Americans for Tax Reform just hosted a conference call with Dr. John Rutledge of Rutledge Capital, Grover Norquist and Ryan Ellis (the “tax earmark warrior”).

Here’s how it works, you type in the current value of your 401(k) and the calculator takes the McCain and Obama tax plans and treatments of stocks and assets and applies them to your value. And voila…there you have it.

It also looks at the Congressional Democrat’s plan as well as the ATR plan, which is a zero capital gains tax rate, and lots of other goodies.

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the average 401(k) balance is about $121,202.

The other good thing about this 401(k) Calculator, is it is a widget format. Meaning all you other bloggers and organizations with websites can pick it up using the HTML found here and place it on your site.

Get this widget here. Put it on Facebook here

I am sure any reactions to your loss or gains will be appreciated.

I was shocked to read this morning that [Michelle Malkin] (http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/01/mccain-will-support-earmark-stuffed-senate-crap-sandwich/), in her totally legitimate opposition to the bailout, equated tax cuts with spending increases. The New York Post did the same thing on their [cover] (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10022008/frontback.htm). Scarborough was positively livid this morning on Morning Joe. What the hell is going on here?

In an effort to get the bailout through, the Senate appended to it the tax extender package. A conservative Senate staffer who shall remain nameless dubbed these tax increase preventions “tax earmarks” and sent it around on a prominent anti-pork listserv. Before you knew it, the conservative blogosphere was alight with charges of “pork” and “earmarks” in the bailout bill.

To state the obvious, tax cuts are not the same as spending increases. I guess Malkin, et al need to be re-told this blindingly obvious fact.

Calling tax cuts “earmarks” is very unhelpful and completely wrong from a fiscal conservative perspective. There is no such thing as a “tax earmark.” Earmarks are spending. There are appropriations earmarks. There are authorization earmarks. There are no “tax earmarks.” To claim that there are puts tax deductions and credits (which is what we’re talking about here) on the same par as bridges to nowhere. Was the creation of HSAs a “tax earmark?” How about the home mortgage interest deduction? One might call for lowering the rates and broadening the base, but we should not fall into the trap of equating tax cuts and spending increases. That’s how some Senate Republicans got in such massive trouble over health care last year and energy this year vis-à-vis taxes. When the distinction between spending programs and tax cuts is confused, people think it’s all the same and you end up with a net tax increase. It’s this confusion between tax cuts and spending increases that I’ve found is the number one cause of well-meaning elected officials slipping into Taxpayer Protection Pledge violations.

We’ve spent 50 years as a movement fighting the idea that Ted Kennedy is entitled to 100% of your money, and that a tax cut is just another way of doling out welfare funds. Rhetoric like “tax earmarks” and “tax pork” reverse all the hard work of those us who argue that Washington has a spending problem, not a tax problem.

I would exempt from my statement the outlay effects of refundable tax credits (the vast majority of the Obama “tax cuts,” incidentally). Those are, indeed, welfare entitlement spending. Less than ideal tax cuts at least deprive Leviathan of resources. Some of them are baby steps toward comprehensive reform (like targeted depreciation rules). Others de-fund government spending programs (like the bows and arrows excise tax repeal). Still others (the bulk, in fact, of this package) prevent tax increases from happening. It’s foolish for conservatives to be out there equating government bureaucratic check writing with targeted tax cuts.

So…recently there has been some discussion about “tax earmarks” and the Senate “bailout” package.

First of all, (must restrain the cursing), what in the world is a “tax earmark”? Who ever heard of such a term. That is as confusing as Stephen Colbert pretending to be a conservative; it makes my head spin!

This has sent a mini-fracture through some parts of the center-right, fiscal conservative movement.

But never-fear, the Taxplaya himself is setting the record stratight here, here, here and here. And now here, on RedState.

Rich Lowry and others are calling tax cuts in the Senate bailout package “earmarks” today.

Calling tax cuts “earmarks” is very unhelpful and completely wrong from a fiscal conservative perspective. There is no such thing as a “tax earmark.” Earmarks are spending. There are appropriations earmarks. There are authorization earmarks. There are no “tax earmarks.” To claim that there are puts tax deductions and credits (which is what we’re talking about here) on the same par as bridges to nowhere. Was the creation of HSAs a “tax earmark?” How about the home mortgage interest deduction? One might call for lowering the rates and broadening the base, but we should not fall into the trap of equating tax cuts and spending increases. That’s how some Senate Republicans got in such massive trouble over health care last year and energy this year vis-à-vis taxes.

