Mac's Blog
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Posted by
on
February 01, 2013
Dear Friend, I had the opportunity to visit with constituents and businesses all over our part of Texas this week. Getting to speak with and hear from the people for whom I work is one of the most important parts of my job. It helps me better represent you in Washington.
There are several issues that seem to be at the top of everyone's mind right now, including gun control, immigration reform, the federal budget and debt ceiling, the status of Obamacare, and the drought in Texas. Below are links to several interviews that I did with our local news broadcast stations in Amarillo and Wichita Falls. If you are interested in hearing my comments on a particular issue, just click the link associated with it. Gun Control - KFDX Wichita Falls Gun Control and Debt Ceiling - KVII Amarillo Gun Control and School Safety - KFDA Amarillo Health Care Reform, Social Security, and Term Limits - KFDA Amarillo Immigration Reform - KAMR Amarillo Immigration Reform - KJTL Texoma Repealing Obamacare - KAUZ Wichita Falls The Drought and Federal Aid - KAUZ Wichita Falls The Republican Party - KAUZ Wichita Falls I invite you to learn more about these issues by visiting my website. As always, I am interested in your feedback and your suggestions on any issue that matters to you. I hope you will contact me with your opinion via phone, email, letter, website, or Facebook.
As always, I appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Posted by
on
January 30, 2013
Dear Friend, This week, eight Senators - four Republicans and four Democrats - released an initial outline for comprehensive immigration reform. It is important to remember right now that it is still only an outline without much detail. The outline has a long way to go before it becomes a bill, much less gets voted on. America is a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. Like any country, we must manage immigration in a way that promotes our national interests. That is where I think this debate must focus. For any proposal to pass the House, it will have to make America stronger and safer. In my view, there are four key issues:
The Supreme Court made it clear last summer that the states are limited by the Constitution in what laws they can enact to deal with this problematic issue. Its decision in the Arizona immigration lawsuit placed the responsibility of immigration enforcement squarely on the shoulders of the federal government. It is up to Congress now to find solutions that responsibly address the various aspects of the issue.
As always, I am interested in your feedback and your suggestions on this topic or any other that matters to you. I hope you will contact me with your opinion via phone, letter, e-mail,on Facebook, or on Twitter.
Posted by
on
January 04, 2013
Dear Friend, In this edition of my video mailbox, I want to respond to the letters, emails, and phone calls I have been receiving about gun control.
No words can describe the unspeakable tragedy that occurred with the school shooting in Connecticut. This tragic event has people across the country asking if there are steps that can be taken to prevent anything like this from happening again. I am concerned that in a rush to do something, there may be an overreaction. I believe the problem is much deeper and more complex than any of the current proposals contemplate.
I have always stood against gun control because it only limits the constitutional rights of the people who follow the law and does nothing to stop those people who would violate the law. The shooter in Connecticut, a state with some of the most stringent gun control laws in the nation, killed his mother and took her lawfully obtained weapons. He illegally carried the guns into a gun free zone. No law could stop him because he was committed to carrying out an evil act.
We must be careful not to blame an inanimate object for this tragedy, but rather we should look inward at society, at ourselves, and at the human being who pulled the trigger.
I invite you to learn more about these issues by watching this edition of the video mailbox. Have a question you would like answered? Please contact me by phone, letter, e-mail,on Facebook, or on Twitter.
As always, I appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Join Mac's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/repmacthornberry?sk=wall
Posted by
on
January 02, 2013
Dear Friend, I want to share with you my statement for the Congressional Record that explains why I voted for the American Taxpayer Relief Act on Tuesday night. This was not an easy vote to make, and it was a decision made after carefully weighing the concerns many of you have voiced in phone calls, letters, and emails. You can also find a summary of the legislation below my statement.
