The Asian Conservative

Quite frankly I didn’t know what an omnibus was until I looked it up in wikipedia.

Taxpayer.net, run by Taxpayers for Common Sense, reports that the Fiscal Year 2009 Omnibus has 8,570 earmarks worth $7.7 billion dollars. That’s a lot of loot. They offer an Excel spreadsheet of the earmarks. I am interested to see how many of the earmarks benefit Asian Conservative constituents, if any. Updates to this post will follow.

Update 1:

($142,500) Japanese Community Youth Council, San Francisco, CA for renovation of a youth development facility

($237,500) Japanese American Museum of San Jose in San Jose, CA for construction of a new museum

($476,000) Chinese Hospital, San Francisco, CA for facilities and equipment

($196,500) Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment, San Gabriel Valley Business Development and Revolving Micro Loan Fund for counseling and advising services

($245,643) Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program

jeff Uncategorized

President Obama just signed the stimulus plan for 2009. Here are a few Tax Provisions from the Stimulus package that I personally like. These are excerpts from a CSPAN PDF Document “Tax Provisions” These are the main things that interested me in the 19 page document. There are lots of little things in there for small business, infrastructure and so forth but these are the points that I think will help me the most.

“American Opportunity” Education Tax Credit. The bill would provide financial assistance
for individuals seeking a college education. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide taxpayers
with a new “American Opportunity” tax credit of up to $2,500 of the cost of tuition and related
expenses paid during the taxable year. Under this new tax credit, taxpayers will receive a tax
credit based on one hundred percent (100%) of the first $2,000 of tuition and related expenses
(including books) paid during the taxable year and twenty-five percent (25%) of the next $2,000
of tuition and related expenses paid during the taxable year. Forty percent (40%) of the credit
would be refundable. This tax credit will be subject to a phase-out for taxpayers with adjusted
gross income in excess of $80,000 ($160,000 for married couples filing jointly). This proposal is
estimated to cost $13.907 billion over 10 years.

I really wish they could figure out a way to take into account cost of living adjustments for gross income limits. For people living in large Metro areas where the cost-of-living is very high (San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, New York, etc.) These maximum income requirements seem low. A single person who earns $80,000 in San Francisco doesn’t make that much money in real money that can be set aside for paying for a house, college, or other expense.

Computers as Qualified Education Expenses in 529 Education Plans. Section 529 Education
Plans are tax-advantaged savings plans that cover all qualified education expenses, including:
tuition, room & board, mandatory fees and books. The bill provides that computers and
computer technology qualify as qualified education expenses. This proposal is estimated to cost
$6 million over 10 years.

Yes! Computers for kids. The more kids that have computers the better

Refundable First-time Home Buyer Credit. Last year, Congress provided taxpayers with a
refundable tax credit that was equivalent to an interest-free loan equal to 10 percent of the
purchase of a home (up to $7,500) by first-time home buyers. The provision applies to homes
purchased on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009. Taxpayers receiving this tax credit
are currently required to repay any amount received under this provision back to the government
over 15 years in equal installments, or, if earlier, when the home is sold. The credit phases out
for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 in the case of a joint
return). The bill eliminates the repayment obligation for taxpayers that purchase homes after
January 1, 2009, increases the maximum value of the credit to $8,000, and removes the
prohibition on financing by mortgage revenue bonds, and extends the availability of the credit
for homes purchased before December 1, 2009. The provision would retain the credit recapture
if the house is sold within three years of purchase. This proposal is estimated to cost $6.638
billion over 10 years.

Sweet. I’ve been looking into buying a condo, $8,000 of tax credit sweetens the deal. Interesting.

Recovery Zone Bonds. The bill would create a new category of tax credit bonds for investment
in economic recovery zones. The bill would authorize $10 billion in recovery zone economic
development bonds and $15 billion in recovery zone facility bonds. These bonds could be issued
during 2009 and 2010. Each state would receive a share of the national allocation based on that
state’s job losses in 2008 as a percentage of national job losses in 2008 (each state will receive a
minimum allocation of these bonds). These allocations would be sub-allocated to local
municipalities. Municipalities receiving an allocation of these bonds would be permitted to use
these bonds to invest in infrastructure, job training, education, and economic development in
areas within the boundaries of the State, city or county (as the case may be) that has significant
poverty, unemployment or home foreclosures. This proposal is estimated to cost $5.371 billion
over 10 years.

I wonder if this applies to my home state of Michigan. Michiganensians are down on their luck these days so hopefully an infusion will help.

Premium Subsidies for COBRA Continuation Coverage for Unemployed Workers.
Recession-related job loss threatens health coverage for many families. To help people maintain
coverage, the bill provides a 65% subsidy for COBRA continuation premiums for up to 9 months
for workers who have been involuntarily terminated, and for their families. This subsidy also
applies to health care continuation coverage if required by states for small employers. With
COBRA premiums averaging more than $1000 a month, this assistance is vitally important. To
qualify for premium assistance, a worker must be involuntarily terminated between September 1,
2008 and December 31, 2009. The subsidy would terminate upon offer of any new employer-
sponsored health care coverage or Medicare eligibility. Workers who were involuntarily
terminated between September 1, 2008 and enactment, but failed to initially elect COBRA
because it was unaffordable, would be given an additional 60 days to elect COBRA and receive
the subsidy. To ensure that this assistance is targeted at workers who are most in need,
participants must attest that their same year income will not exceed $125,000 for individuals and
$250,000 for families. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this provision would
help 7 million people maintain their health insurance by providing a vital bridge for workers who
have been forced out of their jobs in this recession. This provision is estimated to cost $24.7
billion.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to get laid off this year so if COBRA is cheaper yes I will get it. It sure beats trying to find private individual insurance.