This is precisely the same logic that Treasury’s Stanley S. Surrey used in the 1960s to create the “tax expenditure” concept. This faulty doctrine treats tax exclusions, adjustments, deductions, and credits as if they were the same as a federal appropriation. They are not. They might not be ideal tax policy, but they are federal revenue reductions—not budget increases.

I would exempt from my statement the outlay effects of refundable tax credits. Those are, indeed, spending and could rightly be sullied with the term “earmark.”

It’s this confusion between tax cuts and spending increases that I’ve found is the number one cause of well-meaning offices slipping into Taxpayer Protection Pledge violations. When I see things communicated that would contribute to this confusion, I try to jump all over it.

And that concludes today’s lesson on how not to make up silly words like “tax earmark”. Next you’re going to tell me that “price gouging” actually occurs in a free market, yeah, right.

Any questions class?

According to Ryan Ellis, who runs the American Shareholders Association and serves as ATR‘s Tax Policy Director, the failed “bailout” is a great opportunity for Republicans…if we just don’t blow it!

Rellis says:

There have been a lot of calls since the bailout failure yesterday for this-or-that public figure to resign, etc. Instead of engaging in useless displays of rhetoric, conservatives need to get behind a practical, hard-nosed, pro-investor agenda to improve this plan.

It’s going to pass this week. I’m told there are about 70 votes in the Senate. Pelosi would like to pass this with more GOP votes for cover, but if she has to she will put in bankruptcy “reforms” or ACORN money to get a couple of dozen more left wing votes. The President will then probably sign the legislation.

We have a brief moment in time here to improve this legislation. Here are some practical steps how:

1. Urge the President to suspend mark-to-market accounting rules for any distressed assets. While he’s at it, he should initiate a full repeal of the Clinton-era “Community Reinvestment Act” regulations.

2. House conservatives need to coalesce behind an “ask.” It should be tax-based. I posted a list of them on ATR’s blog yesterday. Pick a couple and stick with it. My personal suggestion would be to end the repatriation tax if the foreign deferred earnings are used to purchase distressed assets, and then give these assets Roth IRA-style tax free treatment. This should raise hundreds of billions of dollars, and might make taxpayer dollars unneeded at all

3. Start naming names. It’s pretty obvious that this problem was caused by government. Specifically, government-sponsored enterprises, government central bankers, government accounting dictators, and government mortgage bullies. We need to win the history on this if we’re going to win the future. Obama and Pelosi are decrying a lack of regulation. It was, in fact, a lack of freedom.
   If conservatives did all three of these things–win the interim, deliver the votes for a compromise while bringing private assets to the table, and get the blame game right–this could be a big win. But we need to get on board with making this work–now.

Well said Sir! Well said indeed.

Friends of ATR Blog posted this faux letter to Sen. Reid today, (I dare someone to send it – just kidding!)

Senate voted today, 52-42 against Sen Reid’s Second Stimulus today that included a ban on shale oil, ouch.

Dear Sen. Reid,

Man, tough loss, that must really hurt. But hey, not everyone wants to keep Americans broke. You know, that $5 a gallon stuff really scares most people – not you, but most people. You look $5/gallon in the face and laugh. And that’s cool, for you, not us.

And anyway, what’s with all these welfare subsidies – aren’t we supposed to be getting people off that stuff. I mean, it’s just bad.

But listen, now that we have shale oil and OCS drilling, please don’t throw a temper tantrum and shut off lights and cameras and stuff like that. It’s just not cool. Someone might bump their head on something with no lights. And some of these guys are old, that’s just dangerous.

Look, we know you’re down right now, but cheer up. I am sure you can think of another way to tax Americans back into the stone-age and keep us depended on the government for another 1,000 years. Just look at Russia, no, not modern day Russia, I’m talking U.S.S.R style…there may be a few lessons there.

Keep your head up.

PS – You did manage to drag some of our friends along with you (Coleman, Collins, Dole, Smith, Snowe, Specter). I don’t know how you work that Vodoo-that-you-do?? Can you tell us?

