Posts Tagged ‘taxes’
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013
Happy New Year!
You probably had a better New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day than the delegation representing Kentucky in the United States Congress. They celebrated the holiday negotiating, voting, and arguing over legislation to keep the nation from falling off the fiscal cliff.
And our two U.S. Senators were front and center before a national audience of cliff watchers and media the past few days.
Most analysts are giving Sen. Mitch McConnell kudos for asking Vice President Joe Biden, an old Senate colleague, to join the negotiations for the deal that keeps taxes from going up on most Americans. McConnell voted for the legislation.
Sen. Paul, who was on the Senate floor and national television before the Senate voted to pass the legislation, was one of only 8 Senators to vote against the bill.
On the House side, the measure passed 257 to 167. Among the Kentucky congressmen, Hal Rogers (R), Ben Chandler (D), and John Yarmuth (D), voted for the deal. Ed Whitfield (R), Brett Guthrie (R), and Thomas Massie (R), voted against the deal.
Guthrie, from Bowling Green, had this to say, “I have said it from the very beginning that ensuring we do not go over the fiscal cliff should be a combination of tax reforms that are vital to the health of our nation. For too long, House Republicans were told they would see a good-faith discussion on spending cuts. Yet again, we have been told no, that spending cuts will come next time.”
There was no “big deal.” It appears there will be more fireworks down the road when Congress and the president try to cap government spending and attack the deficit facing the nation.
Share
|
By Bill Goodman at 3:32 pm | Permalink |
Comments Off
Tags: Ben Chandler, Bill Goodman, Brett Guthrie, Congress, deficit, Ed Whitfield, Fiscal Cliff, Hal Rogers, John Yarmuth, Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, Politics, Rand Paul, Republican, Senate, taxes, Thomas Massie, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Did you vote Tuesday?
At least today, we know who the winners and losers are and which candidates will be on the ballot in November. No doubt, pundits and political observers will label this primary election as one of the most lackluster in state history. Now that May 17th, has come and gone, will campaigning for the November general election be far behind? Probably not.
As they head toward the fall, let’s hope all the candidates—democrats, republicans, and independents—run a vigorous public campaign. Let’s suggest to all of them that the campaigns be based on an honest, energetic debate on the issues. Kentucky has so many needs and our citizens hunger for a dynamic discussion of taxes, pension reform, immigration, education, jobs, and the economy. All of the candidates have their own ideas, platforms, and positions on these and many other topics and the public deserves a robust conversation about them from now until election day on November 8th.
If you missed Kentucky Tonight Monday night, you missed a tantalizing few minutes of debate between our guests on voter apathy, voter participation, and why, according to political analyst John David Dyche, not everyone should always feel compelled to vote in every election. That portion of the program comes at about 20 minutes into the hour-long program.
Also coming up:
On Monday night, May 23rd, Renee Shaw will be in the Kentucky Tonight host chair for a post-primary election discussion at 8/7 pm CT on KET.
On May 30th, PBS will present a special Memorial Day program. Hallowed Grounds provides a rare visit to 22 of America’s extraordinary overseas military cemeteries. The program weaves historical elements with contemporary scenes of the cemeteries and powerful stories about the men and women who are buried in them.
This special airs on Sunday, May 29 at 2/1 pm CT on KET, and on Monday, May 30 at 8/7 pm CT on KET and at 10/9 pm CT on KET2.
Share
|
By Bill Goodman at 12:27 pm | Permalink |
Comments Off
Tags: apathy, ballot, bill, campaign, candidate, cemeteries, cemetery, David, Day, debate, democrat, Dyche, economy, education, election, general, Goodman, Grounds, Hallowed, immigration, Independent, jobs, John, Kentucky, memorial, military, November, overseas, PBS, pension, political, Politics, primary, reform, Renee, Republican, Shaw, tax, taxes, Tonight, vote, Voter
Friday, January 29th, 2010
We’re going to have an interesting discussion Monday on Kentucky Tonight on tax reform. There’s a lot going on in Frankfort regarding the issue. At this time, some of it is going on quietly in what’s been dubbed the Tax Reform Work Group.
This is a committee of House members including former Appropriations and Revenue Chair Harry Moberly of Richmond. Moberly and Representative Jim Wayne are meeting with other members and until last Monday, the group included Lexington Republican Bill Farmer. Farmer left the group this week in a dispute over tax increases and, so far, has not returned to the conversation. Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo has asked the Representatives to come up with some ideas which might be presented as a way to solve the state’s budget deficit or, at least, modernize the tax system in the state.
A number of people who are also interested in reforming the state’s tax code have said the issue is too big to tackle during this session of the General Assembly. They are suggesting that to do it comprehensively it will take a special session, either this summer or next January.
Our guests on Monday will include:
- State Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville
- State Rep. Bill Farmer, R-Lexington
- State Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green
To stimulate your thinking about tax reform and the economy, I’m posting a piece I found from Al Tompkins’ blog. Tompkins, who worked in Bowling Green for a time, writes for the Poynter Institute, a journalism training center in Florida.
7 Emerging Economic Stories That Journalists Should Alert People to
Posted by Al Tompkins
Dan Froomkin at Nieman Watchdog said journalists should alert people to seven emerging stories that should worry us, including:
1: The middle class may never be the same again.
For most members of the middle class, their sense of financial well-being was largely based on the size of their 401(k)s and their equity as homeowners. After the collapse of stock prices and with the steep drop in home prices, many may never feel the same way again, or spend their money as confidently.
While 401(k)s have somewhat bounced back, about one in four homeowners now actually have negative equity — are ‘underwater’. A recent study by Barry P. Bosworth and Rosanna Smart for Brookings finds that American households lost $13 trillion in wealth between mid-2007 and March 2009, or about 15 percent in all. That decline badly hit baby boomers just as they’re headed into retirement. And middle-income families whose head is age 50 or younger actually have smaller net incomes today than in 1983.
Meanwhile, many American families spent much of the last decade (or two) living beyond their means, piling up debt on their credit cards, or ‘bubble borrowing.’ Two University of Chicago researchers have found that
the housing bubble hugely increased household consumption as homeowners borrowed on average $0.25 to $0.30 for every $1 increase on their home equity.
Rounding out the list are:
2: The recovery could take a really long time.
3: The recovery could only be temporary.
4: Then what? This time, we don’t have the tools to get out of a recession.
5: The ‘very serious’ people in Washington are still obsessed about the deficit.
6: Whatever is making the stock market go up could go away.
7: The hugely irresponsible financial sector remains unchastened.
Share
|
By Bill Goodman at 12:16 pm | Permalink |
Comments Off
Tags: 401(k), 7, 7 Emerging Economic Stories That Journalists Should Alert People to, Al Tompkins, American, Appropriations and Revenue, baby boomers, Barry P. Bosworth, Bill Farmer, Bill Goodman, Bosworth, Bowling Green, Brookings, budget deficit, collapse, consumption, Dan Froomkin, debt, DeCesare, democrat, dispute, economic, economy, equity, Farmer, financial, Florida, Frankfort, Froomkin, General Assembly, Goodman, Greg Stumbo, Harry Moberly, home prices, homeowner, House, housing bubble, income, Jim DeCesare, Jim Wayne, journalism, journalists, Kentucky Tonight, Lexington, Louisville, middle class, Moberly, Nieman Watchdog, Poynter Institute, Rep., Representative, Republican, retirement, Richmond, Rosanna Smart, Smart, Speaker of the House, special session, stock price, Stumbo, tax, tax code, tax increase, tax reform, Tax Reform Work Group, taxes, Tompkins, training, University of Chicago, Wayne
