Why NOT Raise Taxes?

[riqster]

http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/why-not-raise-taxes/

[JaneyVee]

1. There is no argument I can think of as to why not raise taxes on the rich. NONE.

[Warpy]

3. The problem is bouncing taxes back up on the poorest

all the way up to the middle class. The former will be out pennies but the latter will feel it and so will the economy over the long haul.

Unfortunately, I think we've gone past the place where restoring the Clinton rates will do much good. Don't forget that the plutocrats were responsible for only half the shortfall.

We'd need to return to the Clinton rates plus put a surcharge on the highest earners (and I use that word lightly) in order to remove all Stupid's red ink from the Treasury.

The only way to counter the damage to the economy that raising taxes on the 98% will do is to raise the wage floor, something that is horribly overdue and the Republican House will fight against tooth and nail.

[riqster]

5. Oh agreed, taxes are not the only thing that need looked at

Living wage, regulations, etc.

[Warpy]

12. Most of the financial problems faced by the country as a whole

as well as by individuals could be cured by recognizing that cheap labor conservatism has been a total fiasco. Wages need to be raised. Period.

[jmowreader]

13. The poorest are too poor to pay taxes

Look at the standard deduction, personal exemption and earned income credit. These make it so the least of us don't pay tax because their incomes aren't high enough.

I used that term for a reason: in the parable of the sheep and the goats, whether you went to heaven or hell revolved on how you treated the least of us...and most of the people who want the rich taxed claim to be Christians.

[Permanut]

2. I managed to listen for a few minutes today..

to hatemonger Mark Levin, who offered this erudite analysis of us liberal tax-raisers: to paraphrase, we're all mentally retarded, we're idiots and morons. I think that's all they got.

[riqster]

4. Hard to argue with such informed and erudite people such as he

Yes, I'm being snide.

[customerserviceguy]

6. Let all the tax breaks expire

Poor folks without jobs aren't going to pay them, and the relatively small amount taken out of the middle class is more than worth all the taxes the rich simply won't be able to wriggle out of. That 2% tax holiday, the expiration of which takes $1K from the worker making $50,000? Well, it takes four times that from the rich couple where both spouses make over the cap. They're the real beneficiaries of this two year mistake.

Time to start getting towards a balanced budget like Bill Clinton got us to.

[riqster]

7. I'd pay it.

But I'd rather pay it with more Dems in the House. More likely to be put to good use.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Paying off the national debt is a pretty good use

Right now, we're living in a fool's paradise when it comes to interest rates. If we ever get anything even remotely resembling a true recovery, mortgages will be 6-7%, and you'll be able to get 3-4% on your savings. The Treasury bill rate will rise accordingly, too. Then the costs of all the trillions for borrowing for tax cuts and wars will be an overwhelming part of the budget.

Anything we can do to reduce that debt burden now will help us in the future.

[riqster]

9. Very true!

Your comment deserves its own thread.

[spanone]

10. because they just spent a billion dollars buying the republican side of the aisle

they expect a return on their dollar and boehner is giving it to them

[riqster]

11. And maybe if I were part of the 1%,

I might feel way too. But I sure hope not.