As I know this changes every 3 nano-seconds…but as of now, there are NO bans on shale oil and NO bans on OCS drilling that have made it through.

Despite the efforts of Reid and the rest of the socialists, his bans on shale oil were defeated 52-42, and we only lost 6 Republicans.

We lost Coleman, Collins, Dole, Smith, Snowe and Specter….go figure on that list right?

Anyway, as of 2:19pm EST on Sept 26 – DRILL BABY DRILL!

Politico has been posting a series of questions lately and the recent one elicited a very common-sense response from and straight to the point kind of guy.

The question:

Suggest one question for the foreign policy debate and for extra credit, what
is McCain thinking?

Grover Norquist’s reponse:

On what is McCain thinking: Why am I expected to defend the Bush track record?
I ran against the guy in 2000.

And we get a second one, even better than the first:

Will Obama’s caving into the labor union bosses demands for a return to
protectionism and an end to free trade expansion impoverish Africa to
the point that Obama’s economic policy will lead to more deaths overseas
than Malaria does now on an annual basis?

You would think that people would be able to tell 2 things. First, McCain is not Bush, he ran AGAINST the guy in 2000, google it.

Second, that with Obama/Biden pandering to the trial lawyer-union member-immigrant hating-free trade bashing-nationlize everything crowd; why is the American people being tricked that is the “change” we need?

I looked up change in a dictionary Obama gave me, it said:

any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or
governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and
distribution of goods
a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned
and controlled by the state
a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and
communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay
according to work done

Wierd huh?

Sen. Joe Biden; otherwise known as the gift that keeps on giving, has done it again. Thanks Joe!

You know those microphone’s that the NFL use to “Mic Up” quarterbacks and other players…we should always have one of those on Biden. Man, that guy would win the election for us.

Anyway, I digress.

According to ABC News (and I kid you not), Biden said recently when speaking to a group of trial lawyers:

“There are two people — you’ve heard me say it before — two groups that
stand between us and the barbarians at the gate. It’s you [trial lawyers] and
organized labor. That’s it. That is it. So, mark my words, mark my words, if
we lose this election, you are going to continue to see a continuation of the
onslaught on everything we care about. For real. For real. So, I’m not only
thanking you for your help. I would think you’re all absolutely brain-dead if
you didn’t help. And I mean it.”

Wow. Really Jow?!? Really?!? Wow.

So trial lawyers and labor unions are between us and the “barbarians”, well maybe when you use the word “us” it means something different than when I use it.

According to Friends of ATR blog:

Sen. Reid is trying to offer his stimulus package as an amendment to the CR that will ban shale oil drilling.

According to the Department of the Interior, there are an estimated 800 billion barrels of shale oil in the United States, and Sen. Reid wants to keep them away from American consumers.

Sec 1602 continues ban on oil shale.

The language follows:

SEC. 1602. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including section 152
of division A of H.R. 2638 (110th Congress), the Consolidated Security,
Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009, the terms and
conditions contained in section 433 of division F of Public Law 110–161 shall
remain in effect for the 19 fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

Index capital gains to inflation…brilliant. I mean, hey, why not? At this point, what have you got to loose.

Norquist states, that in doing so:

This creates a situation whereby an asset held for many years and later sold
may generate a capital gains tax liability when much or all of that gain is
purely from inflation. For example, a stock purchased in 1990 for $1000 and
sold today for $1676 would face a capital gains tax liability on the
$676 “profit.” But in reality, 100% of that “gain” is attributable to
inflation.

Click here for the full letter

Lieberman – “McCain pull out is not a stunt!”

Obama – “if you need us, I am prepared to be there, but keep in mind, I am talking to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, every single day, working around the clock.”

“Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at at time, not necessary to think that we can do it all as president.”

Wow….if you need me call me…that’s what I heard. Anybody get his cell? He said it so fast, I know, I know, it’s like he almost didn’t say it at all.

Obama claims he called at 8:30, McCain called back at 2:30 and Obama claims that McCain wanted to fly to Washington to meet and they would sign a joint letter…According to Obama, next thing he knew, he saw McCain on TV talking about backing out.

No real answer from Obama on backing out or not…stay tunned for more.

Obama claims he called at 8:30, McCain called back at 2:30 and Obama claims that McCain wanted to fly to Washington to meet and they would sign a joint letter…According to Obama, next thing he knew, he saw McCain on TV talking about backing out.

