Poll on tax cuts: for everyone or for under $250k only

[Article 15]

Same stuff...dig a hole and fill it in public works, government deciding which businesses go forward and which do not.

How so.

 

[KissMy]

Here is the New York Times "Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget" Tool.

With this tool I can easily balance the budget by cutting deficit spending by 60% & covering the remaining 40% by eliminating some tax loopholes & deductions. We can keep Social Security the same, allow the military to keep US safe & keep the tax cuts.

- Cut foreign aid in half
- Eliminate earmarks
- Cut pay of civilian federal workers by 5 percent
- Reduce noncombat military compensation and overhead
- Reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 60,000 by 2015
- Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013
- Reduce Social Security benefits for those with high incomes
- Eliminate loopholes, but keep taxes slightly higher
- Reduce mortgage deduction and others for high-income households
- Bank Tax

 

[Article 15]

Here is the New York Times "Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget" Tool.

With this tool I can easily balance the budget by cutting deficit spending by 60% & covering the remaining 40% by eliminating some tax deductions. We can keep the tax cuts.

- Cut foreign aid in half
- Eliminate earmarks
- Cut pay of civilian federal workers by 5 percent
- Reduce the federal workforce by 10 percent
- Reduce noncombat military compensation and overhead
- Reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 60,000 by 2015
- Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013
- Reduce Social Security benefits for those with high incomes
- Eliminate loopholes, but keep taxes slightly higher
- Reduce mortgage deduction and others for high-income households
- Bank Tax

Sweet link. Thanks.

 

[Revere]

Same stuff...dig a hole and fill it in public works, government deciding which businesses go forward and which do not.

How so.

Carbon based energy - dead. Government backed automakers - full steam ahead. Health care providers - dead. Black "farmers" who never farmed - 40 acres and a mule.

 

[candycorn]

But if the choice is all or none then eliminate all the cuts.

Time to pay the piper, America.

Time to start getting rid of some useless and overpaid pipers.

I'm fine with that but it isn't enough ... and no, lowering or eliminating the income tax isn't part of a realistic solution.

It will take a combo of spending cuts and tax increases to reverse this trend.

Time to really turn over a lot of what government does to the private sector. Also time to close $Billions in corporate tax loopholes and give incentives to those that create jobs here; a tax break for every worker hired???

 

[Article 15]

Same stuff...dig a hole and fill it in public works, government deciding which businesses go forward and which do not.

How so.

Carbon based energy - dead.

And how is this is different from any other government tax policy oever the years that is designed to steer the country in one direction over another?

Government backed automakers - full steam ahead.

And who came to who asking for bailout there?

Health care providers - dead.

No public option in HRC yet there's an insurance mandate ... sounds like a win for insurance industry ... as it should considering it was practically written by them. I know I don't see them closing up shop.

Black "farmers" who never farmed - 40 acres and a mule.

I have no idea what you are talking about here.

 

[shintao]

Same stuff...dig a hole and fill it in public works, government deciding which businesses go forward and which do not.

How so.

Well take Haliburton for instance and it's no bid Cheney contracts.

 

[Revere]

You wanted a list. There it is.

Make up your mind.

Deny that this regime picks winners and losers in business or rationalize their picks.

 

[AquaAthena]

Make them all permanent.

Better yet, junk the income tax altogether.

 

[Article 15]

You wanted a list. There it is.

Make up your mind.

Deny that this regime picks winners and losers in business or rationalize their picks.

Your point amounts to a bunch of nothing. There are winners and losers in every decision the gov't makes. If they denied the bailout for the auto companies they would still be "picking" a winner or loser. If they put a public option in HRC then the healthcare industry would have been made a loser. If they didn't make policies focusing on clean energy then clean energy would have been losers and carbon based winners.

 

[NYcarbineer]

It still is in a tailspin, so evidently it's not working.

We are no longer hemoraging hundreds of thousands of jobs a month and GDP is growing.

All recessions end.

What's taking this one so long?

We're not in recession. We're in a period of slow growth.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Why didn't Obama "pay the piper" for two years?

Because the economy was in complete tailspin when he took office and he campaigned on, and was elected touting a plan for a trillion dollar stimulus to keep the economy afloat. The economy is helluva lot more stable now than it was 2 years ago and we are in a better position to actually do something about the problem.

It still is in a tailspin, so evidently it's not working.

No, it's not.

This is the problem with this place, you have to debate people who simply do not know, or willfully ignore, the facts.

 

[Revere]

It's comatose.

 

[Nosmo King]

Why didn't Obama "pay the piper" for two years?

