Personally, I would put taxes back where they were before Reagan until our fiscal house is back in order. For SS and Medicare, I would continue the payroll taxes we have now, would begin raising the cap and means testing benefits. These changes would push SS solvency into the next century. I think the rich should pay a higher percentage than they do now for defense spending, debt service, education, and retiring the national debt. The wealthy enjoy a disproportionate amount of the benefits gleaned from having the rule of law, having a highly educated workforce, and from the debts that have been generated by Reagan and Bush giving tax cuts to them. Read your Jefferson, he thought that the rich should fund ALL the operations of government, though admittedly the government of his time did less, which is the reason I would keep the SS and Medicare taxes in place. The less fortunate get more of the benefits from these programs and should help to shoulder that burden proportionately.
I would be willing to reform SS disability to weed out fraudulent claims. Do you have any stats on how little money could be saved by such reform?
It only seems to be "class warfare" when the poor are doing it to the rich. What have the rich been doing to the rest of us for the past thirty years? No, you made that part up. Stop lying. Passing tax relief to Americans is a good thing when the government is running a surplus. Passing tax breaks that will mostly go to the well to do is not as good an idea when we have a trillion dollar deficit. Yes, you are pathetic. You are perfectly OK with borrowing money to give to rich people while s***ting on people who are unemployed due to the worst recession since the Great Depression, a recession created entirely by rich people betting money they didn't have in the casino that is Wall Street these days. Class warfare has been successfully waged on the poor and middle class for the last three decades by the rich. Your disgust at the idea of class warfare should be directed at the people who have ACTUALLY been doing it for decades.
No, it is the rich people's DUTY to pay for the system that allows them to enjoy the best that our society has to offer. It's their DUTY, DAMMIT!!!
Are you denying that higher tax rates were part of the reason that the budget was balanced? If so, your time at Rice only gave you "education," not knowledge. I'm not jealous of anyone. I am already in the top 4% and given my education plan, fully expect to make the top 1% in the next 2-5 years. I have a more than reasonable expectation of making it to that income level and am not jealous at all. Once I get there, I will be happy to pay my fair share, even if that share is based on pre-Reagan tax rates. It isn't about revenge, it is about balancing the budget. Tax cuts to rich people have created the deficit and caused the debt to explode, we need to reverse that trend and since the top 2% have gotten most of the benefits of the largesse of the last three decades, it is only logical that they should bear the brunt of the tax increases that will have to occur in the future. I agree, there ARE other ways to balance the budget. I favor a 50/50 split of spending reductions and tax increases.
The rich have gotten their taxes reduced dramatically over the last three decades and it has caused the debt to explode. Now, it is time for us to get our fiscal house in order and, as they have received the lion's share of the tax reductions, now it is time for them to bear the brunt of the coming tax increases.
They act like rich preppy kids who think they are somehow entitled. Bigtexx has made statements like he is too valuable as a little elitest with a high opinion of himself working as an officer worker in finance to waste himself (alleged big intellect) by going to fight in Iraq, which he pushed for. Let the little guys and girls do it. The whole worldview reflects little contact with folks outside of an elite cocoon. TJ had a post in which he got upset over a waiter not treating him in a way he felt his alleged status merited. It was offputting to me at least.
Why don't you feel similarly about the class warfare engaged in by the rich against the rest of us? It has been going on for decades now. Exactly. What policies from the left have created this budget hole? Recession belongs to Bush, Medicare Part D belongs to Bush, tax cuts belong to Reagan and Bush, the only major spending that belongs to Obama is the stimulus (when you account for the fact that the HCR bill will actually reduce the deficit). It is the right that has created this budget hole by cutting taxes and increasing spending. I would be a little more aggressive with the tax increases and would also reduce spending, I favor a 50/50 approach. ...as usual.
No silly. Bigtexx looks down on hard working Asians who don't come from a country club background, though they maybe wannabees.
If you need blood, you're not going to get it from the turnips. You get it from the nice big fat people who have some to spare.
ha! far from the truth. I greatly admire those with strong work ethics. now, glynch, your passion for continuing large, in some cases fraudulent and wasteful government programs (SS diability, for example) is something you should revisit, given our country's budget issues.
I don't think we should go back to those rates as those rates were softened by all of the ridiculous loopholes. Unlike a lot of people who are considered conservative, I think the tax rates for upper income individuals should have been allowed to rise. I did not like the idea of the $250,000 threshold, but I do think the rates should have risen.
Seems the deal is still not good enough for some of the crazies -- Two Major Conservative Obstacles Emerge To Tax Cut Compromise
I don't know a lot about how Congress works, so I'm going to ask what may be a very dumb question. Since the Dems still control both houses of Congress for a few more weeks, could they just allow all the Bush tax cuts to expire, then quickly push through a new set of tax cuts for only those making less than $250k using the same procedural rules the Republicans originally used to get around not having 60 votes in the Senate to pass the Bush tax cuts?
Republicans can still delay the vote. They don't have time. Letting all the tax cuts expire would cause the political environment to become even nastier than it is now. Congrats to rich folk!! The Republicans saved you: 3% on income over 250k! 10% on estate tax! But damn the lazy poor and their SS disability! Time to buy a new yacht with my dividend check and oil royalty checks while sippling on some bubbles!! Rural America is so brainwashed.
Given the depth of the budget hole, I would suggest that setting rates back where they were before Reagan AND keeping the loopholes closed to help the government get back on sound fiscal footing. After the debt is retired, we can look at responsible tax cuts again.
You call others brainwashed and then state a caricature of the rich that comes straight out of a monopoly game. Sipping bubbles on yachts with oil royalty checks? Really? Do you know any successful people? The reason to maintain current tax rates is to prevent an increase in the marginal cost of doing business, which a tax hike will most certainly do and which will lead to less hiring than if costs were lower. If it costs me $90k to hire someone who generates $100k in revenue, and $10k is taxed, I have no incentive to hire that person. If only $5k is taxed, I can make a profit and will hire the employee. It's not rocket science.
Actually its far more complicated. The dumbing down of economics to middle school logic exercises rather than treating it as a science is killing us. Everyone thinks they're some economic guru now when most of us dont know a damned thing.
This has never been proven to be true! Why do people keep saying it? During Clinton's presidency the tax rate was higher and 23 million jobs were created. IN the 8 years of the Bush presidency, with a lower tax rate, fewer than 4 million jobs were created.
