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Anonymous
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Scott SoCal said:So your point is, in the current economy, raising income taxes will do what? Create jobs?
Lowering taxes didn't create jobs either. So your mantra is a bit played at this point.
If the goal is increased revenue, then how do you reconcile a higher income among the "rich" along with a higer percentage of that higher income collected in income tax with a lower top marginal rate? Is that not the goal of the progressives?
The gap between revenue and the money being spent is increasing. Your point is irrelevant. There is no way to close that gap under your tax policy.
I don't think the Michael Dell's in this country should be able to take advantage of farm subsidies to lower his taxable income. Close business loss carry-forwards. But also recognize human behavior and what happens when high income earners actually do when they feel over-taxed. And recognize what happens economically. If the goal is a thriving economy then I don't believe that raising taxes get us there. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
High income earners are doing the thing you suggest they do under higher taxes, UNDER THE LOWER TAX RATE THEY HAVE RIGHT NOW. There is no market to sustain a "thriving economy." That is a fictional argument. The market of which you speak doesn't exist, and may never exist. We are in a period of contraction because we built an economy on consumerism and greed, and that cannot sustain itself. If you want to balance the budget (again, that is a fiction, because you really don't), then there is no way to do it without raising revenue. Period. The ACTUAL numbers don't work any other way. You can play the "well if we keep them low and base our numbers on what COULD happen, then we could THEORETICALLY balance the budget under our numbers" game if you want, but the REALITY is that you cannot do it without revenue increases based on what is happening now.
Your entire THEORY is based on the idea that we will rise from this recession fairy soon. It isn't going to happen, and no amount of Libertarian fiscal policy will change that. All it will do is make the lives of the majority of Americans worse.
But you are going to get your wish. Rick Perry will be our next president. He wins the south from top to bottom. And then the country will see the despair inherent in your ideas. The biggest problem is that Ginsburg will retire after the next election, and you will have a majority on the Supreme Court that will make it impossible for your destruction to be undone. I can foresee a constitutional balanced budget amendment AND a 2/3rds vote needed to increase taxes that cannot be undone. Not to mention the idiocy of conservative social policy ruling the land. We are screwed.
Too bad we don't have actual leadership in the Oval office. Take a look at JFK and compare to what we have today;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEdXrfIMdiU
Can you imagine how JFK would be absolutely savaged today?
You cannot compare a time of economic prosperity with today. Nice strawman. However, you will get no argument from me that Obama has shown weak leadership.
P.S. Can you imagine how Ronald Reagan would be savaged today by your side?
Tax all personal income over $200,000 and you will wind up with something like 1 Trillion dollars (slightly less, I believe). So additional revenue solves very little. We need the eonomy back to needing more labor. End of.
S&P told you to balance the budget which was of course declared "dead on arrival" by your side. Yet it's my fault.
Okay.
Cut, Cap, and Balance was idiotic and unworkable, but other than that...
No, what they said is that the atmosphere is so toxic that there is no shot at cutting the deficit. Even they aren't stupid enough to believe that a government that large will ever be able to sustain an ongoing balanced budget. They said that there wasn't a real chance of closing the gap. You cannot close the gap without increasing revenue unless you are basing your THEORY on PRETEND numbers.