I know!! Because lax oversite on Wall Street (thanks Sen. Phil Gramm (R) Texas, Chairman of the Senate banking Committee!) allowed them to bundle mortgages into derivatives, make huge profits and collapse the world economy. In order to prime the pump, Obama had to act as the customer of last resort and move capital through the economy.

Who told banks to make loans to borrowers who could not repay?

While the amount of "bad" mortgages totaled less than 800 billion, the derivative market reached throughout the world! Why did the Icelandic economy collapse? Did banks in Reykjavik make bad loans too?

 

[editec]

I object to this $250K benchmark.

Our tax structures need to recognize that somebody making $250K ought NOT to be taxed at the same rate as people making $250 million.

If we actually continued the rate of taxations progressively, we'd have rates of taxation that were marginally higher for those making more than $250 K.

And if we did that the rate for $250 slaries would be MUCH MUCH lower than it currently is.

 

[Ravi]

The GOP presented a letter to Harry Reid saying that they want ALL tax cuts extended for all incomes, or they will filibuster everything.

OK. Make my day. No tax cut extensions, period. Thanks GOP.

[actually the tax cuts are not detectable for those under $250k anyway]

IMO, Bush's tax cuts should be allowed to expire across the board.

If they are extended I will continue to take as much profit out of my company as possible and put it into my retirement account. If they are not extended I will spend more money on equipment and/or employees to avoid paying higher taxes.

 

[Wry Catcher]

So, if I understand this predicament, everyone wants the economy chugging along again. The American consumer and his spending drives the economy. Some folks still push the tired old trickle down argument that cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires will stimulate the economy. Why? Because those millionaires and billionaires create jobs.

But then wasn't it consumer spending that drives the economy? Will those millionaires and billionaires spend their tax cuts and thus stimulate the economy? And those jobs the rich create, why haven't they created them in America instead of China?

If the consumer drives the economy, wouldn't putting as much money in the hands of the most people do the most good?

Are Conservatives convinced that if they kowtow to the rich, maybe they too can become rich? Why can't Conservatives admit what is so apparent? Consumer spending is what makes the economy go round. The flow of capital from one hand to another is what grows the economy. The rich can't possibly spend the way the middle class can. Why? Because there aren't as many rich as there are middle class consumers.

Cut deficits? Great! But just as cats can be skinned in many ways, deficits can be reduced by raising the tax rates on the rich to the same levels they were during the Clinton years (and we all remember how well the American economy was doing then) coupled with reducing spending all across the board. I'm looking at you, defense contractors!

Screw the rich. It's been all gravy for them since W and "Compassionate Conservatism" helped drive manufacturing out of America and into Asia.

Excellent post, too bad the echo chamber won't read it, and if by chance one does, they will reject it - anything which deviates from the few immutable truths they hold on faith must be rejected. It's the strength of the New Right and will eventually become their undoing.

Reading the posts of the more notorious of the New Right one is struck by their rigidity and inability to frame an argument in support of the conclusions they hold near and dear. What evidence is there which suggests those who earn over X amount are the creators of jobs?
What evidence is there that the Republican Party is the party of fiscal responsibility?
What would be the result of the repeal of the progressive income tax? Of Social Security? Of Medicare?

Such opinions are widely held by those self described 'conservatives', yet, none of them ever posts a reasoned argument in support of such opinions; opinions where the author suggests simple solutions to complex problems are a panacea are reported but never analyzed. Nor do they post, or likely ever consider the pros and cons of such 'solutions'.

 

[NYcarbineer]

It's comatose.

You seem to be deprived of the emotion that causes embarassment in being factually wrong.

 

[NYcarbineer]

I object to this $250K benchmark.

Our tax structures need to recognize that somebody making $250K ought NOT to be taxed at the same rate as people making $250 million.

If we actually continued the rate of taxations progressively, we'd have rates of taxation that were marginally higher for those making more than $250 K.

And if we did that the rate for $250 slaries would be MUCH MUCH lower than it currently is.

A person making 250,000 isn't taxed at the top rate. This is where too many people don't seem to be getting it.

The top rates kick in on money over 250,000. If you make 260,000, you'd only pay the top rate on 10,000, which means if that rate went up 3 percentage points,

you'd only pay an extra $300.

 

[JWBooth]

But if the choice is all or none then eliminate all the cuts.

Time to pay the piper, America.

Time to start getting rid of some useless and overpaid pipers.

Make them all permanent.
Better yet, junk the income tax altogether.

Yep