Tag Archives: Tax

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Tell Congress: Help Jobless Workers Not Millionaires
Congress: Stand Up for Struggling Women and Families
Your Members of Congress need to hear that they should extend unemployment benefits and let tax cuts for millionaires expire.
Call 1-866-606-1189 today!

It’s hard to believe — but Congress is considering cutting taxes for the rich at the same time they discontinue unemployment insurance benefits for the millions of people who are out of work!

The emergency unemployment insurance program expires at the end of November. If Congress fails to extend it, this lifeline will be cut for 2 million workers in December alone. And, because these families won’t have income to spend in their communities to support their families, more jobs will be lost.

Yet, some of the same Members of Congress who are saying that they can’t afford to extend emergency unemployment benefits for another year insist on extending tax breaks for millionaires.

Will you stand up for your neighbor and call your Members of Congress? Calling is easy to do.

  1. Call 1-866-606-1189
  2. Tell the operator who answers the phone the name of your Member of Congress. (Not sure? Look it up here.)
  3. Once you are connected to the office of your Member of Congress, tell the staff person who answers:
    • Your name, that you are a constituent from (city, state).
    • Stand up for struggling families by extending unemployment benefits for a year and allowing the tax provisions that only benefit the wealthiest two percent of households to expire on schedule.
    • Thank you.
  4. Hang up and ask your friends or coworkers to make a call as well. (To reach all three of your Members of Congress, you will have to dial 3 times. Thanks for your support and for making this extra effort.)

The Bush-era tax cuts and recent improvements in tax credits for working families will expire on December 31 unless Congress acts to renew them. Tax breaks for millionaires are also set to expire this year. Congress should extend tax benefits for middle- and lower-income families and not waste $700 billion giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.

We have a limited amount of time to take action. Please take a stand for justice by calling 1-866-606-1189 today.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Joan Entmacher Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center
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hell no!


 

Social Security cuts are coming for “virtually every American alive and those yet to be born.”1

And for what? Corporate tax cuts.2

Seriously: the co-chairs of President Obama’s deficit commission want to cut Social Security benefits for everyone making more than $25,000 a year. And then lower corporate taxes to just 26%.

Every member of this commission, every member of Congress, and President Obama himself must reject these insane ideas. We’re starting an emergency petition to President Obama and his Catfood Commission to take Social Security cuts off the table.

Sign our petition to President Obama and his Catfood Commission: hands off Social Security. Click here to add your name:

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/handsoffss

The proposed cuts to Social Security are so deep, for so many people. This is a direct attack on America’s middle class for the benefit of Corporate America.

These ideas are so awful, sixteen other members of the Catfood Commission didn’t want to touch it.3 Problem is, this is the “starting point” for discussions. This will be negotiated, and many of these awful ideas could be in the final proposal. We need to stop it now.

It’s bad enough to even think about cutting Social Security – but to do it to pay for corporate tax cuts? That’s insane.

This is President Obama’s commission, and he has the power to shut it down. The other commission members can put their feet down and say no to Social Security cuts. Let’s make them do it.

Say “Hell No” to Social Security cuts. Click here to sign the petition.

Thanks for all you do to protect Social Security.

Michael Whitney
Firedoglake.com

1. Statement of Eric Kingson, Co-chair, Strengthen Social Security Campaign. 11/10/10
2. “Fiscal Commission Recommendations: VA Co-Pays, Top Tax Rate 23%” David Dayen, Firedoglake. 11/10/10 http://fdl.me/9DQmLx
3. U.S. Debt Proposal Would Cut Social Security, Taxes, Medicare. Bloomberg News, 11/10/10 http://fdl.me/aaTRoL

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Federal Trade Commission Stops 60 Million Dollar Tax Relief Scam


 

An FTC complaint filed against a company for misrepresenting tax relief services to customers has resulted in a temporary restraining order and the organization’s assets being frozen.

Called American Tax Relief LLC, the company used TV and radio commercials, as well as Internet advertising to claim that for a fee it can settle people’s state and federal tax debts.

