Educate Yourselves, Go Beyond the Box, Get Involved, Take Your Country Back!

Educate yourselves, go beyond the box, and become involved, or you will wake up one day, and discover that as you slept the freedoms you took for granted were taken from you by the stroke of a pen and the promises politicians use so often called reforms and change. Many great Americans before US gave their life’s blood and treasure to secure the blessings of liberties and life we have come to enjoy in this great land of ours. They understood quite clearly that our rights come from G-d, and that government is instituted among men to secure those rights. That when

But, if we do not get involved, and reacquaint ourselves with our most cherished traditions and beliefs; those which founded this great republic that have bound and united these fifty states for over two hundred years; we will lose our identity as a nation, and our liberties as a people – the American People – and be swallowed up in a toxic cocktail of opposing special interest groups of various nationalities and identities, all bowing at the idol of repressive fascistic government, and lost to a byzantine bureaucracy from which we will never be able to extricate ourselves.

We have had good legislation and we have had bad legislation, but no legislation is as bad as that which corrupt and self-serving politicians draft that misuses the power and responsibility of the legislature, which then is upheld by corrupt activist courts, headed by judges appointed by heads chief executives with political agendas; all of whom remove piece by piece the restrictions imposed by our Constitution on the federal government which prevent our beloved republic from descending into a tyrannical federal behemoth.

We have seen more and more our elected officials, and presidents sign into law destructive legislation that have created federal agencies, headed by unelected bureaucrats, imposing all sorts of regulations and edicts upon the citizenry, powers which the framers of the Constitution never gave to our system of government. On the contrary, our Constitution is not about what our government can do for US, but what our government cannot do to US. These federal agencies, have either been created by acts of Congress, such as the US Department of Transportation on October 15th, 1966, with divisions such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, and many others; or have been created by successive presidents, such as Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and those that followed.

Until recently, some of the worst offenders were Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, who created the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (1965); Jimmy E. Carter, who created the Department of Education (1979), and Richard M. Nixon. Nixon alone created the Council on Environmental Quality (1969), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1970), the Environmental Protection Agency (1970), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (1973). All of these agencies have since been incorporated into the Department of Homeland Security, following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. But, all of these federal agencies fail in comparison by the number of unelected bureaucrats that President Barack H. Obama has appointed to his cabinet, who hold unparalleled power of regulations not enumerated by our Constriction, or authorized by congress.

The following is a list of so-called "czars" who have served in the Obama administration. A few of them are no longer with the administration or are on their way out:

AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley
Auto Recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery
Border Czar: Alan Bersin
California Water Czar: David J. Hayes
Central Region Czar: Dennis Ross
Climate Czar: Todd Stern
Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal
Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske
Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Browner
Faith-Based Czar: Joshua DuBois
FCC Diversity Czar: Mark Lloyd
Government Performance Czar: Jeffrey Zients
Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis
Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried
Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle
Information Czar: Vivek Kundra
Intellectual Property Czar: Victoria Espinel
Intelligence Czar: James Clapper
Manufacturing Czar/Car Czar: Ron Bloom
Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell
Oil Spill Escrow Fund Czar: Kenneth Feinberg
Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein
Safe Schools Czar: Kevin Jennings
Science Czar: John Holdren
Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney
Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration
TARP Czar: Herb Allison
Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra
Terrorism Czar: John Brennan
Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion Jr.
War Czar: Douglas Lute
Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter
WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore
9/11 Health Czar: John Howard
Cyber Czar: Howard Schmidt
Oil Spill Czar: Ray Mabus
Economic Czar: Paul Volcker (Volcker is expected to leave the Economic Recovery Advisory Board)
Ethics Czar: Norm Eisen (Eisen was appointed last year to be U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic)
Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke (Holbrooke, who served as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, died Dec. 13)

This list was compiled by Fox News in a list dated January 7th, 2011. It is fairly new and up to date. It can be found at the following URL:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/07/list-obama-administration-czars/#ixzz1I4Lr7hjI

Perhaps no document defines the abuses of liberty upon a people better than the US Declaration of Independence, and for that reason I have included it below. It would do the reader well to examine what it says and why our founding Fathers felt compelled to break the bonds of these 13 colonies with the mother country of Great Britain, then after having read it, to ask the same questions of our government today.

