As a nation, we are spending a great deal more money then we have. We have to spend less or tax more - Probably both. Progressives would like to tax the rich more - Conservatives would like to spend less.
Interesting viewpoint submitted by my Conservative friend Don Martensen below:
There was a good opinion article in the Wall Street Journal today. It's dense and full of numbers, which tends to turn off people who just want rag on the rich and believe the GOP is out to starve seniors. So, let me offer a Cliff Notes version.
If the IRS imposed a 100% tax rate on the top 1% richest taxpayers (those with taxable incomes over $380,000) the total take would be $938 billion.
If the IRS imposed a 100% tax rate on everyone earning more than $100,000, the take would be $3.4 trillion.
Yet, Obama's latest budget proposal would spend even more: $4 trillion.
The total taxable income of ALL taxpayers in 2008 was only $5.65 trillion.
So, the notion that going after ONLY the rich will get the Federal budget out of deficit is pure BS. In fact, middle class taxpayers cannot escape higher taxes if Obama's spending plans go unchecked and long existing entitlements aren't
addressed.
The conclusion of the WSJ piece is this:
"Mr. Obama's [budget] speech [last week] was disgraceful for its demagoguery but also because it contained nothing remotely commensurate to the scale of the problem. If the President had come out for a large tax on the middle class, like a VAT, then at least the country could have debated the choice of paying for the government we have or modernizing it a la Mr. Ryan so it is affordable.
"Instead the President will continue [sneakily] targeting the middle class for tax increases to pay for an entitlement state on autopilot, while claiming he only wants to tax the rich. Oh, and we almost forgot: Happy Tax Day."
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Interesting viewpoint submitted by my Conservative friend Don Martensen below:
There was a good opinion article in the Wall Street Journal today. It's dense and full of numbers, which tends to turn off people who just want rag on the rich and believe the GOP is out to starve seniors. So, let me offer a Cliff Notes version.
If the IRS imposed a 100% tax rate on the top 1% richest taxpayers (those with taxable incomes over $380,000) the total take would be $938 billion.
If the IRS imposed a 100% tax rate on everyone earning more than $100,000, the take would be $3.4 trillion.
Yet, Obama's latest budget proposal would spend even more: $4 trillion.
The total taxable income of ALL taxpayers in 2008 was only $5.65 trillion.
So, the notion that going after ONLY the rich will get the Federal budget out of deficit is pure BS. In fact, middle class taxpayers cannot escape higher taxes if Obama's spending plans go unchecked and long existing entitlements aren't
addressed.
The conclusion of the WSJ piece is this:
"Mr. Obama's [budget] speech [last week] was disgraceful for its demagoguery but also because it contained nothing remotely commensurate to the scale of the problem. If the President had come out for a large tax on the middle class, like a VAT, then at least the country could have debated the choice of paying for the government we have or modernizing it a la Mr. Ryan so it is affordable.
"Instead the President will continue [sneakily] targeting the middle class for tax increases to pay for an entitlement state on autopilot, while claiming he only wants to tax the rich. Oh, and we almost forgot: Happy Tax Day."
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Bill Whited commented on your link.
Bill wrote: "The answer is really quite simple. Tax and cut. Raise the tax rates back to pre 2000 levels. Raise Social Security taxes to the top $200,000 of income. Reform Medicare and Medicaid with an emphasis on prevention. Cut the federal work force by 20%. Make it possible for younger workers to defer a greater percentage of pretax income but make sure that it goes into govt bonds so that it's there when they retire. It's not much but it's a start."
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