To trick consumers it abused the name of a real IRS program, that allows people to pay less than what they owe, but which only applies in very limited circumstances.

“The IRS is currently accepting a fraction of back taxes owed to them (sic) for those who qualify.

“The IRS is allowing the people with delinquent tax liabilities a ONE-TIME opportunity to settle the debt ONCE AND FOR ALL.

“But at the same time, the IRS does not advertise, promote or even voluntarily suggest this program,” one of the company’s ads claimed.

People were instructed to call a toll-free hotline, where after a few questions, they were told that they qualify for either the “Offer in Compromise” program or a “penalty abatement.”

The FTC says the company charged between $3,200 to $25,000 to resolve allegedly people’s tax problems, when in fact they couldn’t do it.

According to the IRS, a penalty abatement is only considered when there are very serious reasons to justify late payments, such as natural disasters, severe injury or death.

Also, the “Offer in Compromise” program is only available to people as a last resort and after extensive background checks have been performed to determine that no other payment option remains.

In April 2010, federal agents executed a criminal search warrant at the company’s Beverly Hills office and seized funds from an account, as well as a Ferrari from one its owners.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and names American Tax Relief LLC, Alexander Seung Hahn, Joo Hyun Park, and his parents Young Soon Park and Il Kon Park, as defendants.

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What the Small Biz Jobs Act will do for you!!!


Organizing for America

President Obama just signed the Small Business Jobs Act into law — providing immediate incentives for businesses to make new investments, expand, and hire new employees.

Starting today, millions of small business owners will be eligible for up to eight new tax cuts, and within weeks, thousands of businesses will finally have access to the credit they desperately need.

The bill also includes key provisions the President has fought for since the beginning of this year:

— Small businesses receive a tax write-off on the first $500,000 of new equipment investments;
— More than a million eligible small businesses will be able to make key long-term investments that are subject to zero capital gains taxes;
— Entrepreneurs who take a chance on a new idea can deduct the first $10,000 of start-up costs; and
— The self-employed can deduct 100 percent of the cost of health insurance for themselves and their families from self-employment taxes.

You can read more about the legislation here, on the White House’s website.

This legislation is an important part of President Obama’s and the Democrats’ plan to move our economy forward — and it reinforces the crucial choice facing voters in the upcoming election.

Will you forward this email to the small business owners you know to help spread the word about the change we’re making?

Last week, Republicans chose to unveil their “Pledge to America” at the site of the small business Tart Lumber Company in Sterling, Virginia.

Although their pledge mentions small businesses 18 times, it took less than five hours for congressional Republicans to return to the Capitol to vote against this relief for small businesses.

During this difficult time, it’s critical that we continue to fight for every American job, every American small business, and every chance to boost America’s economy.

Instead, Republicans have shown they’re comfortable putting partisan politics ahead of hard-working families and businesses — even those, like Tart Lumber, that they happily use for political grandstanding.

It’s wrong. But we’re proving once again that, together, we can defeat partisan obstructionism, and today we celebrate a great victory for America’s small businesses.

Thanks for all you do,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

P.S. — Have questions about the bill? This Wednesday, September 29th, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the White House and OPEN Forum are holding a live Q&A on the impact of this and similar legislation on small businesses. Tune in Wednesday at this link: http://www.openforum.com/whitehouse

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Stop the Outsourcing


Tell Your Senators:
Take Action to Stop Outsourcing
Click here to contact your senators.

Before they head off on their election season recess this Thursday, members of the U.S. Senate have the chance to take a real stand against shipping U.S. jobs overseas.

Urge your senators to end the filibuster of the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act (S. 3816). Click here.

The bill includes critical steps to keep jobs in America. It would:

  • Give tax incentives to businesses that hire U.S. workers in place of those doing the same work overseas.
  • End subsidies for companies that move facilities or production offshore.

With unemployment hovering near 10 percent, this is a commonsense step to stop the bleeding of good American jobs.

Don’t let your senators head off to campaign without voting now to move this important legislation forward.

Thank you for working for working families.

In solidarity,

AFL-CIO Working Families e-Activist Network