As 2012 comes to a close in a few short hours, it’s time for American taxpayers to ring in the New Year hoping that they planned their finances correctly in anticipation of a number of significant changes to the federal tax code in 2013 Get your bungee-cords ready folks ~ looks like we’re going over that fiscal cliff!

American Taxpayers are facing new taxes in 2013 as the result of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”); and, several key tax breaks, including the Bush-era tax cuts, will disappear at midnight tonight, unless President Obama and Congress take quick action. (They better be really quick!) Here’s an overview of some of the major tax changes ahead for 2013 (tomorrow morning) January 1, 2013:

Income Taxes: The fate of the Bush-era reductions to the individual income tax rates will likely go bye-bye because President Obama and Congress disagree on how to treat American taxpayers in the highest income brackets. If nothing is done, the current 10, 15, 25, 28, 33 and 35 percent rate structure will be replaced by the higher pre-Bush 15, 28, 31, 36 and 39.6 percent rates.

Medicare Contribution Tax: Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, a new 3.8 percent “unearned income Medicare contribution” will be imposed on the net investment income of higher-income individuals, estates, and trusts. This new surtax will generally apply to passive income and to capital gains from the disposition of property. This includes ANY property or land which may have been in a family for several generations, like FARMS!

Additional Medicare Tax: Beginning Jan. 1, higher income individuals will be subject to an additional 0.9 percent Medicare tax. This is in addition to the 3.8 Medicare surtax.

Higher Payroll Taxes: Unless extended again by Congress and signed by the president, the 2 percent reduction in the Social Security tax paid by employees and self-employed individuals will end. Taxes had been reduced from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent the past two years. Get ready, folks ~ your take home pay from your next paycheck is going down!

Passive income: Passive income, such as rents and royalties, also will be subject to the 3.8 percent net investment tax next year. Passive activity planning is a complicated area of tax law, so definitely consult with your tax professional.

Estate planning: The maximum federal estate tax rate for 2013 is scheduled to rise from the current 35 percent to 55 percent. Again, unless Congress acts, the current estate and gift tax exemption of $5.12 million is set to revert back to $1 million. In my opinion, the federal government is really committing grand larceny here by taxing money that has already been taxed & paid for by the individual who originally earned it. Isn’t that called “double jeopardy”?

By the way, did you know that Congress will be getting a Pay Raise in 2013? All this for doing NOTHING! It’s amazing to realize that most of our Congress, Senate & President, etc., do not enter office as millionaires, but usually do leave office (even if only after one term) with a pension, full benefits, book deals & a million bucks or more in the bank! As an American & a Navy Veteran the current state of our nation and Federal government makes me sick and very sad that so many Americans would rather have “free stuff” from the government instead of knowing the pride of self-reliance, of earning it yourself and the freedom of individual choice; based upon their own values, morals, beliefs & faiths~ as I do as an American.

Happy New Year!

Unfortunately this has become a novel concept for some:( Every evening, the same 10 friends eat dinner together, family style, at the same restaurant. The bill for all 10 comes to $100. They always pay it the way we pay taxes:  • The first four are poor and pay nothing.  • The fifth pays $1.  • The sixth pays $3.  • The seventh, $7  • The eighth, $12.  • The ninth, $18.  • The 10th, (the most well-to-do) pays $59.   One night the restaurant owner announces that because they’re such good customers, he’s dropping their group dinner bill to $80. Let’s call that a tax cut. They want to continue paying their bill as we pay taxes. So the four poorest men still eat free. But if the other six split the $20 tax cut evenly, each would save $3.33. That means the fifth and sixth men would end up being paid to eat. The restaurant owner works out a plan: The fifth man eats free; the sixth pays $2; the seventh, $5; the eighth, $9; the ninth, $12; and the 10th guy pays $52. All six are better off than before, and the four poor guys still eat for nothing. The trouble starts when they leave the restaurant and begin to compare what they reaped from the $20 cut. “I only got a dollar of it,” says the sixth man, “but he (pointing at No. 10) got $7.” The fifth guy, who also saved a dollar by getting his meal free, agrees that it’s not fair for the richest to get seven times the savings as he. No. 7, grousing that the wealthy get all the breaks, points out that he only got two bucks. “Wait a minute,” the first four poor guys yell in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!” The nine men jump the 10th and administer a severe beating. The next night he doesn’t come for dinner. They shrug it off and eat without him. The customary $80 bill comes. Surprise! They’re $52 short. Yes, those who pay the most taxes get the most back from tax reductions. But tax them too much — punish them for the wealth they may have — and they just might stop bringing their money to the table. I guess this is why American businesses have about $10 trillion in off shore deposits. You can’t blame them. After all, they got tired of getting beat up to forfeit their “fair share.”

