Alan Simpson Calls GOP Refusal To Raise Revenue ‘Absolute Bullshit’

[xsited1]

Good for Simpson. He's absolutely right. Saying that taxes cannot go up under any circumstances says the GOP aren't serious about the deficit.

There is no reason for taxes go up. Everyone in this country pays more than enough as it is.

There are very good reasons for taxes to go up. 70% of our budget is SS, Medicare and defense. These are popular. But we aren't paying for them. You could shut down everything else and we still wouldn't balance the budget. Americans live in this fantasy land that you can fire a bunch of government employees, end all foreign aid and shut down a few government agencies and Voila! everything will be fine. Sorry. Math doesn't work. If you think we shouldn't have SS or Medicare or spend more on the military than the next 25 countries in the world combined, fine. Let's have that debate. But we cannot continue living in a fiscal fairy tale. If we want lower taxes, kill those programs. If not, raise taxes.

Keep taxes where they are for now. Begin by reforming SS. Bill Clinton proposed a few ideas back in the 90s like increasing the retirement age and partial privatization. Defense is easy to cut considering our troops are scattered throughout the world. Just bring them home. And several money-saving ideas for Medicare have already been proposed. The fact that anyone is even considering raising taxes is absurd. Politicians usually want to grow government. The people need to put an end to this. It's not a fiscal fairy tale as you believe.

 

[bripat9643]

Raising taxes lowers tax revenue because people stop doing activities that generate tax revenue.

Yup. Just look at the 50s and 60s when taxes were higher and no one worked at all.

Oh, wait ...

Why not look at the 1930s when taxes were higher and no one worked at all?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Bottom line: Democrats are willing to make cuts and raise revenues. We can't cut our way out. But Republicans are only willing to CUT.

We've tried the Democrat's way of new taxes now and cuts later (that never happen).
Let's try to cut now for 5 or 6 years and then we'll think about tax hikes.

What planet are you from? What the fuck do you call Reagan's "Trickle Down Economics" program that we have been on that has largely put us in this mess?

.

LOL.

You need to update your playbook, Dear. Dems are blaming: the rich, Booooooosh, ATM's and Airport kiosks. You grabbed Clinton's playbook.

LOL.

Dems are so cute and funny when they try to act all grown up!

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Dems need to run on higher taxes, maybe 90% tax on all income above the first $12,000.

 

[Toro]

There is no reason for taxes go up. Everyone in this country pays more than enough as it is.

There are very good reasons for taxes to go up. 70% of our budget is SS, Medicare and defense. These are popular. But we aren't paying for them. You could shut down everything else and we still wouldn't balance the budget. Americans live in this fantasy land that you can fire a bunch of government employees, end all foreign aid and shut down a few government agencies and Voila! everything will be fine. Sorry. Math doesn't work. If you think we shouldn't have SS or Medicare or spend more on the military than the next 25 countries in the world combined, fine. Let's have that debate. But we cannot continue living in a fiscal fairy tale. If we want lower taxes, kill those programs. If not, raise taxes.

Keep taxes where they are for now. Begin by reforming SS. Bill Clinton proposed a few ideas back in the 90s like increasing the retirement age and partial privatization. Defense is easy to cut considering our troops are scattered throughout the world. Just bring them home. And several money-saving ideas for Medicare have already been proposed. The fact that anyone is even considering raising taxes is absurd. Politicians usually want to grow government. The people need to put an end to this. It's not a fiscal fairy tale as you believe.

Cut corporate taxes. Eliminate taxes on overseas income for companies. Eliminate tax write-offs for intra-company transfers that shift intellectual assets overseas to avoid paying taxes here. Stop taxing Americans living abroad. Eliminate mortgage deduction. Axe farm subsidies. Drop sugar tariffs. Eliminate many other loopholes and write-offs for companies and individuals that are too numerous for me to mention. Eliminate the estate tax. Increase marginal income tax rates to somewhere between where they were in 99 to today. Cap SS for people making a lot of money. Make SS and the medicare trusts real trust funds that invest in things other than government liabilities. Eliminate the department of education. Slash overseas military bases. Eliminate earmarks. Etc., etc., etc. For every $1 in tax increases, cut spending $3. Oh, and eliminate the debt ceiling.

But do this all 3-5 years from now, not in the middle of a weak recovery.

The idea that this will only come from one side of the balance sheet is absurd. Everybody has to feel it in some way. Everyone has to buy in. Everybody has to give something. If one side says "Do it entirely my way," it isn't going to work. Negotiations don't work like that. We will default otherwise, and the results could be catastrophic. Diehard ideologues searching for utopia may think that's fine. Most won't.

 

[DontBeStupid]

Raising taxes lowers tax revenue because people stop doing activities that generate tax revenue.