"Mr. Speaker, It was the issue of taxes that led to me running for Congress in the first place. The question of how much of your money the government forces from us is central to the relationship of the individual with government and to the freedom of the individual. And in the past several years through calls, emails, and personal meetings, I have heard from many of my constituents about the necessity of having stability in the tax code. Making the current tax rates permanent for the vast majority of Americans, as this bill does, is a major accomplishment. No longer will the threat of major tax increases because of an expiring law hang over the heads of taxpayers. Providing tax certainty for individuals and businesses has long been needed and will allow them to plan and make decisions. Hopefully, it will help the economy grow. And finally having an answer on the death tax, although I prefer to abolish it entirely, is also critical for every farmer, rancher, and small business person in the country. The clearest reason to vote against this bill is because of what it does not do – limit spending. Too much spending, along with low economic growth, is the reason that our debt is mounting and that our children’s future is in peril. This bill is a missed opportunity to take meaningful action to deal with that problem, and I supported efforts to have significant spending cuts included in this measure. But it is not our last opportunity. It is always possible to justify voting against a bill for what is not included in it. One must go further and ask, 'What happens if this bill is defeated? Will the result be better or worse for the country?' We also have to make a judgment on what is possible with the current cast of characters that the American people have elected to office. It does no good to imagine some ideal measure that could never pass the Democratically-controlled Senate or that President Barack Obama would never sign into law. I am a conservative, and I am also a realist. The answers to those questions lead me to conclude that it is better to approve this bill at this time, understanding that we must use the next few weeks of discussion about the debt limit to find a way to significantly reduce spending and begin to get our economic house in order. House Republicans do not have to accomplish everything in one bill, but time is running out for us to get spending under control. In coming weeks, we will need to consider every tool at our disposal to convince the White House and the Senate on the imperative of cutting spending. Of course, there are provisions in this bill with which I disagree. For example, extending some of the tax credits from the stimulus bill and continuing to pay unemployment for an additional year discourage work and encourage further dependency on government. But they total about $100 billion out of a $4 trillion bill; the rest of the “cost” is due to extending tax provisions that have been in place for more than a decade. Stepping back and looking at the whole picture, it seems clear to me that preventing a tax increase for most Americans and making all tax rates permanent is an important step for families all across the country and for the economy as a whole. Other provisions contained in this bill are important to the people in my district. One would extend the current farm bill for the remainder of the fiscal year, allowing farmers and their bankers to make decisions on planting. That provision also prevents the price of milk from doubling this week. Another section prevents the 27% cut in Medicare reimbursement to doctors, which would have made it very difficult for Medicare patients to find a physician to treat them. Approving this measure is just a step. Next, we must do whatever is required to control spending, especially spending in mandatory programs that constitute nearly two-thirds of the budget. I continue to support comprehensive tax reform, which can ease the pain to taxpayers, help us be more competitive in the world, and give our economy a real boost. We do not have to do all of these things in one bill – and it would be a mistake to try – but we must do them for the sake of our country and our future." Highlights of H.R. 8, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012
Tax Brackets – permanently extends the 10% tax bracket and the 25%, 28%, and 33% tax bracket on income at or below $400,000 for individual filers and $450,000 for those married filing jointly Capital Gains & Dividends – makes permanent the 15% top capital gains and dividends rate up to $400k (singles), $450k (married); 20% rate for both above threshold Death Tax – permanently extends current policy on portability and unification with a $5M exemption indexed for inflation and a 40% top rate Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) – permanently indexes AMT for inflation PEP and Pease – permanent relief from the Personal Exemption Phase-out (“PEP”) and the itemized deduction limitation (known as Pease) for incomes under $250,000 (single), $300,000 (married) Tax Extenders – extends several current business and energy tax policy provisions Congressional Pay Raise Statutorily prevents any automatic pay raise for Members of Congress for 2013 Medicare and Other Health Provisions Doc Fix – prevents the scheduled 26.5% cut to Medicare physician payments through December 31, 2013 Therapy Cap – extends the exceptions process for the Medicare therapy cap through December 31, 2013 Rural Health – extends current policy for rural health including the ambulance add-on payments, the payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals, and the Medicare-Dependent hospital (MDH) program Agriculture Farm Bill – extends the current 2008 Farm Bill for 1 year at no additional cost to the taxpayer and reinstates the disaster programs for livestock, commodity, and specialty crop producers (except the SURE program) for 2012 and 2013 Sequester Sequestration is turned off for two months and paid for with a reduction in discretionary spending cap for 2013 and 2014, and expanding eligibility for Roth conversion. The additional $1.2 trillion in spending cuts through sequestration will continue. Unemployment Insurance (UI) Includes a 1 year extension of current extended weeks for UI As always, I am interested in your feedback and your suggestions on this topic or any other that matters to you. I hope you will contact me with your opinion via phone, email, letter, website, or Facebook. Sincerely,
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*Please note, this email was sent from an unattended mailbox.*
Posted by
on
December 11, 2012
Dear Friend, In two recent newsletters, I have written to you about what is in the “fiscal cliff” and government spending. In this issue we will look at federal taxes. Below you will find a historical look at tax rates and revenues, who the government collects taxes from, and the financial burden that our complex tax code has created on individuals and businesses.
