A War Tax

[Oldguy]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

 

[OKTexas]

One problem, every American wouldn't get a bill, only the ones paying the tab now. I'm sure it looks good on paper but it never works out in real world application.

 

[Oldguy]

One problem, every American wouldn't get a bill, only the ones paying the tab now. I'm sure it looks good on paper but it never works out in real world application.

That's the case with taxes now. A war surcharge would be no different.

 

[Indofred]

I like this idea.
A tax would come directly from the voters and voters decide who gets to be corrupted with millions of dollars to support Israel.

 

[dblack]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

This should be the case for all federal spending. We can't have a "real" discussion, as a nation, about how much government we really want if we're not actually paying for it.

 

[Skull Pilot]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

 

[Lumpy 1]

As I recall Democrats controlled Congress the last 2 years of the Bush Presidency and could vote in the Senate and House the previous 6yrs.

btw I don't believe Democrats know how to pass a budget...but they sure can spend America's future..

 

[Oldguy]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

Most of the wars fought during our history were without a formal declaration, so that means little to this discussion.

However military action is taken, whether by formal declaration or under the War Powers Act, the point is that by requiring an automatic tax increase to pay for it, future reckless actions might be avoided and only those necessary wars fought. What it would basically do is give everybody skin the game, not just the families of our volunteer armed forces.

 

[Lumpy 1]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

Most of the wars fought during our history were without a formal declaration, so that means little to this discussion.

However military action is taken, whether by formal declaration or under the War Powers Act, the point is that by requiring an automatic tax increase to pay for it, future reckless actions might be avoided and only those necessary wars fought. What it would basically do is give everybody skin the game, not just the families of our volunteer armed forces.

Sheesh..Why would any American asked to be taxed..just wondering?

 

[NYcarbineer]

The Vietnam War was paid for in large part by a 10% income tax surcharge.

 

[NYcarbineer]

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

Most of the wars fought during our history were without a formal declaration, so that means little to this discussion.

However military action is taken, whether by formal declaration or under the War Powers Act, the point is that by requiring an automatic tax increase to pay for it, future reckless actions might be avoided and only those necessary wars fought. What it would basically do is give everybody skin the game, not just the families of our volunteer armed forces.

Sheesh..Why would any American asked to be taxed..just wondering?

How would you propose to pay for wars?

 

[ba1614]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

They call them "overseas contingencies" now so our dear leader can go around congress to drop bombs.

 

[Skull Pilot]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

Most of the wars fought during our history were without a formal declaration, so that means little to this discussion.

However military action is taken, whether by formal declaration or under the War Powers Act, the point is that by requiring an automatic tax increase to pay for it, future reckless actions might be avoided and only those necessary wars fought. What it would basically do is give everybody skin the game, not just the families of our volunteer armed forces.

And that is the problem.

If war is not declared it's easy to cook the books to pay for shit.

I'd rather see a compulsory draft where no one is exempt not even the pampered brats of our politicians.

You want to see our addiction to war or invasion end in a hurry; that'll do it.

 

[editec]

One problem, every American wouldn't get a bill, only the ones paying the tab now. I'm sure it looks good on paper but it never works out in real world application.

Many Americans felt exactly the same way about the draft.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

They'll just stop calling it war and keep it off the books regardless.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

Most of the wars fought during our history were without a formal declaration, so that means little to this discussion.

However military action is taken, whether by formal declaration or under the War Powers Act, the point is that by requiring an automatic tax increase to pay for it, future reckless actions might be avoided and only those necessary wars fought. What it would basically do is give everybody skin the game, not just the families of our volunteer armed forces.

How do you propose getting this rule passed in the first place, and then enforcing it once it is? Very few politicians will support it, and I can't imagine they'd have any problem breaking this rule.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

Most of the wars fought during our history were without a formal declaration, so that means little to this discussion.

However military action is taken, whether by formal declaration or under the War Powers Act, the point is that by requiring an automatic tax increase to pay for it, future reckless actions might be avoided and only those necessary wars fought. What it would basically do is give everybody skin the game, not just the families of our volunteer armed forces.

Sheesh..Why would any American asked to be taxed..just wondering?

He's not really asking to be taxed. He thinks that if the government was forced to pay for things as they go along then more people would be against the government doing certain things. Nobody is going to want to pay to invade Iraq or Libya, or to arm rebels in Syria, for example. However, while it sounds nice on paper, there's no way to make to make it happen.

 

[Desperado]

The Vietnam War was paid for in large part by a 10% income tax surcharge.

There goes the idea that this tax would stop unnecessary wars!

 

[Sallow]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

 

[Sallow]

An automatic tax surcharge to pay for military action. What a great idea!

If Congress would take this opportunity to set up an automatic surcharge, when certain conditions are met, we'd have no more "off budget" war spending, like we did when Bush and Co. added trillions to the national debt by paying for the war with supplemental, off-books funding.

As the author of this piece says, "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/o...?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211&_r=0

We don't declare war anymore we just invade other countries.

Most of the wars fought during our history were without a formal declaration, so that means little to this discussion.

However military action is taken, whether by formal declaration or under the War Powers Act, the point is that by requiring an automatic tax increase to pay for it, future reckless actions might be avoided and only those necessary wars fought. What it would basically do is give everybody skin the game, not just the families of our volunteer armed forces.

War Tax and Draft would be nice.

With no deferments.