McKonomics

Pending legislation spurs analysis of tax increase scenarios for high income taxpayers

From AccountingWEB.com - The Senate health care reform bill, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, now on the floor for debate, contains a provision for a .5 percent surtax on earned income of high income taxpayers, the first time a revenue raiser has been considered by the Senate that did not connect directly to health care. Deloitte Tax LLP has prepared scenarios that illustrate the potential impact of this surtax and the additional taxes likely to result from Obama's budget proposals on the tax liabilities of high income individuals.

 

"The introduction of this surtax [in the Senate bill] is significant," says Clint Stretch, Tax Principal at Deloitte Tax LLP, "because the proposed bill suggests that Majority Leader Reid is moving tax toward the House proposal in very small steps.  What he does is reduce the Cadillac plan tax and pays for that with the HI (high income) tax.  That tax is simply a surcharge on wages at a much lower rate and with a much lower threshold than the House proposal."

U.S. Starts Fiscal 2010 With $176 Billion Gap

From Reuters -  The U.S. government began fiscal 2010 with a record shortfall for the month of October, right after posting a record $1.4 trillion budget gap for all of the 2009 budget year, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

 

The department, in its monthly budget statement, reported a $176.36 billion budget gap in October, which was the fifth largest deficit for any month. That exceeded both Wall Street analysts ' expectations for $150 billion deficit, and the October 2008 deficit of $155.5 billion.

 

The report for October pointed to a growing gap between government spending and income at a time when a fragile economy is beginning to emerge from the steepest recession in 70 years. The federal budget year starts on Oct. 1.

A Shift in Value: The New Normal

In this week's Podcast Scott Heintzelman speaks with Tony Schiano, former CEO of Giant Foods who currently does consulting for Business Solutions International. Join in as Scott and Tony discuss the current state of the economy and how shoppers are making a shift in value.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we plan to interview other experts in the fields that impact our economy the most.  Enjoy the show, and check back for future episodes!

Click here for the Podcast or subscribe.