Yesterday, September 21, 2012, the last standing synagogue was closed in Egypt. The U.S. President (Sigh) Consider this; Obama has just spent more American tax payer dollars for a television ad in Pakistan apologizing for their hurt feelings! Can you believe it!!! Radical Muslim mobs are protesting against the United States in over 27 countries; burning & looting our Embassies, burning our flag, killing Americans including Christopher Stevens, the United States Ambassador to Libya on the 11^th anniversary of 9/11 no less. That particular & disgusting atrocity (torture, sodomy & murder) was committed on our sovereign soil; in other words “on American Soil”, and all THE Obama and his lap-dog underlings can do is lie to the American people and apologize to the rabble of the so-called poor & helpless terrorists? Hello stupid, hello! They attacked us, remember? How’s that “Arab Spring” thing working out for you, B.O.?

How exactly long, Mr. President; do you think the Muslim brotherhood will honor the Camp David Accords signed by Egyptian President Sadat & Israeli Prime Minister Begin in September 1978  at the White House with President Jimmy Carter which led to the Egypt-Israeli Peace Treaty in 1979. In case you haven’t noticed, B.O. someone laid a big egg when they awarded you that, ahem, Nobel Peace Prize a few short months after your election ~ but it was’nt George W. Bush!!!! This abomination is all YOURS! These murders of AMERICANS are ALL YOURS, Mr. Obama!!!

When, Mr. President; will you and your irresponsible, “Keystone Cop-like”   administration get your story straight? And just exactly when will YOU, Barrack Hussein Obama, as Commander-in-Chief, (Gag!) admit that YOUR naïve Middle East policy and your illusions of a Utopia for Muslims is a failure which is YOUR fault and quit trying to shift the blame to former President George W. Bush, the Republicans or an obscure & insensitive individual who made short YouTube video? Hey, in case you forgot, Mr. Obama; this IS the United States of America & that stupid man had every right to his opinion and free speech, under the 1^st amendment of the United States Constitution (as offensive as the video in question may have been to non or intolerant Americans). Personally, I’d have ignored it and had never even heard of it until YOUR administration brought it up. Hey, stupid… have you ever heard the term “add fuel to the fire”? YOU, B.O. caused the escalation; YOU and YOUR administration minions & buddies in the Lame Stream Media, ie: NBC, MSNBC, CBS & ABC News! How many kick-backs & tax breaks are they all getting, huh?

I can tell you with ALL honesty; that I am a native-born American, a woman & a Navy Veteran. I was born during the armistice of the Korean War and grew up during the cold war, survived “duck & cover” and the Kennedy Assignation in the early 1960’s while still in grammar school. I watched my neighbors mourn their older sons whom had died in Vietnam, prayed for my brother each time the new numbers were chosen for the draft, and watched in disgust as dirty, long-haired & strung-out hippies spit on the brave soldiers that came home.

I enlisted in the U. S. Navy in the late 1970’s, before the U.S. Embassy in Iran was attacked and 44 American hostages were taken, (President Carter told us that they were “victims of terrorism & anarchy” then he added “the United States will not yield to blackmail”).  Regardless, my service continued throughout the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s. During the 1980’s, President Reagan restored, what I had felt at the time; a renewed moral to all of the armed forces. WE felt it! WE respected it! And, when OUR Commander-in-Chief decided not to take any crap from Libya… he gave them the bitch-slapping of their life!

I was stationed at a U. S. Naval Air Station overseas during that time and when word came that two American F-10 Tomcats from the U.S.S. Nimitz had fired back against Gadhafi’s soviet-built MiGs, the entire base celebrated. The bravery, unfettered resolve to duty and resulting success of our Navy Pilots had been the direct result of President Reagan’s doctrine “Peace through Strength”. President Reagan’s guiding principle of a 600 fleet Navy & the subsequent recall to active duty of Fleet Reserve personnel who were familiar with the Iowa-Class battleships;  USS Iowa (BB 61), USS New Jersey (BB 62), USS Missouri (BB 63) & USS Wisconsin (BB 64) had me processing those brave men back to active duty to teach their skills to that current generation of sailors.

During the 1980’s I worked with military personnel being deployed to the Sinai region of Egypt & Beirut, Lebanon; the Caribbean island of Grenada; the southern Mediterranean Gulf of Sidra and other frequent conflicts with Iran & Libya throughout the decade. Later under President George H. W. Bush (41) I assisted with personnel deployments to Panama & the Philippines (to protect the Aquino government).

If I were President, I would take several pages out of Ronald Reagan’s Middle East strategies with a few added caveats: (1) Warn all Americans throughout the world to come home. (2) Recall ALL embassy personnel in the Middle East (military & civilian). (3) Recall all American troops from Afghanistan & Pakistan. (We currently have American troops stationed in over 150 countries.)  (4) Send troops to help protect Israel & the rest to protect and defend our borders and the American people. (5) Deploy drones to destroy any U. S. Embassy which now flies the abominable black flag of radical Islam. (6) Booby trap all abandoned U. S. Embassies and give all those who dare to enter, a written warning, IN ENGLISH. Oops!!! (7) Embrace American Energy Independence, by ALL means necessary! We have, we own it, let’s do it!

WE ARE AMERICANS!