End of an Era: Tax Cuts Losing Steam on Capitol Hill

[nickshepDEM]

7 trillion or so later, but hey, you know what they say... Better late then never.

WASHINGTON -- Support for tax cuts -- a signature campaign issue for congressional Republicans -- is waning on Capitol Hill, with the GOP-led Congress reaching its Independence Day recess with no tax-trimming victories to tout in home districts.

Some lawmakers said their constituents, who once clamored for tax cuts, have recently begun quizzing them about the deficit and questioning whether the tax cuts were doing more for wealthier Americans than the middle class.

Senator Olympia Snowe , Republican of Maine and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said proposals both to eliminate the estate tax and cut taxes on capital gains and dividends would help the wealthy, a fact that more of her constituents seem to emphasize as she campaigns for a third term. ``That's a misallocation of our precious resources," said Snowe, who had supported an outright repeal of the estate tax in 2001, when the country had a budget surplus, but has since modified her view. ``It's certainly a misallocation of our priorities" at a time when the nation is facing a large budget deficit and record national debt, she said.

Representative Mark Foley , Republican of Florida, said his constituents have begun to demand answers about the country's fiscal shape. ``They are asking the question -- how did you let this get out of control?" Foley said.

[rodeodance]

1. wising up?--maybe!

[whistle]

2. Will be replaced by the Fair Tax proposal which is not fair at all...

....a total bullshit taxing system that will be a national sales tax on everything people buy. Regressive as hell and expensive to boot. Imagine the federal government collecting $3.0 trillion from the sales revenues of the goods and services in a U.S. economy that can barely produce $14.0 trillion now. Do the math, on top of all none federal taxes being collected at the state and local levels, the federal government proposes the collect for their needs some 20% of all goods and services produced. Right out of the little guys pocket.

<snip>
The FairTax was created by first asking the American people what they wanted out of a tax system, and then having a team of respected economists design a tax system that met those demands. The FairTax replaces the income tax and all other federal taxes with a national consumption tax. The FairTax is levied only once, at the point of purchase on new goods and services. The simplicity of the FairTax frees Americans from our current overwhelming tax code and unshackles the U.S. economy.


The FairTax:
Abolishes the IRS
Closes all tax loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
Maintains our current Social Security and Medicare benefits
Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
Allows American products to compete fairly
Reimburses the tax on purchases of basic necessities
Enables retirees to keep their entire pension
Enables workers to keep their entire paycheck

http://www.fairtax.org/

First thing that would happen would be that every employer would hire workers at an automatic 20% or higher reduction in pay. You don't like it, get another job! That leaves workers with less pay and another level of tax on all that they consume. You have only a limited level of discretionary consumption. Just look at gasoline. How much can you cut down, no where near the amount of your demand to match the price hikes in gasoline prices, so the little guy gets hit hardest. That's regressive! And, that's what the Fair Tax is a regressive tax.

[nealmhughes]

3. Since it costs as much to eat for the workers as it does for the cap-

italists, the same to heat/cool a home, the same for transportation expenses (beyond the cost of the vehicle if using a POV), then it is obvious that there is no way that the people will stand for a "fair tax." Even Alabama had to come to its senses and stop taxing the income of people who earned only $4K a year single, and to rely on the sales taxes to keep the state in the black...
Even the Rep. governor here, Bob Riley, said that the non-progressive state of taxation was immoral and in opposition to the Xian religion!

Who was it that said "...from each according to their means"? I forget.

[whistle]

4. Right, it was Karl Marx in his Communist Manifesto who wrote...

..."From each according to their means, to each according to their needs". That was the whole basis for coming up with a system of progressive taxation that would allow everyone to pay a fair share of what they earn.

Now, the free traders (a.k.a. Rat Party) want to avoid their share of the national debt by saddling the little people with the bill. Rich people can buy goods and services anywhere in the world. So they will go to a tax haven where they get luxury items tax free. You and I are stuck with buying locally and paying the tax. Even items you buy online are now being taxed. A tax on goods and services is regressive. The common man can not avoid paying them, but the rich always fine a way. Our national federal debt is over $9.0 trillion and when George W. Bush leaves office it will hit $14.0 trillion, or $45,902.64 for every man woman and child living in the U.S.A. That is debt you and I must pay off and we will be taxed to pay it. The wealthy are running away from paying their fair share of it.

If the Fair Tx is to be considered, then pay off the federal obligations first, then we'll talk tax reform and any proposal can be on the table. Start taxing the wealthy again!

[stevebreeze]

5. fool me once shame on you fool me 20 times shame on me

well not me I wised up long ago. Fact is the best way to raise incomes is to raise incomes not reduce taxes. Incomes have stagnated and declined under 25 years of Reagonomics.