United States Declaration of Independence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

The first sentence of the Declaration asserts as a matter of Natural law the ability of a people to assume political independence, and acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable.[73]

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The next section, the famous preamble, includes the ideas and ideals that were principles of the Declaration. It is also an assertion of what is known as the "right of revolution": that is, people have certain rights, and when a government violates these rights, the people have the right to "alter or abolish" that government.[74]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,[75] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

The next section is a list of charges against King George III, which aim to demonstrate that he has violated the colonists' rights and is therefore unfit to be their ruler:[76]

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Many Americans still felt a kinship with the people of Great Britain, and had appealed in vain to the prominent among them, as well as to Parliament, to convince the King to relax his more objectionable policies toward the colonies. The next section represents disappointment that these attempts had been unsuccessful.[76]
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

In the final section, the signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions, and by necessity the colonies must throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion incorporates language from Lee's resolution of independence that had been passed on July 2.[77]

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

How many of these reasons can be applied to today’s situation in the United States? How many of these has our federal government violated? What can and should we do about this as a people? What are our responsibilities in this regard? Who among our elected representatives and those seeking office advocate views and policies inimical to our liberties and to our way of life, but especially to our Constitution and sovereignty as a free and independent republic? From where do we get the crop of individuals who will stand in the breach, and fight in the legislature, fight in the courts, and fight in the ballot box to see that our nation is restored to its rightful place in the world, but first and foremost, is confined by men and women sworn to uphold and who will uphold the limits placed on this runaway government?

Have we come to such a time as this? Not yet. We have seen the people rise up peaceably and through the ballot box, remove the corrupt career politicians, some of whom had been returning incumbents for decades, and replace them with principled men and women who would not betray the public trust, as these had done, and who will do all in their power, even against their own party leadership, to uphold the Constitutional principles of limited federal power, a balanced budget, a fair, workable flat tax, the elimination of the usurious Capital Gains Tax, and a powerful military that is capable and ready to defend America’s freedoms and interests anywhere in the world when called upon to do so.

America can only be great if Americans take their country back, and after taking their country back, give it back to the Lord G-d upon whose precepts it was founded. Then and only then, will America be great again. The day America is great again, it will again elect great leaders.

An Appointment at the World Trade Center - March 14th, 2001

On Wednesday, February 14th, of 2001 I had an interview scheduled with the head of IT/MIS at Baseline Securities at Two World Trade Center.
I parked that day in Hoboken, and took the Path Train to Manhattan, to the World Trade Center.
Upon arriving at my destination, I walked passed the stores, and took the escalators up to the lobby and walked over to security, who notified my interviewer of my arrival, and to get photographed and obtain an ID pass (which I have to this day).
I remember taking the elevator to the 78th floor, walking down the hall to the large glass doors to my left, entering and being greeted by this nice young lady.
I can describe what the 78th floor looked like, the young lady who served as receptionist sitting by the large windows where one could view lower Manhattan, Staten Island, and much of the New Jersey shore in the far distance.
She looked to be a Hispanic; perhaps Puerto Rican, in her early twenties, possibly married or engaged to be married; judging by a ring she was wearing.
She must have seen the second plane approaching on September 11th, unable to do a thing, as death came closer and closer finally striking its deadly blow.
So must have all the young men and women who worked at Baseline Securities, the place I had visited last year.
In front of her desk was table full of magazines for waiting visitors, with seats, and the huge window behind, with the splendid view towards the south east.
To the young lady's right (and our left as one stood before her desk) were two escalators which one would take the floor beneath, into the operations area where the IT and other personnel worked.
When my Interviewer, a young black man of medium build with glasses in his early thirties arrived, he ushered me to the floor below through one of the two escalators (one up, and one down).
Descending the escalator, one floor below, one would walk down this long hall, walking past endless offices and cubicles, walking towards the other end of Tower Two.
Reaching almost the end of the hall, but not quite, one would hang a right and walk down another hall, lined with offices on the left--all with magnificent views of upper Manhattan, the surrounding region.
Continuing to walk down this hall and almost reaching its end, one would arrive in an open area where cubicles were with the IT/MIS personnel worked.
To one's right was a glass room full with routers, switches, rack servers, and all manner of telecommunication, and networking hardware; this was the hub and center of information for Baseline.
I saw all of this.
I remember leaving that place that day, thinking that this was indeed an IT Consultant's dream, and knowing somehow that I would not be working there, and accepting what fate G-d had placed on my lap.
I did not know why then, but I did know on September 11th last year; and do so now.
The time and manner of my departure had not yet come.
I will remember all that I saw, and the person I met, and his staff whom I saw as he ushered me back to the escalators, and proceeded to the next interview.
I will remember it until my dying day.
I will remember these people whom fate and G-d Almighty had me meet but for a brief period of a couple of hours that day last year; people who perished on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.
A people and place I would have also perished with, had I been hired to work there, and been there on that September morning.
So you see, these people were real to me, just as they were dear to those closest to them.
They all had families, and friends, and their loss we all felt, and many continue to feel and carry with them.
And by a hair, I would have been there the very morning that the second plane hit Tower Two, on the floor it hit.
May the L-rd keep all of the dead in His memory, and may He look after every one of their family members.
And so I share this story which I had not shared since that day last year when the devil himself pierced deep into the heart of this nation his dagger of terrorism and hatred; wielded by homicidal Islamic religious fanatics, using jetliners as missiles against innocent human beings.
May the L-rd bless, preserve, and keep this nation which, like Israel, has been called by His name to be a beacon of liberty, truth, and a preserver of humankind.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center should be rebuilt to honor the memory of those who gave their lives in attempting to rescue and save the victims of terrorism, and to declare to friend and foe alike that America shall not be brought down by the hand of any man, but that it exists solely by the will of the Almighty, and to this end it serves for the betterment of all mankind.
The towers should be rebuilt just as they were before that terrible day. It would be a lasting memorial, and a symbol of victory over the horror of terrorism, thus they should be rebuilt at the very least, exactly as they were originally built.

