NEWS
January 19, 2012 | By Kathleen Hennessey
Herman Cain will deliver the tea party rebuttal to the president's State of the Union address next week. Cain, who dropped out of the GOP primary in December, will have a chance to "square off with the failed politics of the Obama administration," Tea Party Express said in a statement announcing the Tuesday speech. This will be the second tea party response hosted by the California-based political action committee. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) delivered remarks last year carried live on CNN. It was not yet clear whether the networks planned to air Cain's remarks.
OPINION
January 3, 2012 | By Leslie B. Samuels
Ideas for improving the federal tax system are launched almost daily. Reformers have proposed a flat tax, an optional flat tax, the Buffett Rule. They've advocated broadening the tax base or instituting taxes on consumption or carbon. Though most tax reform proposals are promoted as simplifying and rationalizing our extremely complex tax code, almost all lack critical details. But with tax cuts expiring and automatic spending cuts looming, taxation will return to the center of debate early in 2012.
NEWS
November 4, 2011 | By Seema Mehta
The GOP candidates who are struggling to make a mark in the presidential race gathered in Des Moines on Friday night to press their case before committed Republican activists who will decide their fate in 60 days, when Iowans hold their first-in-the-nation caucuses. But unlike most times the candidates appear together, there was little bickering. While a few made veiled swipes at their rivals, they reserved their harshest words for President Obama, saying he has made the recession worse, has a dangerous foreign policy and that he is, essentially, in over his head.
NEWS
November 1, 2011 | By James Oliphant, Washington Bureau
Rick Perry's so-called flat tax plan would drain a titanic sum from the federal treasury and largely benefit wealthy taxpayers over those in the lower brackets. That's the upshot of an analysis of the plan by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Perry last week unveiled the plan, which calls for an optional 20% flat tax on personal and corporate income but would also allow taxpayers to remain in the current system. The plan was derided by some conservatives for not going far enough in eliminating the federal tax code completely.
OPINION
November 1, 2011
Salary nonsense Re "Mayor's ex-aide still on payroll," Oct. 29 It's nice to see that our illustrious mayor has his priorities in order by allowing his former chief of staff to draw his $194,000 salary even though someone else has been hired to replace him. The ex-staffer is being compensated for installing security fences around Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's city-owned mansion and improving the city's golf courses, among other things....
NEWS
October 31, 2011 | By James Oliphant
When Herman Cain wasn't defending himself Monday over explosive allegations that he sexually harassed two employees more than a decade ago, he was defending his hotly debated '9-9-9' plan. That had originally been the point of a D.C. sojourn that had been envisioned as a sort of mash-up of classic movies, a “Citizen Cain Goes to Washington.” Still flush in the polls, the self-described outsider was coming to talk taxes, make contacts with the GOP establishment, and perhaps spark some contributions.