Archive for December 19th, 2012

Ideas: How to minimize the damage from Obama’s tax grab …

December 19, 2012

I really don’t understand why Obama and Boehner are having such a hard time resolving the “revenue” issue, i.e. raising taxes.

Make no mistake, I’m opposed to raising taxes and then having Team Obama waste the money … both of which are eventually going to happen.

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First, some background, courtesy of today’s WSJ:

The the budget talks are drifting in a drearily familiar Washington direction: Tax and spending increases now, in return for the promise of spending cuts and tax and entitlement reform later.

The tax increase now being touted as a sign of “compromise” … are still  tax increases, in particular on small businesses that file individual returns.

The Fortune 500 CEOs who are lobbying Republicans don’t mind because they hope to get a cut in the corporate tax rate.

But small businesses will be stuck with a huge immediate tax increase, at least until their owners can scramble to reorganize as corporations instead of Subchapter S companies or LLCs.

OK, so how to break the log jam?

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Posted in Tax reform, Taxes | Leave a Comment »

Taxes: Did investors get conned?

December 19, 2012

In early November, we posted:

Post-election: Government revenues will soar in Q4 … guaranteed.

The logic was simple: with higher tax rates on capital gains and dividends a virtual certainty, investors would sell appreciated securities (and companies)  to lock-in the 15% tax rate … and, companies would accelerate 2013 dividend payouts into the 2012 tax year.

Sure enough.

See Told you so: “Tax induced selling” for some reports of stock & company sell-offs.

Now, I wonder: was it all a big con to generate some tax revenues?

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What if tax rates on capital gains and dividends don’t go up?

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Xmas dinner: Ditch the turkey, head for Mickey D’s

December 19, 2012

Could it be the beginning of a new Christmas tradition.

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According to AdAge, McDonald’s  is “urging U.S. restaurant owners to take the unusual step of opening on Christmas Day to deliver the world’s biggest hamburger chain with the gift of higher December sales.”

The move is a break from the company’s tradition of closing on major holidays.

An internal company memo counseled franchisees: “Our largest holiday opportunity as a system is Christmas Day. Last year, (company-operated) restaurants that opened on Christmas averaged $5,500 in sales.”

Many McDonald’s restaurants were open on Thanksgiving this year.

A former franchisee said:  “It’s easy to get kids to work on Thanksgiving because they want to get away from their family, but not on Christmas.”

Ray Kroc must be turning over in his grave.

He is dead, right?

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Posted in Chrustmas, Holidays, McDonald's, Restaurants | Leave a Comment »