Sunday, February 24, 2013
Well, not so fast, apparently Washington is back on that same path and hasn't yet figured out how to avoid that stretch of road.
It seems that just last month the country was on the brink of doom and disaster — facing a fiscal cliff of epic proportions. Oh wait, that was just last month. On the eve of disaster, the problem was averted by a last-minute deal that resulted in almost everybody's taxes going up. According to The Huffington Post, Washington hasn't yet figured how to get off that path and we're back on the road again, approaching that pesky fiscal cliff. Dubbing it an austeroid, a play on words relating to an austerity asteroid, The Huffington Post points out that the country is about to be hit with the "sequester" on March 1, which could cut another 0.6 percent from growth. That on top of the 1.5 hit that The Huffington Post laid at the feet of the first …
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
It's "all dessert and no vegetables."
- GOVERNMENT
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Wednesday, January 2
U.S. Representative Rob Woodall (R-GA-07) issued the following statement after the House passed H.R. 8, a bill to address the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Rep. Woodall voted for the original proposal in August but voted against the bill as amended by the Senate on Monday, Jan. 1. The Senate’s bill is all dessert and no vegetables. It puts into permanent law the campaign promise on which President Obama ran: ‘You can have all the government that you desire and you won’t be asked to pay even a penny for it.’ That promise is destroying America, and I will fight it with every fiber of my being. Spending is the problem in Washington, not tax revenue. Yet the Senate's bill does nothing to curtail spending. In fact, it both eliminates …
Broun says it makes mockery of spending problem.
- GOVERNMENT
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Wednesday, January 2
U.S. Congressman Paul Broun, M.D. (GA-10) released the following statement soon after voting against the deal to avoid the fiscal cliff which passed the House during the evening of Jan 1. 257 to 167 votes: We have gone over the fiscal cliff because of Washington’s inability to control spending, and now in the eleventh hour, Congress’s only answer is to throw more money at our already outrageous problem. In just ten short years, this deal will add nearly $4 trillion dollars to the debt, and it only includes $1 in spending cuts for every $41 in tax hikes. I cannot support a bill that makes such a mockery out of the very serious spending addiction that has crippled our country’s livelihood and taken a toll on the American people. I believe…
Monday, December 31, 2012
In the short term, employees may not see much of an impact but a bigger hit could come down the road.
- NEWS
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Monday, December 31, 2012
At the end of the day on Sunday, no decisions had been made which would avoid the looming "fiscal cliff". If the country goes over the "fiscal cliff," how will your paycheck be affected? With just one day to go before fiscal cliff deadline, employees and employers are left to wonder what impact the lack of a tax legislation agreement between the White House and Congress will have. Employees will notice an immediate reduction in take home pay due to the expiration of the 4.2 percent Social Security tax rate on Dec. 31. The tax rate will revert to 6.2 percent in 2013. Other changes may not be noticeable for a few weeks. In the short term, the IRS will allow employers to continue withholding at the 2012 rates. However, should those rates …
Saturday, December 29, 2012
We've all heard of it and it sounds just terrible - not in a Wylie E. Coyote fall-off-the-cliff sort of way, but in a dire consequence sort of way. But what is it?
There are several rather pithy monikers that are supposed to simplify the importance of the “Fiscal Cliff,” all using words like “looming consequences,” “too much austerity,” and “conundrum.” All convey a dire situation which will certainly be unpleasant no matter the outcome. And, I suppose, that would be the correct determination. No matter which side of the aisle you vote for your politics, here’s, hopefully, a description of the situation referred to as the US Fiscal Cliff in layman’s terms - as much as possible. Where did the term “Fiscal Cliff” originate? Though some feel we are headed more towards a fiscal “slope” rather than a “cliff” the term stems from a statement by Ben Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve in February…
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
With tax the big issue in "fiscal cliff" negotiations, would now not be the right time to take a serious look at the FairTax solution?
On Dec. 17, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga-7, sent a letter to the Joint Committee on Taxation to produce a revenue estimate of H.R. 25 and S. 13, the FairTax bill. According to a press release from Woodall's office, this estimate would allow the FairTax proposal to be considered during congressional negotiations for tax reform. “The current tax code has become too burdensome and complex, and is filled with provisions that benefit only a few Americans at the expense of everyone else. That’s simply not right,” said Chambliss. “Now is the time to enact the FairTax, which would create a fairer, simpler tax code that allows every American the freedom to determine his or her own priorities and opportunities…
Monday, December 17, 2012
Rep. Rob Woodall offers an update on the fiscal cliff crisis in this letter to the editor.
(Editor's note: the following is a letter to the editor from Rep. Rob Woodall.) Our 2012 deficit is $1.1 trillion. While the federal government took in just as much tax revenue ($2.4 trillion) this year as it did in 2006, the annual deficit has grown 340%. Why? Higher spending. Notwithstanding what is being reported in the popular press, I can tell you with certainty that Washington doesn't have a revenue problem—it has a spending problem! This Administration's higher spending has made it the first in history to run an annual deficit exceeding one trillion dollars. This Administration has continued this same record deficit spending for the past four years now. To us, seeing such a dramatic increase in deficits while revenue …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
A 'letter to the editor' in response to Rep. Rob Woodall, submitted by Jason Pfeifle, field organizer for Georgia Fair Share.
(Editor's note: the following is a letter to the editor sent by Jason Pfeifle, field organizer for Georgia Fair Share, in response to Rep. Rob Woodall's letter to the editor on the fiscal cliff titled "Rep. Woodall: 'I Will Not be Complicit in Kicking the Can Down the Road.'") The fiscal cliff is quickly approaching, and itʼs time for our elected officials to get something done. In a recent opinion piece in the Snellville Patch, Representative Rob Woodall called for a comprehensive solution to the pending fiscal cliff and outlined what he thinks that solution should look like: reduced government spending, increased revenue through the closing of tax loopholes, and no changes to current tax rates. But, if Rep. Woodall is so concerned about …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Depending on your opinion, what programs would you be prepared to cut, or what percentage of your income would you be prepared to give in taxes, to fix the problem?
As "fiscal cliff" negotiations heat up, congress can’t agree on whether Washington has a spending problem or a revenue problem. Nor can the American people or, in many instances, even economist In an article on Marketplace.org, headed up “Washington has a spending problem not a revenue problem,” the argument is made that you can’t keep spending and just raising taxes to meet the outflow of money. The best way to fix the country’s deficit problem is to gut spending. In a story in the Daily Kos, Joan McCarter looks at it from the other side in an article titled, “We have a revenue problem, not a spending problem.” In the story, McCarter shows the loss in revenue as a result of the Bush tax cuts and the economic downturn in the economy …
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Rep. Woodall discusses his thoughts on the fiscal cliff in this letter to the editor.
- GOVERNMENT
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Saturday, December 8, 2012
(Editor's note: the following was sent by Rep. Rob Woodall (R) as a letter to the editor to Snellville Patch.) If you've turned on a television or opened a newspaper in the last few weeks, you've no doubt seen the so-called "fiscal cliff" conversation unfolding in Washington. The "fiscal cliff" is Washington-speak for the expiration of Bush-era tax rates coupled with across-the-board spending cuts on many domestic spending accounts. While the fiscal cliff coverage continues to escalate as the January deadline draws near, I can tell you these discussions are absolutely nothing new. They are a continuation of every discussion that the House and the President have had during my two years in Congress: the President wants to see taxes go up…
Good Grief Y'all
5:39 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
That guy, you're making good sense. more ›