jeff Uncategorized

Oh, how the left are showing their true colors. It was only a mere two weeks ago that Timothy Geithner was confirmed as the 75^th Treasury Secretary of the United States, a sect of government he worked for 20 years ago. As many of you know, Geithner is now in charge of the IRS. This is the same IRS that Geithner cheated from 2001-2004 by avoiding $35,000 in taxes up to the time he realized he was going to be nominated by Barack Obamessiah. Only then did he man up and take care of his responsibility as a citizen of the United States. All said and done, he paid $34,023 in back taxes and $8,679 in interest. The IRS waived his penalty fees. Let’s not forget one last thing – without Geithner and his humbling apology, the country would fail.

It doesn’t stop there however – “Let’s give it up for Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer!!!” Apparently, these are two more of the finest Washington has to offer. Tom Dascle was nominated by The Obama to be the head of Health and Human Services. It was a decade ago that Daschle was on his soap box on the Senate floor preaching about punishing tax cheats “to the letter”. Well, I guess we should be seeing him arrested and punished any second now…don’t hold your breath people. All said and done, he paid approximately $140,000 in back taxes and interest. Now on to Nancy Killefer…I won’t delve too much in to this. Killefer, who was nominated to be the first Chief Performance Officer, was gracious enough to bow out before putting herself under more scrutiny regarding her tax conundrums (is this a recurring theme?). All said and done, she had a $946.69 tax lien placed against her home for failure to pay unemployment compensation tax on household help.

And you thought the meltdown stopped after three. “Now entering the stage … let’s show your love for … Hilda Solis!!!!” Solis is the Labor Secretary nominee. The USA Today reported that Solis’ husband had recently paid $6,400 to settle liens that had been outstanding against his business for as long as 16 years. I can go on and on, but I digress…during the campaign we heard about the most exhaustive Cabinet or High Ranking Post application form ever created. Did they not see this application? Did this not apply to any of the tax cheats I have spoken of?

I guess when it comes to taxes, we conservatives own up to our responsibilities and the liberal left just pick and choose theirs. Conservatives are even compassionate and try to introduce tax breaks to further strengthen the economy. These breaks ensure more money stays in our pockets and the business’ pockets. The left side wants to take what we have worked so hard for. I guess it’s okay for them to take from us because we know at least four on their side are not contributing their share to the pot. Fairness and justification is the left decree but sometimes they forget that.

Well we’re in for a circus that will trump any Ringling Bros. event…it MIGHT be even better than the Chinese Acrobats of Hebei. It’s just starting to roll into town, have your peanuts and popcorn ready. It’s going to be one hell of a show. [Queue circus music]

CN – “Actions speak louder than words.”

chris Uncategorized

Here’s a thought for building the Asian portion of the party: stop doing crooked things. Or if that’s too much, don’t get caught.

It seems like the only time I ever see news about an Asian politician is that he or she is in some type of trouble. This holds for Conservatives AND Liberals.

For instance, back in 2006 Democratic San Francisco city council member Ed Jew got busted for not actually living in San Francisco and for some money related scandals.

A few months later a Chinese man (his name eludes me) got busted for improper donations to political campaigns.

Asian brothers and sisters clean up your act! If you’re going to be crooked at least make it difficult to figure you out. The other guys are getting away with stealing billions of dollars from taxpayers (also known as bailout ‘08-’09) and you’re getting busted for dropping bags of money on a guy’s doorstep?

Sloppy Sloppy Sloppy…

jeff Uncategorized crooked politicians

I recently started a discussion at Rebuildtheparty.com on minorities in the GOP.  It has been quite interesting to see the responses from grassroots participants looking to fundamentally shift the coarse of the Republican party.  If you are a member of Rebuildtheparty I encourage you to stop by and give the discussion your two cents.  You’ll find a rather insightful discussion with some real people looking to solve this issue.

Aside from the participation there, I want to bring the same topic over to The AsianConservative to see what kind of responses we can generate.  I look forward to your comments.

Let’s talk about minorities. As the last election clearly showed, there are few minorities in the GOP, which is shameful. There is simply no excuse why Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, and other groups don’t have strong representation within the GOP. How can we fix this? What can we do to help the conservative cause among Minorities?

ryan Uncategorized Asian American, Asian Conservative, Asian Conservatives, Asian Republicans, GOP, Minority Conservatives, Minority Politics, Minority Republicans, Republican

The Asian Conservative is an Internet column and association of traditionally valued, limitly governing, and fiscally responsible Asian Pacific Americans.

We deeply feel that the conservative consciousness of Asian Americans are developing and that we are coming to realize that our values and beliefs are more in line with conservative thinking than that of any other political party.

As Asian Americans we feel that despite our successes both economically and socially, we lack the presence in the heart of the political institutes of this country. We believe that given the current lack of involvement in politics and under-representation of Asian political figures, our interests and values cannot be served faithfully.

The Asian Conservative’s mission is to offer the Asian American community genuine political leadership by representing their aspirations, concerns, and lifestyles.  We stand to promote Asian men and women to participate in politics, at all levels, with the aspirations to offer up congressional and governing candidates.

We welcome you to join us, by spreading the word as we build this institution for the conservative cause.

ryan Uncategorized