Is It Too Little Too Late?

The President finally sees the political need - not the economic one - to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans and is willing to consider at least a one-year extension of them. That should be enough to let the new Republican House majority and evenly divided Senate make them permanent.

Holding out for just a "middle class" tax cut because everyone loves to sock it to the rich, and few of us fit that category anyway, the President lost an important vote in the Senate yesterday that would have given him what he wanted.

Now he seems willing to back what the American people want.

It's coming very late to the party, but it should still work. Imagine what could have been done if he had realized this a few weeks ago - but then there was that pesky election on November 2nd that changed the rules a bit.

 

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

Photography displayed is original composition and artistic expression of Steve Hoffacker, and as such is copyrighted. Photos are as taken and have not been cropped, edited, or enhanced in anyway.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

16 comments • Steve Hoffacker - Sales Trainer/Coach, Sales Books Author, Photographer • December 05 2010 11:21AM

Don't Fall Into The VAT

Washington is abuzz with talk of the VAT. This is another horrendous idea to further unravel our economy.

Fall into a vat of anything and it could be very disasterous. You could drown, suffocate, be burned to death, electrocuted, or dissolve. Not something you would want to do.

This VAT isn't much better.

The VAT or value added tax could price most goods out of the reach of consumers. The concept is that at every significant stage of production, a tax is collected for the value added to the product at that time - until it reaches the retail shelves - where a sales tax typically is collected - on a hugely inlated value. Net result - governmnet wins big, consumers suffer, gross domestic output suffers, the economy suffers, unemployment increases.

Regardless of how little the tax is to begin with - and it is guaranteed to increase over time (taxes just seem to do that) - even something as common as breakfast cereal could see major price increases at the grocery shelf. The grain and sugar are grown and harvested. They are refined - collect tax. They are turned into flakes, chips, or other edible shapes - tax collected. The wood pulp is turned into cardboard - tax collected. The cardboard is printed - tax collected. The cardboard is formed into boxes - tax collected. The plastic liner to hold the cereal is produced - tax collected. The box, liner, and finsihed cereal is packaged - tax collected. Then shipped to the distribution centers and groceries where it may be subject to sales tax.

More and more, it's looking like eliminating the Income Tax and replacing it with the Fair Tax may be the only way to stop increases in government spending and to rein in creative taxation.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. You can also listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

7 comments • Steve Hoffacker - Sales Trainer/Coach, Sales Books Author, Photographer • April 11 2010 12:57PM