Huge hat tip to Carpe Diem - I shamelessly lifted his charts from two different posts of his. But they make a stunning point: who the hell is going to pay? Maybe the real question needs to be "where's the money going to come from?" This first graph that really lays it out plainly: the awful "rich" already pay WAY more than their fair share of taxes.
Yeah, let's "tax the rich" some more!! OK, how about we tax those greedy corporations that don't pay their fair share?? Let's go gettem!!!
The point is - as Dan Henninger so brilliantly points out, there aren't a lot of places left to go. What kind of a country do we want to have? One in which we have driven every corporation and entrepreneur that creates jobs overseas and the government prints money to give to those that are left behind? Or do we want to go back to good old capitalist market driven America and get the government out of the way - it's put up or shut up for the "Blue Dog" Democrats. Where do we go now?
2 comments:
come on man. this is weak. we all agree that somewhere between 1% and 99% there is a number that represents a reasonable tax burden for every individual. Adam Smith himself said that the rich can, should, and do pay more. that's just how it works. And historically, tax rates on the uber-rich have been between 70 and 90%. Here in America, during what conservatives pine for as the "good 'ol days". So the diffreence between 38 and 39.7% is hardly wirth this level of acrimony.
And now, when there is legitimate reason for a measured tax increase (you whine about the government constantly, but I bet you still use the roads, the public schools, are glad the CDC exists if there's a swine-flu epidemic...) and with states all going broke, the governemnt helps... or it all falls apart. you just cherry-pick the stuff you specifically don't like, and act as if there is nothing else that tax $s support. Which is intellectually dishonest.
if you want to make an argument, make sure that before you decry infinitesimal tax increasesa, you are aware of the outcomes that would result from maintaining status quo. and similarly make sure that you know how odd it sounds to reasonable people when the argument is over 1.7%. I could see it if Obama said "top marginal rates returning to Eisenhower-era- levels"... but come on.
The taxes are being increased because Obama and the Donks are creating massive new social programs and ridiculously oppressive regulation. (If it all passes.) If you are naive enough to think that it will only be 1.7% and that will be it, I have some land in Florida I would like to sell to you.
The government has a role in the items you mentioned, but NOT in telling us how to live our lives, what health insurance we have to have etc. etc. etc.
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