printI understand why trusted and trustworthy representatives such as Ron Paul would vote for the tax-cut deal that has passed the Senate today (Wednesday).
Ron Paul: Pro, in an interview with Andrew Napolitano.
I certainly want to support the tax extension… they may put enough stuff in there to make me reconsider, but right now I would not want to participate in raising taxes on people.
As POLITICO put it: “House Republicans trying to tamp down discontent in their ranks from fiscal conservatives are issuing a simple message: This isn’t the bill we would’ve written, but it’s good enough.”
At work is the dreaded “compromise,” a word that sounds good, but is not: “the only time you want your representative to reach across the aisle is to grab a Democrat or an errant Republican by the throat.”
Since the above are my fighting words—political compromise is always a blow to principles—I’m with Peter Schiff, with some reservations. I disagree that “the compromise extension of the Bush era tax cuts” amounts to a “$900 billion package.” Tax cuts are never a cost. Since taxation is theft, a thief that has failed to secure the loot for himself has no right to write-off his losses. besides, money that is not taken by the state is money liberated, saved from waste. (The extension of unemployment benefits in the Bill did not amount to $900 Bil.)
“In truth however, there are no real tax cuts in this proposal. The true burden of government is not measured by how much it taxes but how much it spends. Since this deal ensures that government will be more expensive next year than it was this year, American citizens will have to shoulder the added cost. Just because Congress has decided to deliver the bill with debt rather than current taxes does not mean that the spending will not be paid for. The only thing the plan accomplishes is to alter the means by which government spending is financed.”
This is a rare time that I disagree with Ron Paul on – a Congressional vote between “BAD choice A” and “WORSE choice B” – but I am Ebenezer Scrooge. CUT SPENDING FIRST (and second and third) – and cut taxes afterwards. Get the annual deficit down below the $ 1 Trillion level.
Today’s unemployment benefit, ethanol subsidy, bombed Pushtun, jailed dope smoker gets billed to our children. There is NO FREE LUNCH! The payroll tax cut to pay for a plasma TV comes out of Anna’s hide in 2020. The iceberg is still in front of us and we are accelerating into it.
Thomas “frugal government” Jefferson said:
“We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country”
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.”
“Never spend your money before you have earned it”
Although the deficit (and the debt) are problems, they are a sideshow and a distraction from the real problem: The Growth of Government. It would be theoretically possible to “balance the budget” by increasing the government’s take (raising taxes). That would not solve the real problem. Dollars serve as a metric for the growth of federal power–and that growth is monstrous, literally.
It’s disappointing that Ron Paul supports this. Compromise has always been a word that makes me shutter.
From what Wikipedia says about the Bush tax cuts…EGTRRA ang JGTRRA, it appears that it only amounts to a few percent change to the income tax anyways (which is dwarfed by the total taxes for nominal incomes)…the only real notable facet is the inheritance tax being set to 0, which the new “compromised” version apparently won’t do. So basically we see the the *total* tax rate staying at 50% instead of going up to 53%, in trade for droves of more unemployment oinkers. What a deal.
It seems to me that these temporary tax cuts are designed to use the ratchet effect: temporary tax cuts go into effect, the national debt goes up, other taxes are permanently increased to compensate, then the tax cut expires and presto…we just increased taxes on everybody without a whimper.
Frank B, Ilana, etc: It is even WORSE when one looks at Federal, State, and Local combined. See
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/#usgs302a
Total Government Expenditures is 6413 Billion (or Gigabucks!) in 2010 – up 20% over just 2 years ago!!
Total Government Revenue is 4451 Gigabucks -down 314 Billion from 2008!
Income taxes bring in $ 1.4 Trillion so even if you could (magically!) double them, you will STILL have a deficit. Of course, doubling income tax rates would completely tank the economy and would not raise twice the revenue. So this is part of the conundrum – right now, we are borrowing and printing to cover our excessive spending butts.