MORE OF THE SAME WILL GIVE US THE SAME RESULTS

I have written about this several times before the last three and a half years, warning all of my readers that the nation had been and continues to be in the throes of a worsening Great Depression; a depression the likes of which the nation has not seen before in its history. It is the first time, we see wide-scale state and local governments go bankrupt and unable to pay their employees, and in some cases – the best ones – several states have had to abandon the maintenance of its bridges, roads, and infrastructure, some of which have passed the red line in its scheduled maintenance.

WELCOME TO THE OBAMA DEPRESSION

And now we are in it, and the press cannot hide the fact, though there are still some within the government-media complex of alphabet soup channels that are editorializing this Depression into some kind of stalled economic recovery, when we have repeatedly seen the evidence to just the opposite. There is not a sector that is not impacted by this Depression, as housing, banking, private medium and small businesses; have failed one after the other all across the country.

All over the nation, the shuttered storefronts, empty malls, and abandoned factories are stark reminders that this Depression is in full swing, and almost every sector of our economy is feeling its icy death. Jobs reports, even skewed to appear more optimistic than they really are, continue to paint a bleak picture of millions of jobs lost, tens of millions of Americans without work, and businesses that are moving their operations overseas, with the loss of hundreds of thousands of more jobs every week. No matter how the media tries to spin it, this economy is dead; stone cold dead.

President Barack Obama has given a speech before a joint session of congress that is for all intents and purposes just a campaign stump speech; an opener to his bid to get reelected in 2012. Perhaps in his most transparent moment, he declared that he would take the same speech across the nation for the next several months until the elections. Was anyone surprises? Of course not. They got what they expected, a campaign speech that removed all responsibility for his policy failures to others, and a promise to do the same things he has done for three years; only better. Some who were listening may have been thinking, “Please spare US, no more of the same ole’ same ole’,” while only the most loyal sycophants applauded and cheered him on.

But “same ole’ same ole’ is what the public and the American electorate got. Obama promised that he would give a four thousand dollar tax break to every employer who would hire the long term unemployed, and those who would raise the wages of their employees would also receive a five thousand dollar tax credit. Same ole’ same ole,’ since it had been found in a Study that the Stimulus Funds were Primarily Used to Poach Workers, Not Hire the Unemployed. And while the president claimed his commitment to Social Security’s solvency, and that of the Medicare program, what he left unsaid about these two is the fact that it is not they that have brought the deficits up, inasmuch as it has been his repeated raiding of the Social Security Trust Fund, and his $500 billion cut in Medicare to fund Obamacare that has made both of these programs reach a critical mass.

