Blogs
9.00am, Burning Our Money: Weekly Waste Round-Up 66 - This week's total- £1,337,380,00
Media Coverage
- One in five homes hit by death tax
Blair Gibbs, campaign director for the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "These figures show just how common the looming threat of inheritance tax has become. The Treasury will like these figures because they show all the extra revenue Government can get in just by relying on rising house prices. Instead of rubbing their hands at the prospect, they should stop and think of the huge emotional distress this immoral tax now causes for millions of people who aren't rich. It must be scrapped as soon as possible before even more ordinary homes fall within the inheritance tax net."
Comment Round-Up
Hollywood hard-man Bruce Willis interviewed in The Guardian: 
"Q. Which living person do you most admire, and why?
I most admire the young man or woman who is fighting overseas. I don't need to know his or her name, but anybody who has a job that puts them in harm's way and potentially causes them to make the ultimate sacrifice, or to sacrifice any body part, for what they believe is their responsibility to their country, is my biggest hero...
Q. What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
A. Lower taxes."
*****
(Memo: Must go and see Die Hard 4 at the cinema...)
Tory Social Justice Commission recommends 10% tax rise on a pint of beer
"While a figure for the tax hike on alcohol is not finalised in the report, one option being examined by Tory insiders is based on a recent study by the Institute of Alcohol Studies which concluded that a 10 per cent rise in alcohol taxes would lower mortality rates by 7 per cent in men and 8 per cent in women. David Cameron has seen the report and is said to be broadly in favour of many of its recommendations. However, any move towards raising taxes, even to tackle addiction, is certain to prove controversial at a time when the Conservative leader is battling to reassure his party's grass roots that he has not completely abandoned the traditional Tory low tax ground."
Leading GOP-primary candidate Rudi Giuliani "jeered" for opposing a flat tax
Several dozen people jeered when Giuliani, in response to a question, said he would not be in favor of what they call the fair tax. "I have to study it some more," the former New York City mayor said. "I don't think a fair tax is realistic change for America. Our economy is dependent upon the way our tax system operates."
Tax Cuts for Kids
"Tax reform has been the Holy Grail of conservative economists since the early 1990s. But after years of conservative ascendance in Washington, the tax code remains a mess .... We suggest a different approach to tax reform, one that achieves the major conservative policy goals of a simple, flatter, and fairer tax-and can be enacted with broad bipartisan support. The proposal would simplify the tax code-no more itemizing, no more alternative minimum tax-cut marginal tax rates on capital investment and high-income labor (the activities most sensitive to marginal rates), reduce the tax burden on the middle class and below, treat married couples as equal partners, and offset the anti-parent bias in Social Security and Medicare."
Comments