The Wealthy Lose Out As Many Others Gain
高薪阶层华尔街的对冲基金经理石油和天然气投资者公司高管过着小康生活的老人和华盛顿的游说者，都受到了奥巴马总统预算计划的打击。预算方案中的赢家包括中产阶级家庭低薪工人低收入退休人员退伍军人学龄前儿童大学生和无家可归者。奥巴马周四在艾森豪威尔办公大楼的简短讲话中说，他的预算方案不会总是照顾特殊利益和他们在华盛顿的游说者的利益。AFP/Getty Images对于富人来说，他们可能要拿出很大一笔钱。根据税务机构Deloitte Tax LLP的计算，如果所有的预算条款都得到执行，一对年收入50万美元拥有两个孩子的夫妻会多缴税约11,300美元。奥巴马的预算案计划让年收入超过25万美元的高收入家庭在今后10年里额外缴纳至少1万亿美元的税收。从2011年开始，最高的两个所得税税率将分别从33%和35%上调至36%和39.6%。方案中还将对许多扣减和免税措施进行限制，并上调资本利得税和股息税。估计缴纳最高税率的家庭数量高达250万户。在预期将增加的收入中，相当一部分将用来扩大美国医疗体系，目的是为可能高达4,500多万的未参保人员提供保险。根据预算方案，对冲基金经理将按更高的税率缴税。过着小康生活的老人将为医疗保险处方药缴纳更多的费用。奥巴马还建议延长今年的联邦遗产税规定，而不是按现行法律的计划在2010年完全取消遗产税。奥巴马的计划中也将延续今年350万美元的遗产税免征水平和45%的最高税率。与此同时，预算案阐述了数十种方式，将新的或扩大后的福利分配给他人。比如，预算将为50万收入微薄的非残疾退伍军人提供医疗保障，并为首次做母亲者设立一个护士家访计划。对于低收入工人，奥巴马政府试图建立一个“美国储蓄帐户”，要求雇主提供由自动扣减工资提供资金的退休帐户。这个预算还包括扩大对儿童保育及儿童早期教育的政府补贴。对于失去工作的工人，政府希望从根本上改革国家的失业保险制度，以提供更好的福利。预算案建议通过限制公司排放温室气体的最高数量和收取排放费的计划筹集6,450亿美元。根据白宫的计划，其中大部分资金（约为5,250亿美元）将通过永久延长奥巴马“劳有所得”的抵税形式返还中低收入阶层。John D. McKinnon / Tom Herman相关阅读奥巴马提交3.6万亿美元财政预算案 2009-02-27奥巴马将提议对高收入层加税 2009-02-26
High-wage earners, Wall Street hedge-fund managers, oil and gas investors, corporate executives, well-to-do seniors and Washington lobbyists all take hits in President Barack Obama's budget plan.The budget winners include middle-class families, low-wage workers, lower-income retirees, veterans, preschoolers, college students and the homeless.During a brief appearance Thursday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mr. Obama said his budget proposals 'will not always sit well with the special interests and their lobbyists here in Washington.'For wealthy people, the price tag could be substantial. Tax specialists Deloitte Tax LLP calculated that a couple with two young children and an income of $500,000 would owe about $11,300 more in taxes if all of the budget provisions were enacted.Mr. Obama's budget contains a minimum of $1 trillion in tax increases over the next decade on higher earners, described as families making over $250,000. It would raise the top two income-tax rates to 36% and 39.6% from 33% and 35%, respectively, starting in 2011. It also would limit many deductions and exemptions, as well as raise rates on capital gains and dividends. Estimates of the number of households paying the top rates range up to 2.5 million.Much of the anticipated additional revenue will be used to pay for expansion of the nation's health-care system, with the aim of providing coverage to the more than 45 million people who are thought to be uninsured.Under the budget proposal, hedge-fund managers would be taxed at higher rates. Well-to-do seniors would pay more for Medicare prescription drugs.The president also proposed extending this year's federal estate-tax rules, rather than allowing the estate tax to disappear entirely in 2010, as it's scheduled to do under current law. The Obama plan would extend this year's $3.5 million exemption level and the 45% top rate.Meanwhile, the budget outlines dozens of ways in which new or expanded benefits would be distributed to others.The budget would, for example, provide veterans' health care for 500,000 nondisabled, 'modest income' veterans, as well as create a Nurse Home Visitation program for first-time mothers.For lower-income workers, the Obama administration seeks to create a 'USA savings account' -- a requirement for employers to offer retirement accounts funded by automatic payroll deductions.The budget included expansion of government subsidies for child-care, as well as early-childhood education.For workers who lose their jobs, the administration wants to 'fundamentally reform the nation's unemployment insurance system' to provide better benefits.The budget proposes to raise $645 billion through a program that would cap how much greenhouse gas companies can emit while charging them for the right. Under the White House plans, the bulk of the money -- about $525 billion -- would go back to lower- and middle-class earners in the form of a permanent extension of Mr. Obama's 'Making Work Pay' tax credit.-0-Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
High-wage earners, Wall Street hedge-fund managers, oil and gas investors, corporate executives, well-to-do seniors and Washington lobbyists all take hits in President Barack Obama's budget plan.The budget winners include middle-class families, low-wage workers, lower-income retirees, veterans, preschoolers, college students and the homeless.During a brief appearance Thursday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mr. Obama said his budget proposals 'will not always sit well with the special interests and their lobbyists here in Washington.'For wealthy people, the price tag could be substantial. Tax specialists Deloitte Tax LLP calculated that a couple with two young children and an income of $500,000 would owe about $11,300 more in taxes if all of the budget provisions were enacted.Mr. Obama's budget contains a minimum of $1 trillion in tax increases over the next decade on higher earners, described as families making over $250,000. It would raise the top two income-tax rates to 36% and 39.6% from 33% and 35%, respectively, starting in 2011. It also would limit many deductions and exemptions, as well as raise rates on capital gains and dividends. Estimates of the number of households paying the top rates range up to 2.5 million.Much of the anticipated additional revenue will be used to pay for expansion of the nation's health-care system, with the aim of providing coverage to the more than 45 million people who are thought to be uninsured.Under the budget proposal, hedge-fund managers would be taxed at higher rates. Well-to-do seniors would pay more for Medicare prescription drugs.The president also proposed extending this year's federal estate-tax rules, rather than allowing the estate tax to disappear entirely in 2010, as it's scheduled to do under current law. The Obama plan would extend this year's $3.5 million exemption level and the 45% top rate.Meanwhile, the budget outlines dozens of ways in which new or expanded benefits would be distributed to others.The budget would, for example, provide veterans' health care for 500,000 nondisabled, 'modest income' veterans, as well as create a Nurse Home Visitation program for first-time mothers.For lower-income workers, the Obama administration seeks to create a 'USA savings account' -- a requirement for employers to offer retirement accounts funded by automatic payroll deductions.The budget included expansion of government subsidies for child-care, as well as early-childhood education.For workers who lose their jobs, the administration wants to 'fundamentally reform the nation's unemployment insurance system' to provide better benefits.The budget proposes to raise $645 billion through a program that would cap how much greenhouse gas companies can emit while charging them for the right. Under the White House plans, the bulk of the money -- about $525 billion -- would go back to lower- and middle-class earners in the form of a permanent extension of Mr. Obama's 'Making Work Pay' tax credit.-0-Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.