A Historical Look at Tax Rates and Revenues Since World War II, top tax rates have fluctuated from a high of 94 percent to a low of 28 percent. But the remarkable fact is that revenue going into the government has been pretty steady. Revenue has averaged 17.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 1945 and has never been more than 20.6 percent, which was at the height of the tech boom. Federal Spending is now 24.3 percent of GDP. If tax revenue is never going to exceed 20.6 percent regardless of tax rates, it is absolutely clear that increasing taxes will never fix our deficit; only cuts in spending can do that.
A Shrinking Tax Base According to the nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, 51 percent of American households paid no income tax in 2009. Even if retired Medicare and Social Security recipients are excluded, the percentage of working-age Americans who pay no income tax has risen dramatically. According to a report released by the Tax Foundation, about 41 percent of those who filed tax returns in 2010 paid nothing or received more money in refunds from the government than they paid in taxes. That number has grown from 21 percent of tax returns filed in 1990.
The decreasing number of taxpayers is due in part to the growing amount of tax credits that filers can claim. The value of tax credits in 2010 reached $224 billion. Of course, not all credits are bad, but they reduce the number of Americans who have a stake in the U.S. tax system and they add to the complexity of our tax code – which is discussed later in this newsletter. Who is Paying Their "Fair Share"?
All of this means that a smaller percentage of Americans are now paying a larger percentage of the country’s total tax revenues. Meanwhile, phrases like “paying a fair share” have been used by President Obama to make the case that some Americans with higher incomes are not paying enough in taxes. But as the graphics below demonstrate, the numbers show that our tax system is already very progressive.
In fact, the amount of income earned by the top 20 percent fell in the last ten years, but the portion of federal taxes they paid grew.
Note: The only percentage of federal tax liabilities that is greater than its share of income is the highest quintile. Sources of Federal Revenue Individual income taxes have consistently made up the largest portion of federal tax revenue since World War II. The second largest portion has been social insurance and retirement taxes, but that percentage has already begun to decline and will most likely continue to do so as 78 million baby boomers retire. It is also interesting to note that there has been an overall decline in revenue from corporate income taxes since 1945, yet the United States still has the highest corporate income tax rate in the world.
