RESPONSE:
If you want to cut the deficit, let the Bush tax cuts expire.
The Republicans keep saying that the Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans WILL bring economic prosperity. I hate to tell them this, but the Bush tax cuts have already been in place for the last 10 years!
How is that working out, middle-class?
The GOP slogan is: Give to the Rich, and Continue to Increase the Deficit.
What we have seen is the richest 1% have done exceptionally well over the last 10+ years, while the rest of us worker bees (99%) have been experiencing a recession.
FOLLOW-UP:
What the Republicans are fighting for is to continue the policies that have NOT been working, dumping the debt on the middle-class, favoring the already rich, and then expect us to thank them for doing it!
Democrats are only looking to allow the tax waver to expire on the very wealthiest Americans, who don’t need a tax cut, don’t deserve a tax cut, and don’t grow the economy with their tax cut.
Taxes rates for the wealthiest Americans are at some of the lowest they have ever been. They are not hurting, believe me.
Worse than that, many of the wealthiest Americans are making money from investment income (money from money), not producing a product, not providing a service, and not even lending or investing in small businesses. The GOP is fighting for Paris Hilton’s ability to sit by the pool, getting the dividend check, on which they pay about 15-20% tax. What’s your tax rate? Does that seem fair?
THE REAL ISSUE:
Before the 1st Great Depression, Republicans slashed the top marginal Tax rate, which lead to a bubble and a bust. From the 1930s through the 1960s, the top marginal tax rate was about 90%. During that time, America had a strong middle-class, and there were no economic meltdowns, bubbles, or busts. Reagan then slashed the top marginal tax rates to around 20%, followed by Bush Sr. who cut that rate to 15%. Since then, all that followed were bubbles and meltdowns, resulting in the destruction of the middle class.
What we should be talking about is rolling back the Reagan Tax Cuts!
UNCOVERS:
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
The something for nothing Republicans seem to be at it again, trying to fool hard working Americans into giving more of their money to the very rich.
The Republican party, and many ConservaDems, are directly in the pockets of the wealthiest Americans. There is a reason for that… they are the only one’s that still have the money to buy their votes!
The economy is a Pie, and the pie is only so big. When a couple of people are taking more and more of that pie, it means that there is that much less for the rest of us.
If the tax rates constantly favor the rich, rather than the productive middle-class, you put the entire cost of our country on those without the means to pay for it.
It’s like going out to dinner with your rich brother, you had bread sticks, he had lobster, and at the end he gets up and leaves you with the bill.
SIDE POINTS:
-51.8% of the tax cuts are targeted to the top one percent.
-Call them “Tax Waivers” instead of “Tax Cuts.”
-The Bush tax cuts were given a 10-year expiration (sunset provision) because they increased the deficit, and you can’t do that without paying for them without violating the Byrd Rule for anything that “would increase the deficit for a fiscal year beyond those covered by the reconciliation measure.”
-Federal tax revenues tend to expand naturally (albeit slower) because of:
- Population growth
- Long-term general economic growth
- Inflation
-Wall Street Journal piece showing the top graph.
-I’m not an economist, I just play one on the Internet. However, this looks fairly easy to understand.
