Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders Calls For ‘War Tax’ On Millionaires

Senator and possible presidential contender for 2016 Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is planning to offer an amendment to the GOP budget next week that would impose a new “war tax” on millionaires to finance U.S. military operations, according to The Hill.

Sanders is ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.

“The Republicans took us into protracted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — and ran up our national debt by trillions because they chose not to pay for those wars. Instead, they put the cost of those wars on our national credit card,” Sanders said in a statement Friday.

The “war tax” will be one of the first Sanders will introduce during a large number of votes next week. During the back-to-back votes, senators are allowed to submit an unlimited amount of amendments.

Senate Republicans added a provision to their plans Thursday that would increase defense spending next year by pumping up the Pentagon’s “war funding account” to $96 billion.

The overseas contingency operations (OCO) account has funded the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and now pays for operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Republicans are depending on OCO – which falls outside the Defense Department’s base budget – to increase military spending, according to The Hill.

The budget would keep sequestration budget caps in place next year for the Pentagon’s base budget.

It seems to be a “way around” the budget caps – a way to increase the defense budget by simply putting money in another category.

Sanders slammed the proposal from right-wing Senators. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), which matches what House Republicans are seeking in their separate budget resolution.  Sanders called their use of OCO a “gimmick.”

More here

(Updated article)

Is The IRS Easy On The Rich?

Civilization works only if those who enjoy its benefits are also prepared to pay their share of the costs (taxes).

People and companies that avoid tax are unpopular event during the best of times, so it is not surprising that when governments and individuals everywhere are scrimping to pay their bills, attacks are mounting on tax havens and those that use them.

“In Europe the anger has focused on big firms. Amazon and Starbucks have faced consumer boycotts for using clever accounting tricks to book profits in tax havens while reducing their bills in the countries where they do business. David Cameron has put tackling corporate tax-avoidance at the top of the G8 agenda,” according to The Economist.

“America has taken aim at tax-dodging individuals and the banks that help them. Congress has passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which forces foreign financial firms to disclose their American clients. Any whiff of offshore funds has become a political liability.”

Secular Talk

Republican Governors Want To Raise Taxes On Middle Class and Poor?

According to The New York Times,  “Republican governors across the nation are proposing tax increases — and backing off pledges to cut taxes — as they strike a decidedly un-Republican pose in the face of budget shortfalls…”

But who are they raising taxes on? And what kind of taxes do they plan to raise?

Majority Report

Former Tea Party Representative Joe Walsh On Campaign Donations

TYT Network

Joe Walsh is a former Illinois Republican congressman who was in office from 2011 to 2013.

He’s now hosts the Joe Walsh Show, which airs on WIND-AM 560 in Chicago and WNYM-AM 970 in New York.

While in office, Walsh was a Tea Party favorite and vocal critic of the Obama Administration, going against government spending, Obamacare, taxes, gun control and immigration policy.

Here he talks about campaign finance and raising donations and money for his campaign.

Not Much Market For ‘Survivalists’ House

According to the AP, there isn’t much of a market for a $250,000-plus, 100-acre property that may also be booby-trapped.

The sale of the compound owned by a now-jailed pair of tax evaders who held off police during a nine-month armed standoff is beset by problems.  High bidders have only seven days to come up with the financing for the property they have to buy largely sight-unseen because it could be filled with hidden explosives.

No bidders showed up at an Aug. 15 auction at federal court in Concord, N.H., where Deputy Chief U.S. Marshal Brenda Mikelson went through the motions of soliciting a minimum bid of $250,000 on the Plainfield compound where “survivalist” fugitives Ed and Elaine Brown holed up in 2007.

The Browns were ultimately captured by U.S. marshals posing as two of the supporters who thronged the compound.

An auction is also being held for a commercial property owned by the Browns in Lebanon, N.H., where Elaine Brown had her dental office. The minimum bid on that property is set at $507,500.

Efforts to sell the two properties have been in the planning stages since 2013. As of this week, Lebanon is owed $286,242 in back taxes for the property; Plainfield is owed $198,908.

Plainfield town administrator Steve Halleran is frustrated by the delays, saying the taxes owed by the Browns’ property far exceed any other in town.

“We’ve been given assurances we’re getting our money,” Halleran said. “Nothing would speak to that more than an actual check.”

Mikelson said talks are underway to possibly hire a professional auctioneer and change the conditions of the sale to give high bidders more time to arrange financing.

“That time frame of seven days is really tight for average people,” she said.

Another obstacle: Concerns that booby traps and explosives may be buried on the densely wooded property mean federal officials still won’t let interested bidders tour it. Buyers who are prepared to ante up a hefty bid on the Plainfield property have to do it with little access.

During his trial in 2009, Ed Brown testified that explosives in the woods around their home were there to scare intruders, not hurt them. But in a radio interview during the standoff, he said if authorities came to kill him or arrest him, “the chief of police in this town, the sheriff, the sheriff himself will die. This is war now, folks.”

Elaine and Ed Brown are in their 70s. Elaine Brown is serving 35 years in prison; Ed Brown is serving 37 years.