RawStory:
The Tea Party has been billed as an organic grassroots operation, but a newly uncovered document obtained by Politico suggests the movement has been successfully co-opted as a Republican fundraising ploy.
GOP political consultant Joe Wierzbicki floated the proposal a year ago today to create the Tea Party Express, a nationwide bus tour to "give a boost to our PAC and position us as a growing force/leading force as the 2010 elections come into focus." His idea eventually became one of the best known brands in the Tea Party movement.....
...But the primary goal was fundraising for the founding firm's PAC. Despite quadrupling their take in March they told Politico, "We're hardly making any money at all."Looks like Joe Wierzbicki has been operating the Tea Party to fill his firm's own PAC.
CBS News:
...One third of the Recovery Act was made up of tax credits, the White House emphasizes...
....The credits included:
- An increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit
- An expansion of the Child Tax Credit
- For those who work, the Making Work Pay tax credit offered $400 per individual and $800 per couple
- For those who lost their job, there was a 65 percent tax credit to help cover the cost of health care. The first $2,400 in unemployment benefits went tax-free
- Up to $2,500 under the American Opportunity Credit for students and parents paying for college tuition
- $8,000 for first-time home buye
rs - A deduction of state and local taxes paid on a new car
- Up to $1,500 for home improvements to increase energy efficiency
Even conservative advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, which advocates for a single, national flat tax rate, found some praise for the Recovery Act -- specifically for provisions allowing small businesses to write off a wider range of business expenses.....
President Obama has not raised your taxes. If you don't want to pay taxes, move to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where city services, including police, fire, bus service, parks, and street lights, have been cut (see WSJonline). That is what John Kasich wants to do to Ohio!
