patrick.net

Raising taxes isn't the answer unless you want a full blown economic depression. Cutting Govt spending and lowering taxes is the only way lower the deficit. And if we did that in significant ways then we would have more worldwide investment in our economy. Our competitive advantage in the global economy must come from being the country with the lowest tax rates.

In 1932, Hoover increased taxes to try and lower the deficit too. He created a depression for the next 15 years. Only until 1946, when congress cut Govt spending AND tax rates did America come out of the great depression. Don't take my word for it: Read your American history folks. Do not rely on others.

Clearly we don't spend enough on defense. $700+ billion is not enough and neither is the $70 billion for national intelligence.

We spend all this money on defense and intelligence and where has it gotten us really? We can't even stop a guy with a bomb strapped to his body from getting on a plane. That does not sound like a good deal for taxpayers.

Sorry, slightly OT I know but we talk about tax breaks and the economy and seem to ignore the huge amounts of taxpayer money being wasted outright.

The tax breaks for the wealthy were irresponsible, plain and simple. Sure, let it expire but then give another tax break to the poor and middle class. For goodness sake, haven't we all had enough of voodoo economics already?

Hey I am for cutting govt spending everywhere especially in the defense budget. I think the wars in Afgan and Iraq are a waste of time and money.

But honestly the Bush tax cuts were not just for the wealthy. Check your facts on some non-Democrat party biased source. The Democratic talking points say that the Bush tax cuts were for the wealthy only...this statement is factually untrue.

The Bush tax cuts were across the board tax cuts and gave parents a $1000 tax credit per dependent child. If congress allows the Bush tax cuts to expire as expected then everyone's taxes goes up. To expect congress to write another bill that gives tax relief for middle and low income tax payers is a dream that will not happen.

The result will be that everyone's taxes will go up next year. Start saving now for your shocking 2011 tax bill...due April 2012.

cdw7503 says

Hey I am for cutting govt spending everywhere especially in the defense budget. I think the wars in Afgan and Iraq are a waste of time and money.
But honestly the Bush tax cuts were not just for the wealthy. Check your facts on some non-Democrat party biased source. The Democratic talking points say that the Bush tax cuts were for the wealthy only…this statement is factually untrue.
The Bush tax cuts were across the board tax cuts and gave parents a $1000 tax credit per dependent child. If congress allows the Bush tax cuts to expire as expected then everyone’s taxes goes up. To expect congress to write another bill that gives tax relief for middle and low income tax payers is a dream that will not happen.
The result will be that everyone’s taxes will go up next year. Start saving now for your shocking 2011 tax bill…due April 2012.

If you were referring to my comment, I didn't say it was only for the wealthy, I said it was irresponsible. I'm well aware the tax cuts were across the board.

Here's the really weird thing that seems so upside down to me. We give tax cuts in this country to people with children. The problem is, people with lots of kids are a proportionally larger burden on society. How does that make sense? If people want to have kids, that's fine, the taxpayer next store shouldn't have to foot the bill for it either.

Tax bills are never shocking to me. From my point of view, we don't pay enough taxes in this country. People can whine and cry all they want about it, but it's true. Now if we'd do something about the outrageous amount of waste in the defense budget, we could properly fund education and health care for America's children instead of wasting it on defense.

Although, I do agree that raising taxes right now is not the answer. The problem is, someone starts talking about cutting the defense budget and everyone has a big 'cow' and starts talking about patriotism and supporting the troops and all that crap.

If we're going to be taxed, we should be smart about it and not just piss it away. There's too much waste. That's all I'm saying.

deja vu all over again. We discussed this a couple weeks ago

http://patrick.net/?p=439749

a4adam says

From my point of view, we don’t pay enough taxes in this country

The general tax level is really orthogonal to standard of living.

In the 30-60% marginal rate (flat part of the Laffer Curve) what the taxman doesn't take either gets applied to mortgages or rents, bidding them up dollar-for-dollar AFAICT.

The situation we are in now is painful because rents and mortgages -- 20% or more of the private economy -- have adjusted upwards to fill the void given them by the tax cuts.

Reversing the tax cuts will reverse these allocations over time, driving home values and rents down.

The funny thing is we were promised economic nirvana with the Bush cuts, but instead they ruined the economy. You'd think people would have ability to see the connection, but it's not a problem of intelligence, but one of intellectual honesty.

Newsweek is for sale & everything is pretty much a disappointment that comes from that rag any longer. so sad...

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/with-newsweek-for-sale-an-era-fades/