "dip" in the fiscal 2012 deficit, and dedicated his second paragraph to the bad things that will happen if "the Bush tax cuts" are extended and…