Yup. Just look at the 50s and 60s when taxes were higher and no one worked at all.

Oh, wait ...

Why not look at the 1930s when taxes were higher and no one worked at all?

Yeah, there you go, no one worked during the 1930s because taxes were so high. I'm sure there was no other possible reason for people not working.

 

[DontBeStupid]

You guys love to compare the government to a business. Ok. Name one business that became successful by cutting costs only and never trying to raise revenue.

 

[xsited1]

There are very good reasons for taxes to go up. 70% of our budget is SS, Medicare and defense. These are popular. But we aren't paying for them. You could shut down everything else and we still wouldn't balance the budget. Americans live in this fantasy land that you can fire a bunch of government employees, end all foreign aid and shut down a few government agencies and Voila! everything will be fine. Sorry. Math doesn't work. If you think we shouldn't have SS or Medicare or spend more on the military than the next 25 countries in the world combined, fine. Let's have that debate. But we cannot continue living in a fiscal fairy tale. If we want lower taxes, kill those programs. If not, raise taxes.

Keep taxes where they are for now. Begin by reforming SS. Bill Clinton proposed a few ideas back in the 90s like increasing the retirement age and partial privatization. Defense is easy to cut considering our troops are scattered throughout the world. Just bring them home. And several money-saving ideas for Medicare have already been proposed. The fact that anyone is even considering raising taxes is absurd. Politicians usually want to grow government. The people need to put an end to this. It's not a fiscal fairy tale as you believe.

Cut corporate taxes. Eliminate taxes on overseas income for companies. Eliminate tax write-offs for intra-company transfers that shift intellectual assets overseas to avoid paying taxes here. Stop taxing Americans living abroad. Eliminate mortgage deduction. Axe farm subsidies. Drop sugar tariffs. Eliminate many other loopholes and write-offs for companies and individuals that are too numerous for me to mention. Eliminate the estate tax. Increase marginal income tax rates to somewhere between where they were in 99 to today. Cap SS for people making a lot of money. Make SS and the medicare trusts real trust funds that invest in things other than government liabilities. Eliminate the department of education. Slash overseas military bases. Eliminate earmarks. Etc., etc., etc. For every $1 in tax increases, cut spending $3. Oh, and eliminate the debt ceiling.

But do this all 3-5 years from now, not in the middle of a weak recovery.

The idea that this will only come from one side of the balance sheet is absurd. Everybody has to feel it in some way. Everyone has to buy in. Everybody has to give something. If one side says "Do it entirely my way," it isn't going to work. Negotiations don't work like that. We will default otherwise, and the results could be catastrophic. Diehard ideologues searching for utopia may think that's fine. Most won't.

But America is already "feeling it." We can't continue to kick the can down the road hoping things will somehow improve in Washington. It's funny when you talk of 'diehard ideologues' because that's how many Americans view those who believe as you do. We'll just have to agree to disagree. We'll both call each other 'diehard ideologues' and leave it at that.

 

[xsited1]

You guys love to compare the government to a business. Ok. Name one business that became successful by cutting costs only and never trying to raise revenue.

Every company has to cut costs at some point and all companies continue to try to raise revenue. But you can't raise revenue by increasing the price of your product. That doesn't work. The best way for the government to raise revenue is to provide favorable market conditions so the economy will pick up. You can't do that by raising taxes.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

You guys love to compare the government to a business. Ok. Name one business that became successful by cutting costs only and never trying to raise revenue.

There is no comparison of business and government. Businesses offer a product or service that generates revenues. After overhead is paid the business is left with a profit or loss.

Government produces nothing and just takes in taxes off the backs of the populace. The government ledger should be zero EVERY YEAR. There should be no surplus or deficit.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

It is "absolute bullshit" on both sides.
The republicans for refusing to look at revenue increases at all.
The democrats for refusing to touch bloated entitlements.

 

[Toro]

But America is already "feeling it." We can't continue to kick the can down the road hoping things will somehow improve in Washington. It's funny when you talk of 'diehard ideologues' because that's how many Americans view those who believe as you do. We'll just have to agree to disagree. We'll both call each other 'diehard ideologues' and leave it at that.

We did it in Canada. Canada in the mid 90s was in worse shape than America is now. We also did in my home province, where the bonds were rated junk and couldn't be purchased by the capitol city's pension fund. We did it mainly by cutting spending but we also raised taxes. It occurred when the nation realized that we couldn't continue as we were going, when ALL parties realized that they had to give.

We shouldn't do it now. We should wait until the economy is on sounder footing. But remember, Ronald Reagan raised taxes. George HW Bush raised taxes. Bill Clinton raised taxes. Tax revenues were all higher and the economy was fine. Most of the adjustment should come through spending cuts but taxes must rise. This problem will NOT get solved when a significant portion of the population is saying "Me! Me! Me! Listen to me! And only to me!"