The Hidden Cost of the Tax Code There is another economic burden that is part of our complex federal tax code, the cost of compliance. In a 2011 report by the Laffer Center, economists estimated that U.S. taxpayers pay $431.1 billion to comply with and administer our complex tax system. This economic burden is referred to as the “complexity tax”. Consider these facts from the report:
There has been no major tax simplification passed by Congress since 1986, but since that time, over 14,400 amendments have been made to the tax code. As always, I am interested in your feedback and your suggestions on this topic or any other that matters to you. I hope you will contact me with your opinion via phone, email, letter, website, or Facebook. Sincerely,
Posted by
on
December 07, 2012
Federal Spending As discussions about the “fiscal cliff” continue, it might be helpful to step back and take a broader view of federal spending – where your money goes. The “fiscal cliff” refers to tax increases that would take effect at the end of the year when many provisions of the tax code expire. It also includes automatic, across-the-board spending cuts set to begin under current law in January 2013. This newsletter will summarize federal spending; the next issue will summarize taxes. For more detail on what changes at the end of the year, see my previous newsletter. Direction of Spending Most Americans know that federal spending has been increasing in recent years. But I suspect that few understand how historic the spending increases have been. The chart below shows federal spending over time as a percentage of the economy. In 2012, federal spending was nearly $3.8 trillion, which is 27 percent more than when President Obama took office.
What is your money spent on? Federal spending is generally divided into three categories: mandatory, discretionary, and net interest. Mandatory Spending – Nearly two-thirds of annual federal spending is used for mandatory spending programs, also known as entitlements. Mandatory spending means that once the program is established, everyone who qualifies receives the benefit. It does not require the government to allocate a certain amount of money; the payments are made automatically without any further votes by Congress. It includes programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps. Interest payments on our debts are also considered mandatory since they must be paid. The chart below shows total federal spending and highlights the portion that is in mandatory programs. As you can see more than 60 percent of federal spending is devoted to mandatory programs and interest payments.
Discretionary Spending - Discretionary spending is provided through annual appropriations bills and must be approved by the Congress each year. It is often further divided into defense and non-defense categories. According to the Congressional Research Service, 47 percent of the total budget was discretionary spending in 1962, and it remained the largest portion of federal spending into the 1970's. Since then, mandatory spending has increased at a much faster rate than discretionary spending. Today, discretionary spending makes up less than 40 percent of the entire budget.
Net Interest - Net interest is the only part of future spending that cannot be reduced by legislative action because it is money that must be paid to service the U.S. debt. Net interest payments today make up over six percent of the federal budget, but that percentage could increase if interests rates rise. Unfortunately, many economists predict that those rates could rise dramatically over the next decade.
Future Projections With no changes, spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will continue to rise and consume more of the federal budget. The future cost of these programs is being driven by a combination of several factors:
Medicare Some people may believe that they are just receiving the Medicare benefits they have paid for with their taxes. However, according to a 2011 study by the Urban Institute, a couple with two earners making an average wage receives benefits worth three times what they paid into Medicare over their working life. If there is only one earner in the family, the couple receives a benefit that is nearly six times what was paid through taxes.
In fact, Medicare costs have jumped over 65 percent over the last ten years, more than any other major program.
Social Security It is often said that Social Security does not contribute to the federal deficit, but this is not true. Since 2010, Social Security has had to pay more money out in benefits than it receives in tax revenue. To make up for this shortfall, Social Security redeems IOUs from the federal government that are being paid back with additional interest. In 2011, Social Security IOUs earned $114 billion in interest. The only way to redeem these IOUs is through taxes and borrowing from general revenue.
Defense Spending Defense is the first job of the federal government, and I think the first money the federal government spends should be for national security. Of the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts set to begin in January, half will come from domestic programs and the other half from defense. This means that while it makes up only 19 percent of the federal budget, nearly 50 percent of the deficit reductions will come from defense. These $500 billion in cuts would come on top of $486 billion in defense cuts already set to begin in January.
Even if the government eliminated all spending on defense, foreign aid, federal salaries, and all other discretionary spending, we would still have a deficit this year of several billion dollars. In other words, all of the money that goes into the federal government in taxes is not enough to pay for the entitlement programs.
A more detailed look at how the federal government spends your money can be found below.
