Really, a balanced budget doesn't have anything to do with it. My point was that not all tax increases are the first step towards the apocalypse, which is what some people want you to believe. Secondly, we all know a balanced budget is nowhere in sight, except McCain who promised to balance the budget at the end of his first term. Pure desperate, delusional nonsense.
Nobody knows if apocalypse is coming, this is about how much redistribution of wealth is enough, where is the line we will draw.
Obama's plan is pretty clear about the line. Anytime something changes you can bring out the tired "where is the line" argument. My point is whenever tax increases are discussed, many go off the kook deep-end with hysterical rhetoric. I'm saying that dumbs down the debate with scare tactics.
What do you believe the proper rates of taxation should be at different levels? What is the proper line, and why should it be there? Is it the current rates?
I'd happy with if Obama only went back to the Clinton rates, but he is going way beyond that. What's the proper line? I wouldn't mind seeing a consumption tax instead of income tax, but we know that's not going to happen. So I say the tax rate we have currently is probably ok, anything drastically more than that you are talking about taxing people over 50%, just close the loopholes so the hedge fund managers pay the same top bracket % on their incomes.
Well here's some ideas that would make folks appreciate government more, though it would pain you and your friend for them to do so. Every time an American gets on a public road they could go through a toll booth that would give them a receipt showing them how much they would have paid if it had been a toll road. Every time they go through a traffic light they could be sent an electronic bill saying how much they would be charged in a purely libertarian world. We could talk about the daily or hourly benefits of public schools, but obviously Libertarians, if they could, would eliminate them. They just don't want to frighten the public with their real beliefs. We could talk about the joys of having your old age dependent totally on the stock market, but now is not so great a time for libertarians and economic conservatives to be pushing that. How about every time we fight a war we could send people a weekly bill, (it could even not be paid unless they wanted to be extra public spirited!!) that would show them the total cost per day including interest etc. to their family. This would make the defense department more efficient.
Nt ne ver sensitive leftist understands a pint f levity when they see ne. And yes.. we read. We get it. We got A's in government while attending a private university... just like many of you.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0X2uCNIq0dI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0X2uCNIq0dI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Why do we have to explain this to Hussein? Shouldn't he know this already? Unreal.
That wouldn't really work because the only people who pay a substantial portion of their paycheck to the IRS already know how much it is costing them. There would also be logistical issues, I would expect.
I don't think the payroll tax increase is an official part of any tax proposal Obama has out there (I could be wrong). He's suggested it as a possibility though - I do think it's a bad idea. You can't fix SS by simply throwing more money at it. It has to be reformed somehow.
This is one of those ideas that sounds good, but also explains how government gets so bloated. The practical consequences of this would be more tax fraud - and thus lower revenues, meaning higher rates to achieve the target revenue levels - as well as a larger IRS enforcement division to chase down all the non-payers, and a huge additional bureaucracy to handle all the incoming mail processing and employee questions/mistakes. The current system is so much more efficient and practical.
Ideally, we would go to a flat tax that includes payroll and income taxes. The middle class don't get squeezed for making more than the lower class, but there is also no tax for being more successful. As it is now, the upper class has tax loop holes and make payroll taxes on the $100k, so they make off with millions of tax breaks. It will never happen in the US, especially with special interests lobbying their favorite government officials for a tax breaks for their industry.
