Author Archives: NHHRachelle

Many Conservatives Are Just Fine With "Government Programs That Help the Right People"

by NHHRachelle Posted on September 6, 2015

Mother Jones

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Josh Barro has a good piece up examining whether reform conservatives like David Frum are celebrating the rise of Donald Trump. Frum & friends have long pushed for the GOP to soften its stance on entitlement reform and Trump is leading in the GOP polls while simultaneously attacking his fellow Republican candidates for wanting to cut Social Security, so his ascendency in many ways vindicates the reform conservative point that American conservatism need not be about “going Galt.”

Here is a very telling quote from Reihan Salam:

“There were a lot of people who wanted to think the Tea Party is a straightforward libertarian movement,” said Reihan Salam, the executive editor of National Review. But he said Mr. Trump’s ability to lead the polls while attacking Republicans for wanting to cut entitlement programs showed that conservative voters are open to “government programs that help the right people.”

Too true. A lot of conservatives are just fine with welfare as long as it goes to “the right people.”

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Many Conservatives Are Just Fine With "Government Programs That Help the Right People"

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Who Pays Corporate Income Taxes?

by NHHRachelle Posted on October 30, 2013

Mother Jones

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It’s fairly easy to examine tax returns and figure out the share of personal income taxes paid by various groups. But what about the corporate income tax. Who pays that?

One way or another, people ultimately end up paying corporate taxes. Corporate shareholders pay much of it in the form of lower profits and dividends, but not all. So who else? Bruce Bartlett summarizes some new reasearch on this:

Companies may try to raise prices to compensate for the corporate income tax, thus shifting some of the burden onto consumers.

Most economists don’t believe that much, if any, of the corporate tax is shifted onto consumers this way, because corporations face competition from noncorporate businesses, such as sole proprietorships and partnerships, and from businesses based in countries with higher or lower corporate taxes. Competition sets prices for goods and services without regard to the corporate tax rate.

While economists still believe that the bulk of corporate income taxes is paid by the owners of capital, in recent years they have come to believe that workers ultimately pay much of the tax in the form of lower wages. This results from lower capital investment due to a higher cost of capital, which reduces productivity and hence wages, and because capital investment moves to other countries where corporate income taxes are lower.

So when you take all this into account, what’s the distribution of corporate income taxes? The Joint Committee on Taxation took a crack at estimating this and came up with the following table:

The numbers in this table represent the total amount of taxes paid by various income groups, in millions. The lowest income group, for example, pays an aggregate of $5.5 billion if you don’t count corporate taxes, and $6.5 billion if you do. Thus, corporate taxes increase their federal tax burden by 17.8 percent. Other groups see similar kinds of increases.

Bartlett suggests that this might make a bipartisan deal on corporate taxes more likely. “Politically, it is now easier to show that a cut in the corporate tax rate will have benefits that are broadly shared.” That might be true if these estimate are confirmed by other groups. But it would still depend a lot on what kind of tax replaced the lost revenue.

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Who Pays Corporate Income Taxes?

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Friday Cat Blogging 11 October 2013

by NHHRachelle Posted on October 11, 2013

Mother Jones

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This is one of the first quilts Marian ever made. The pattern is called Nine-Patch, and it’s machine pieced and hand quilted.

It occurs to me that all the non-quilters out there, which is most of you, might appreciate a terminology primer. There are three basic steps to making a quilt. First you cut out the pieces as specified by the design you’re making. This step, oddly enough, doesn’t really have a name. Second, you sew the pieces together, either by hand or machine. This is called piecing. Third, once you have the quilt top sewn together, you place it against the backing with batting in between. Then you sew the top and the backing to each other using fancy stitching patterns. This can be done either by hand or machine, and it’s called quilting. So there you have it.

Link: 

Friday Cat Blogging 11 October 2013

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