The next newsletter in this series will include an overview of where the federal government gets the money it spends. As always, I am interested in your feedback and your suggestions on this topic or any other that matters to you. I hope you will contact me with your opinion via phone, email, letter, website, or Facebook. Sincerely,
Join Mac's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/repmacthornberry?sk=wall
*Please note, this email was sent from an unattended mailbox.*
Posted by
on
December 04, 2012
What is the Fiscal Cliff? The so-called “fiscal cliff" refers to a combination of tax increases and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts set to begin under current law in January 2013. Below is a more detailed look at exactly what changes at the beginning of the year. Taxes According to the Tax Policy Center, if the current tax provisions are allowed to expire, about 90 percent of all Americans will see their taxes raised. This increase would be the largest tax hike in American history. Expiring Taxes and Policies by the Numbers The following provisions are just the highlights. In fact, dozens of tax provisions affecting individuals and businesses expire at the end of the year. You can read the Congressional Research Service report An Overview of Tax Provisions Expiring in 2012 by clicking here. You can find more detailed information on each tax provision by clicking the hyperlink at the beginning the bullet point. Bush-era tax cuts:
Other tax increases:
New Taxes:
Other policies expiring:
Automatic Spending Cuts The automatic spending cuts or sequestration are mandated in the Budget Control Act to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The cuts come from both domestic and defense spending, but many programs are exempt. Although defense spending makes up only 19 percent of the federal budget, it will account for 50 percent of the deficit reductions in the sequestration. There is widespread and bipartisan agreement that these cuts would have a severe impact on America’s national security and further harm the economy. These across-the-board cuts to defense would come on top of the nearly half-trillion dollars ($487 billion) in cuts already being implemented. Spending cuts by the numbers
Reports on the Fiscal Cliff Reports on Automatic Spending Cuts
Posted by
on
November 30, 2012
Dear Friend, There has been a lot of talk about a “fiscal cliff” that could occur in the next month or so. The so-called “cliff” is a combination of expiring tax cuts and deep, across-the-board spending cuts that will take place in January 2013. Solving our nation’s fiscal problems is going to require some real political courage and some tough decisions. It means that members of the House and Senate and the White House must move beyond the campaign rhetoric and get to work addressing the fiscal mess we are now facing. The reality of the political situation in Washington is that there will continue to be a divided government in Washington over the next two years. Yet, continued gridlock and stalemate will have serious consequences lasting for many years. The threat that the fiscal cliff poses to our economy is too great to ignore. The economic future of our country, and that of our children and our grandchildren, is ultimately at stake. Understanding this cliff and how it could impact our lives and businesses is critical to this discussion. So, over the course of the next two weeks, I will be sending you several emails containing important facts about the fiscal cliff, government spending, and federal taxes. My hope is that these emails will give you a better understanding of what is going on and what is really at stake. I will also keep you updated as the situation unfolds and developments occur. As always, I am interested in your feedback and your suggestions on this topic or any other that matters to you. I hope you will contact me with your opinion via phone, email, letter, website, or Facebook. Sincerely, Mac
Posted by
on
November 14, 2012
Last week, I was able to participate in three events that helped remind me that our nation is far greater and far stronger than any President, any Congress, or any election.
On Thursday, I attended the annual Veterans Day Luncheon at Amarillo College. Many veterans’ events focus on older veterans, and there were a number in attendance at lunch. But Amarillo College has a very active student veterans' club for those who have served and then come home to go back to school. While attending AC, these veterans are also giving back to the community with a host of projects and activities. It reminded me that we have always counted on our veterans, not only to defend the country while they serve, but also to help build the country when they come home.
Finally, on Friday I attended the 14th annual Veterans Day Celebration by Travis Elementary School in Pampa. More than 400 young voices sang to honor our veterans and our nation in front of several visiting wounded warriors and a large crowd from the community. It was incredibly moving, and I confess I had to wipe away a tear a couple of times. Mrs. Kay Pittman directs the show and her passion is to see that every student at Travis has a proper appreciation for how fortunate we are as Americans. I told the students that I wish I could have every member of Congress attend their program.
Posted by
on
August 13, 2012
Dear Friend, Sincerely, Mac |
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