Obama Tax Increases on January 1, 2016
As a brief reminder for those who forgot, or for many that didn’t know.
Here is what happened, quietly, on January 1, 2016
Medicare tax went from 1.45% to 2.35%
Income tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%
Income payroll tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%
Gains tax went from 15% to 28%
Dividend tax went from 15% to 39.6%
Estate tax went from 0% to 55%
A 3.5% Real Estate transaction tax was added.
Remember these facts:
These taxes were all passed solely with Democrat votes.
Not a single Republican voted for these new taxes.
These taxes were all passed in the Affordable Care Act; aka, Obamacare.
America-Wake-Up 
***this chain email is somewhat inaccurate according to Politifact:[of course truthorfiction & snopes calls it all “Fiction” because the dates are off, but still, the email is not accurate and you might want to look at some of the sources to see other variables] “We’ll take these claims in order:”Here is what will happen on January 1, 2015″To the extent that these tax rates were changed — and as we’ll see most of them didn’t change in the way the email says — the changes didn’t take effect on Jan. 1, 2015 (or, for that matter, on Jan. 1, 2014). They took effect on Jan. 1, 2013.That may seem like a minor difference, but in this case, it makes all the difference.The tax rates that changed on Jan. 1, 2013, were all passed as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. That was a bipartisan deal — we’ll discuss just how bipartisan in a bit — that passed after the 2012 presidential election to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” The “cliff” refers to the expiration of tax cuts originally passed under President George W. Bush.The law made permanent many but not all of the Bush-era tax cuts that were set to expire anyway. So some people did see their tax rates go up, primarily upper-income taxpayers. That’s what the email is attempting to spotlight, but it does so in a way that introduces a host of inaccuracies.”Top Medicare tax went from 1.45% to 2.35%”This tax hike, unlike the others, did indeed stem from the Affordable Care Act, and the tax rates listed in the email are accurate. (Oddly, this line wasn’t included in the previous version of the email.) However, this hike, like the others, took effect on Jan. 1, 2013, not on New Year’s Day 2015. It’s also worth noting that most Americans won’t be affected — it hits individuals earning $200,000 annually or married couples earning $250,000.”Top Income tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%”The timing is wrong, but the numbers are correct. For 2015, the 39.6 percent rate is for individuals earning over $413,200 in taxable income or married couples earning at least $464,850.”Top Income payroll tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%”Usually, people think about income taxes and payroll taxes separately. But it’s not uncommon for tax experts to look at the combination of income and payroll taxes together, because they give a sense of the overall burden of direct taxation on individuals. That’s what the email did here.On Jan. 1, 2013, the top combined rate for the income and payroll tax went from 37.9 percent to 42.5 percent, or 43.4 percent due to the additional Medicare tax in the health care law.So if you just look at the federal rates, the email overstates the current top rate.If you take state taxes into account, the email is closer, but still inaccurate. The Tax Foundation, a business-backed group, calculated 2013 combined tax rates for each state. The group found that the top marginal tax rate, averaged across all states, is 47.9 percent.
By: terry avtonomoff on January 26, 2016
at 8:52 PM