During 2012, employees will have 4.2% FICA withholding at least through February for a maximum tax savings of $367 ($18,350*2%).  This is a continuation of the temporary cut from 6.2% that was in effect during 2011. Assuming no other changes to the law, then employees could have a recapture tax due for the excess tax savings on the wages in excess of $18,350 ($110,100/6).  Similar rules for self employed individuals will also limit their tax savings to no more than $367. -  derived from IRS announcements, January 2012

2012 FATCA - Bad U.S. Tax Policy panned by worldwide news agencies -  article in Forbes 12/30/2011

For 2011, taxpayers with any financial account maintained by a foreign financial institution or any securities issued by someone that is not a U.S. person may be required to file IRS Form 8938 along with their regular income tax forms. Taxpayers are subject to a $10,000 late filing penalty and the burden of compliance for some European institutions is too expensive and will result in closing accounts held by U.S. citizens. -  derived from IRS announcements, January 2012

In 1979 the top 1% of income earners paid 18.3% of the total tax bill, by 2006 they were paying 39.1%.
In 1979 the top 10% of income earners paid 48.1% of all taxes, by 2006 they were paying 72.8%.
In 1979 the top 40% of income earners paid 85.1% of all taxes, by 2006 they were paying 98.7%.
In 1979 the bottom 40% of income earners paid 4.1% of all taxes, by 2006 they were receiving  3.3% in direct payment from the US Treasury. -  Phil Gramm, fmr US Sen, October 3, 2011

Per the GAO, there were 248,357 incidents of taxpayer Identify Theft in 2010, compared to 51,702 in 2008. However the IRS only initiated roughly 4,700 investigations of all types, which is far less than the Identity Theft cases alone! IRS explains that the reason local cases are seemingly getting a pass is that with the huge volume of fraud, the CI division concentrates of schemes of national scope.  Tax identity thieves typically submit tax returns for refunds early in the filing season. The legitimate taxpayer usually files later, and only then learns from the IRS that two returns were filed using the same Social Security number. Victims are issued an "identity protection personal identification number" IP PIN, which the IRS will use to process future returns. A new IP PIN will be issued each year the taxpayer's account has been marked for potential fraud. -  derived from comments made by IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, June 2011

20,000 randomly selected LLCs, partnerships and corporations are being selected by IRS for a time and expense survey regarding the preparation of their income taxes, if you receive the letter from the IRS please contact us. -  Kiplinger Washington Editors, August 2011

A good wake up call...  I don't think S&P was looking so much at our  deficit or our debt, what they were looking at is our unfunded liabilities - more than 100 trillions dollars of promised spending on entitlement programs in the future; we don't have that money! That's where America is in trouble. - Daniel J. Mitchell, Senior Fellow, CATO Institute, August 7, 2011

If the U.S. Government were a family, they would be making $58,000 a year and spending $75,000 a year, on top of having $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing 'big' spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget and debt, reduced to a level that we can understand. - Attributed to Dave Ramsey, August 2011

For years we've been told that our kids and grandkids are going to have to pay the price for our out-of-control spending.  Now it turns out WE have to pay for it?  That was not part of the deal. - Jimmy Kimmel, August 8, 2011

Proposal for a 0.1% to 0.5% "Tobin tax" on transactions in futures and securities purchases and securities sales.  Example: a $50,000 trading account fully involved in day-trading, averaging 5 round turns per day would incur a tax of $100,000 at the lowest proposed $0.1% rate. - Congressional Democrats including Peter Defazio (D-OR-4th), August 2009

After leaving public office, this person opened a hotel right down the road from our CT office; creating many jobs to renovate and operate the business,  It eventually went into bankruptcy after a few years of frustration of dealing with gov't bureaucracy.  He wrote "I ... wish that during the years I was in public office, I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face ... public policy does not consider whether we are choking off [business]." - George McGovern, fmr US Sen, June 1, 1992