Repeal the Bush Tax Cuts While You're At It

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First, he asked, "How can we improve the economy of the United States of America?" Second, he wants to "make sure there is a sense of fairness" to the tax code.

The key, Rangel made clear, is that any tax reform proposal should assume that Congress will eliminate the alternative minimum tax.

That tax is hitting harder at middle-income families and must be abolished, he said. "We have a responsibility to address the problem presented by the AMT," he said.

But eliminating the unpopular AMT would cost federal coffers $872 billion over 11 years, leaving Congress with no choice but to offset the loss. "We have to look at the entire tax code," Rangel said.

Congress created the AMT in 1969 to ensure that the wealthiest Americans would pay at least some taxes, even if they made extensive use of tax shelters and loopholes.

But because the AMT failed to take inflation into account, it hits more and more families that take deductions and exemptions for mortgages and children. For example, in the 2007 tax year, the AMT would be triggered if a typical tax filer with four dependent children had income of just $56,841.

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How the republican party support the troops

The Bush administration opposes a Democratic effort to restore full educational benefits for returning veterans, according to an official's comments last week.

Senate Democrats, led by Virginia's Jim Webb, want the government to pay every penny of veterans' educational costs, from tuition at a public university to books, housing and a monthly stipend.

Such a benefit was a major feature of the historic 1944 G.I. Bill, which put more than eight million U.S. soldiers through college and is now credited by historians as fueling the expansion of America's middle class in the post-war era.

But in recent years the benefit has dwindled; under the current law, passed in 1985, veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can expect Uncle Sam to cover only 75 percent of their tuition costs. That's not enough, say Democrats and veterans' advocates.

More than 450,000 used the benefit last year, at a cost to taxpayers of $2 billion, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which administers the program. The Democratic proposal would cost an additional $5.4 billion a year, the VA estimates -- and that's too much, it says.

America is taxing for all but the very rich

Warren Buffett, the world's third-richest man, blasted the U.S. tax system earlier this summer because he pays a lower rate of taxes than his secretary. Buffett said, without trying to avoid taxes, he paid 17.7 percent on the $46-million he made in 2006 while his secretary who made $60,000 was taxed at 30 percent.

Unseemly? Immoral? Outrageous? You bet! This imbalance is a consequence of decades of tax reforms that have benefited those at the top, with a marked acceleration under President Bush.

Democrats Press Plan to Channel Billions in Oil Subsidies to Renewable Fuels

Oil executives are protesting loudly, saying that the proposed changes would take money away from exploring and drilling in the United States and increase the nation’s dependence on imported foreign oil.
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The oil industry has ample reason to worry. With consumers seething about gasoline prices increasing to more than $3 a gallon and oil profits reaching record highs, oil companies would be short of friends in Congress regardless of the party in power.
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