But this fact has already been borne out by an excellent article last month in the Washington Examiner written by reporting editor Byron York, that Obama’s Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit the nation is currently facing. If only conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, and Shawn Hannity and others would realize this, and not argue for cuts to these, but rather to cut wasteful pork barrel federal government deficit spending. The poor are the easiest targets of a lot of these people, and yet it is not the programs they live on, which most of the paid into all of their working lives that has created this deficit, but the $14 trillion spending Obama and the previous Democrat-controlled House and Senate that brought spending to this level. It’s deficit spending on boondoggles which the president claimed in his speech he would do without, NOT, that have been the hallmark of his presidency. Evidence of more of the same, is that the Senate quietly approved $500B increase in borrowing authority...

And what do you think this will be for? More of what the president requested. Where are they going to get the money to fund it? They don’t have it. Like the title says, they’re going to borrow another half a trillion dollars at tax payer expense, and the Federal Reserve will provide the liquidity to meet the demand by printing more. This will have a devastating effect on the already feeble economy with inflated costs for everything; food, energy, clothing, EVERYTHING. Did Obama tell you that he was going to do this to you? Of course not. He sugarcoated it by telling you that we must save the jobs of medical workers, of car manufacturers, and make sure that everything is made here in the USA and exported from here.

What he didn’t tell his audience was that for the last three years, he has worked with over three hundred CEO’s from different corporations, who’ve travelled overseas with him to India, China, Indonesia, and Brazil, to ease this government’s restrictions on outsourcing American jobs to those nations, and the result has been the steady exporting of over four million American jobs to the very same nations Obama and his corporate supporters have visited upon their return from those exotic and far distant places. The only thing Obama has been exporting from this country has been our jobs.

And while he has done this, his federal agencies have been working overtime in concert with fifty-two unelected bureaucrats implementing all sorts of restrictions on American small companies across the country. He’s raise their taxes, competes with the banks to crowd them out of much needed loans, and has created a climate of uncertainty as to the future of the nation and its economy that is being felt from the highest echelons of the business world right down to the dinner table in every home. The only people immune from all of this have been and will continue to be his corporate insiders, who’ve outsourced America’s jobs to India, China, Indonesia, Central and South America, and Brazil. What else does he need to do in order for his most loyal followers to realize he’s pressing his dagger deeper into their chest? Since taking office three years ago, President Obama has signed into law twenty-one new burdensome tax laws that have all but decimated the private sector. I include the list below this report for my readers to examine for themselves.

But this is what we’ve come to expect from the former junior senator from Illinois, tax and tax, and spend and spend other people’s money. Soak the rich with higher taxes, more stringent regulations, and increased encumbrances to job growth and investments. His federal agencies are making sure of that. While the IRS has ramped it up its pursuit of “tax cheats,” every other federal bureaucracy has used its police forces to break into small businesses all across the country in paramilitary fashion, closing one business after another for some infraction to the serpentine federal code they claim the business owner/s violated.

I have been accused by some, even some close friends of bias in my reporting on the president. I wish that this were true. I try to be true to what I write, and if I am incorrect in any part, I am the first to retract any mistake that I may have made, and apologize to my readers for misleading them, which was not my intent. But those who personally know me, know that what I write I first examine and look into thoroughly, and it is seldom where I have erred in my reporting, though there have been some cases, again, retracted, apologized for, and corrected for my readers. But, what I write to you today, ladies and gentlemen, I’m not making up. Like what I warned about three years, I now warn about as in the process of occurring. It appears that everything Obama wants, everything Obama gets. There is literally nothing that this president has not asked for that he has not received from his party or the Republicans. Last month’s fiasco between the House and Senate Republican leadership handing him virtually everything he asked with regards to the “debt ceiling” was typical. Boehner, McConnell, the Republicans gave Obama everything he wanted with nothing in return.

Wall Street realized this and the stock market crashed for an entire week. The same thing repeated itself today, a day after Obama gave his first official campaign speech. And now the nation awaits another downturn in the economy, as it braces itself for another jolt of stimulus spending; this time to the tune of have a trillion dollars. Unmistakably though, it is becoming increasingly evident to more and more people that the only antidote this foundering economy is that Barack Hussein Obama and both leaderships of both houses of congress are not given another opportunity to do more in 2012.
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Comprehensive List of Obama Tax Hikes
Which one of these tax hikes will destroy the most jobs?

http://www.atr.org/comprehensive-list-obama-tax-hikes-a6433

Since taking office, President Barack Obama has signed into law twenty-one new or higher taxes:

1. A 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco: On February 4, 2009, just sixteen days into his Administration, Obama signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco, a hike of 61 cents per pack. The median income of smokers is just over $36,000 per year.

2. Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (takes effect in Jan 2014): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the higher of the following
1 Adult 2 Adults 3+ Adults
2014 1% AGI/$95 1% AGI/$190 1% AGI/$285
2015 2% AGI/$325 2% AGI/$650 2% AGI/$975
2016 + 2.5% AGI/$695 2.5% AGI/$1390 2.5% AGI/$2085

Exemptions for religious objectors, undocumented immigrants, prisoners, those earning less than the poverty line, members of Indian tribes, and hardship cases (determined by HHS). Bill: PPACA; Page: 317-337

3. Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax (takes effect Jan. 2014): If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $2000 for all full-time employees. Applies to all employers with 50 or more employees. If any employee actually receives coverage through the exchange, the penalty on the employer for that employee rises to $3000. If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer). Bill: PPACA; Page: 345-346

Combined score of individual and employer mandate tax penalty: $65 billion/10 years

4. Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income (Tax hike of $123 billion/takes effect Jan. 2013): Creation of a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income: Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 87-93
Capital Gains Dividends Other*
2011-2012 15% 15% 35%
2013+ (current law) 23.8% 43.4% 43.4%
2013+ (Obama budget) 23.8% 23.8% 43.4%

*Other unearned income includes (for surtax purposes) gross income from interest, annuities, royalties, net rents, and passive income in partnerships and Subchapter-S corporations. It does not include municipal bond interest or life insurance proceeds, since those do not add to gross income. It does not include active trade or business income, fair market value sales of ownership in pass-through entities, or distributions from retirement plans. The 3.8% surtax does not apply to non-resident aliens.

5. Obamacare Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Tax hike of $32 bil/takes effect Jan. 2018): Starting in 2018, new 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans ($10,200 single/$27,500 family). Higher threshold ($11,500 single/$29,450 family) for early retirees and high-risk professions. CPI +1 percentage point indexed. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,941-1,956

6. Obamacare Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Tax hike of $86.8 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Current law and changes:
First $200,000
($250,000 Married)
Employer/Employee All Remaining Wages
Employer/Employee
Current Law 1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed 1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed
Obamacare Tax Hike 1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed 1.45%/2.35%
3.8% self-employed

Bill: PPACA, Reconciliation Act; Page: 2000-2003; 87-93

7. Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax (Tax hike of $5 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Americans no longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957-1,959

8. Obamacare HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Tax hike of $1.4 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,959
9. Obamacare Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax” (Tax hike of $13 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Imposes cap on FSAs of $2500 (now unlimited). Indexed to inflation after 2013. There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,388-2,389

10. Obamacare Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Tax hike of $20 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Medical device manufacturers employ 360,000 people in 6000 plants across the country. This law imposes a new 2.3% excise tax. Exempts items retailing for <$100. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,980-1,986

11. Obamacare "Haircut" for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI (Tax hike of $15.2 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction for medical expenses to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). The new provision imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. Waived for 65+ taxpayers in 2013-2016 only. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994-1,995

12. Obamacare Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (Tax hike of $2.7 billion/took effect July 2010): New 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,397-2,399

13. Obamacare elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D (Tax hike of $4.5 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013) Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994

14. Obamacare Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike (Tax hike of $0.4 bil/took effect Jan. 1 2010): The special tax deduction in current law for Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies would only be allowed if 85 percent or more of premium revenues are spent on clinical services. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,004

15. Obamacare Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals (Min$/took effect immediately): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new "community health assessment needs," "financial assistance," and "billing and collection" rules set by HHS. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,961-1,971

16. Obamacare Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Tax hike of $22.2 bil/took effect Jan. 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,971-1,980

17. Obamacare Tax on Health Insurers (Tax hike of $60.1 bil/takes effect Jan. 2014): Annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year. Phases in gradually until 2018. Fully-imposed on firms with $50 million in profits. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,986-1,993

18. Obamacare $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives (Tax hike of $0.6 bil/takes effect Jan 2013). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,995-2,000

19. Obamacare Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 ($min/takes effect Jan. 2012): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957

20. Obamacare “Black liquor” tax hike (Tax hike of $23.6 billion/took effect immediately). This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 105

21. Obamacare Codification of the “economic substance doctrine” (Tax hike of $4.5 billion/took effect immediately). This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 108-113