Unfortunately, right now Americans believe that they can continue to have it all and not pay for it. This problem will get resolved when the average American gets it. They don't right now.

Maybe we need another Ross Perot, a guy who has no chance of winning but can articulate the issue and force the political parties to solve the problem.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Bottom line: Democrats are willing to make cuts and raise revenues. We can't cut our way out. But Republicans are only willing to CUT.

We've tried the Democrat's way of new taxes now and cuts later (that never happen).
Let's try to cut now for 5 or 6 years and then we'll think about tax hikes.

What planet are you from? What the fuck do you call Reagan's "Trickle Down Economics" program that we have been on that has largely put us in this mess?

.

Reagan's tax cuts were the best pro-growth strategy in the last 80 years.
When Reagan went along with Tip O'Neill's tax hike, in exchange for spending cuts, the spending cuts never materialized.
Bush I made the same mistake when he raised taxes in 1990.
We're not going to raise taxes now in return for phantom, future cuts.
Cuts now, cuts often and maybe in 5 or 6 years, we'll entertain the idea of tax hikes. Maybe.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

You guys love to compare the government to a business. Ok. Name one business that became successful by cutting costs only and never trying to raise revenue.

Businesses can raise revenue by selling more goods, by innovating to produce more efficiently and by creating new products that consumers voluntarily purchase.
Government can only raise revenue by confiscating it from those who earn it.
Slight difference, don't you think?

 

[Annie]

Fmr. GOP Sen. Alan Simpson Calls Republican Refusal To Raise Revenue ‘Absolute Bullshit’

Former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson blasted his intransigent GOP colleagues on the Hill today for failing to reach a deal on the deficit. The blunt-talking co-chairman of President Obama’s bipartisan fiscal reform commission slammed Republicans for kowtowing to Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist (“Republicans can’t be in thrall to him”) and pushed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to stand fast on the August 2 deadline.

Surveying the lay of the current fiscal land, Simpson said, “We’re at 15 percent revenue, and historically it’s been closer to 20 percent.”

He added, “We’ve never had a war without a tax, and now we’ve got two. … Absolute bullshit.”

More

Hmm, last I counted we were up to at least 3, if not 6 wars without tax. 1-4 of them without approval of Congress. All under 'war powers act.'

 

[Liability]

Fmr. GOP Sen. Alan Simpson Calls Republican Refusal To Raise Revenue ‘Absolute Bullshit’

Former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson blasted his intransigent GOP colleagues on the Hill today for failing to reach a deal on the deficit. The blunt-talking co-chairman of President Obama’s bipartisan fiscal reform commission slammed Republicans for kowtowing to Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist (“Republicans can’t be in thrall to him”) and pushed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to stand fast on the August 2 deadline.

Surveying the lay of the current fiscal land, Simpson said, “We’re at 15 percent revenue, and historically it’s been closer to 20 percent.”

He added, “We’ve never had a war without a tax, and now we’ve got two. … Absolute bullshit.”

More

Alan Simpson can go suck a mouse.

Fuck him.

It's WAY past time to take a real stand and ass-suckers like him should just shut their fucking ignorant mouths.

The problem, Alan, is not how much "revenue" (nice phony word) we take in from tax payers, douche-pie. It's still ALL about how fucking much we SPEND, ya blathering dork.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Bottom line, Democrats have to be willing to shrink government and cut programs. Just raising taxes will not solve any of our problems. I will blame the Democrats if we default on our debt.

This makes no sense, except to a partisan hack – if the GOP refuses to raise taxes then at least both are to blame for default.

 

[hellofromwarsaw]

"It is "absolute bullshit" on both sides.
The republicans for refusing to look at revenue increases at all.
The democrats for refusing to touch bloated entitlements."

Only a moron who listens to only Rush and Fox wouldn't know that Dems have cut entitlements. Corporate media also suck, actually- just controversy for ratings...Like unions in Wis. who gave up benifits, check Cuomo's budget in NY- but not ideologue BS like pubs have...

 

[bripat9643]

This makes no sense, except to a partisan hack – if the GOP refuses to raise taxes then at least both are to blame for default.

Spending is what got us into this fix, not insufficient taxation.

 

[Trajan]

Bottom line, Democrats have to be willing to shrink government and cut programs. Just raising taxes will not solve any of our problems. I will blame the Democrats if we default on our debt.

Bottom line: Democrats are willing to make cuts and raise revenues. We can't cut our way out. But Republicans are only willing to CUT.

schumer said entitlements are off the table, so what cuts are you referring to? the measly 38 billion it took 2 months to get from the dems? thats cutting?