The Gazette Editorial Board —— Yet angst in the wind industry grew in 2012 as Congress fumed and fussed about extending the wind production tax credit beyond Dec. 31. Companies, in the face of losing the $22 per megawatt government subsidy for any capacity added after that deadline, invested $25 billion toward a [...]
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WASHINGTON — The House will miss the midnight Monday deadline lawmakers set for voting to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” House Republicans notified lawmakers that the chamber will vote Monday evening on other bills. They say that will be their only votes of the day. President Barack Obama and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Monday [...]
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Working against a midnight deadline, negotiators for the White House and congressional Republicans narrowed their differences Monday on legislation to avert across-the-board tax increases. Congressional officials familiar with talks between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said one major remaining sticking point was whether to postpone spending cuts that are scheduled [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says “the hour for immediate action is here” on a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. The president says he remains “optimistic” that an agreement can be reached in Congress before a looming year-end deadline to avoid tax increases and spending cuts. If Congress can’t reach a deal, the [...]
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By Gary L. Maydew —- According to various sources, Lord Chancellor John Morton, who collected taxes for Henry VII of England in the 15th century, posited a novel rationale’ for collecting taxes and “voluntary contributions” for the royal treasury. Would-be taxpayers who exhibited lavish lifestyles were considered by him to be obviously rich [...]
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DES MOINES – Although Iowa has an “abundance of riches” compared to where state revenues were when he took office two years ago, Gov. Terry Branstad’s 2013 budget won’t call for spending all of an estimated $1.4 billion surplus. Iowa law limits state spending to 99 percent of available revenues, including carryover funds, which likely [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House on Monday in hopes of continuing to make progress on a plan to deal with the “fiscal cliff.” The meeting came after Boehner on Friday offered $1 trillion in higher tax revenue over 10 years and an increase in [...]
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By Sonia Ashe —- As Congress scrambles to agree on ways to reduce the deficit, Iowans across the political spectrum must at agree on a clear first step to avoid the “fiscal cliff”: closing offshore tax loopholes. Many of America’s largest corporations and wealthiest individuals use accounting gimmicks to shift profits made in America [...]
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Farmers could stand to lose as much as any segment of the economy if political leaders don’t avert the fast-approaching “fiscal cliff.” The impact on farmers of potential changes to the estate tax is “extremely dramatic,” compared with other fiscal cliff effects, which include income and payroll tax rate increases, said Dave Miller, director of [...]
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I once hired a senior reporter who, on his second day on the job, didn’t come back after lunch. I panicked. We had a small staff and couldn’t afford to have any pieces go MIA. He’d come with glowing recommendations, and he’d been an editor at a fair-sized newspaper, so surely he possessed some sense [...]
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