No real answer from Obama on backing out or not…stay tunned for more.

If you haven’t checked your blackberry today, or received the emails from Sen. Demint or Rep. Hensarling’s offices…we won!

Well, depending on which “we” you consider yourselfs, those of us who want lower gas prices, increased American energy production, and to keep the 600,000+ jobs in this country…”we” won!

I am refering to reports that House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Obey has removed the lanugage that extends the OCS ban from the year end spending bill.

Sen. DeMint and Rep. Henarling have been spearheading an effort to secure American Energy Freedom Day on October 1st, and their efforts appear to have paid off.

Now we can only hope that the kick-backs the greenies and the trial lawyers don’t stand in the way of lowering prices and increasing exploration.

So…is this just a political ploy from the left or a real attempt to lower prices. Thoughts?

Well, if you’ve ever said to yourself, “It’s been 3 minutes and Bill Clinton hasn’t done anything to creep me out yet,” then your three minutes are up.

Yet again, Bubba just keeps bringing the gold and with this one, he doesn’t disappoint.

This is Clinton at his best. In a 1:00am, 4 Big Mac’s deep induced press loving coma (not his confirmed state, but it’s Clinton, why not), he delivers this gem:

“I come from Arkansas, I get while she’s hot out there…”

In Bubba’s defense, he did add, “Why she’s doing well.”

Sure man, we all know what you mean (wink wink).

There is a big labor battle booming in Colorado between Independence Institute head Jon Caldara and Gov. Bill Ritter (D).

Caldara is pushing an initative on the ballot that will no longer allow state and local governments to pull union dues directly from workers paychecks. Caldara recently offered Ritter deal to remove his ballot intiative if Ritter rescinded the executive order granting those rights.

Ritter says, “For his offer, I would simply decline.”

Wow. When you’re against Right to Work and love promoting the fact that you think the state and the unions should be able to take dues directly from the paychecks of your workers – you are my friend the antithesis of [worker freedom] (www.workerfreedom.org).

According to ATR’s blog, the Senate “Gang of 20″, that’s right, it’s now up to 20, plan is a violation of ATR’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

Click for more about the Pledge.

According to ATR’s blog:

The Senate energy compromise, which started out as the “Gang of Ten”, has
now grown to the “Gang of 20”.

I guess they might have been thinking “strength in numbers.” But, that would
be wrong.

This plan accomplishes several things; unfortunately, most of them are bad.

First, they allow four states (VA, NC, SC, GA) to opt-in to OCS drilling. In
doing so, they make the drilling ban permanent in legislation for the other
46 states. Rather than just allowing the moratorium to expire as Sen. DeMint
and Rep. Hensarling are calling for.

Second, in repealing Sec 199, this plan violates ATR’s Taxpayer Protection
Pledge as it results in net income tax increases. Comprehensive solutions to
our nations energy crisis should never begin with a tax increase.

The Alliance for Worker Freedom recently announced the launch of their new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/WorkerFreedom.

Upon this launch, they have released a new SEIU video. The video was taken at the July 17th, 2008 “Take Back the Economy” rally at the McCain headquarters in Virginia. They manage to interview a elected official who admits on tape that the union got her elected (and all types of other lies they quickly dismiss with facts and graphs).

Americans for Tax Reform has been keeping track of the energy debate on their blog and tracking those Senators who are part of the Gang of Sixteen (formerly the Gang of Ten)and criticizing them for supporting energy solutions that increase taxes.

Well, to add insult to stupidity (or something like that), some of the “Gang’s” members have also decided to join another group – the DeMint/Hensarling group that wants to open all OCS land for drilling.

The hypocrisy? These same knuckle-heads are part of an energy plan that only allows a four-state OCS opt-in while at the same time signing something that opens all OCS drilling.

Really?!? Is taxing American energy $30 billion worth the OCS compromise?

Really?!? Chambliss, Graham and Thune are all Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers and are supporting a Sec. 199 repeal in an election season? Really?!?

Today, the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) announcedthe release of an SEIU video on Sept 1st, Labor Day.

The video will also be released on RedState.com.

Taken at the “Take Back the Economy” rally on July 17 at the McCain NOVA headquarters, the video shows an elected official and a union member making ridiculous statements about the economy and about unions.

Stay tunned for the release…