Speaker Boehner says the GOP is ready to talk taxes

[firehawk1]

Here we go, anyone who actually thought this Super Committee would cut spending was brain dead. Shocking... I know.

GOP Ready To Talk Taxes? Looming Deficit Panel Deadline Has Lawmakers Considering 'All Options' | Fox News

Let's just shift the car headed to the cliff into overdrive.

 

[mrjarrell]

Tax increases were never off the table for anyone who's been paying attention. They were a given. With the current debt approaching 15 trillion (a pittance) they're going to have to do something. Figure in the unfunded liabilities (currently 116 trillion) and taxes are going to have to rise. It's a given, since neither side are going to get rid of the things we have to get rid of to truly rein in the problem. No-one wants to give up their pet spending, (as we've seen numerous times here on INGO). Taxes are going to have to go up, if the debt is to be addressed. It's too far out of control for cuts that will never be made to do it alone. So, either taxes go up (along with draconian cuts across the board for EVERYONE) and we address the debt (funded and unfunded) or we repudiate the debt (which I'm OK with, since it's not my damned debt anyway). Greece or Argentina. You choose. But, taxes are going up.

 

[jbombelli]

I hate to say it but not only does spending have to be slashed deeply (and not just temporarily, either), taxes do have to be raised if we want to get out of this mess. The tax increases can be temporary. But we have to do it. I've been saying this for a long time now, but I usually get crapped on by both Democrats who don't want to slash entitlement spending, and Republicans who don't want to raise taxes.

I call them DemoPublicans.

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

I thought raising the taxes on wealthy were going to fix everything?

 

[Prometheus]

I hate to say it but not only does spending have to be slashed deeply (and not just temporarily, either), taxes do have to be raised if we want to get out of this mess. The tax increases can be temporary. But we have to do it. I've been saying this for a long time now, but I usually get crapped on by both Democrats who don't want to slash entitlement spending, and Republicans who don't want to raise taxes.

I call them DemoPublicans.

I keep seeing so many people say this. It is a lie!

Anyone who says taxes MUST be raised is either a liar or is ignorantly parroting a lie.

Over the past several decades taxes have increased as debt has skyrocketed well beyond all increases in taxes. Even small "tax cuts" (like the 'bush cuts') were end arounds and not really cuts at all.

Revenues increased as taxes were "cut".... yet the debt continued to skyrocket. If you believe that cutting taxes increases revenues (which I and Ronnie IhateMachineGuns Regan do/did), then what the heck are we even talking about about?

No one who rationally and logically looks at the situation can envision how tax increases could ever hope to solve this economic disaster.

You cannot TAX your way to prosperity. Ever.

Stop parroting the lie.

We can NEVER hope to tax our way out of this mess.

We drastically increased spending, we can drastically cut spending.

I cannot fathom why people think throwing more money (ostensibly) at someone/something who is spending out of control will solve anything.

Tax increases pretty much seals the deal. It'll be time to un@$$ this country. If I'm going to be living third world, I'd rather do it someplace topical.

 

[jbombelli]

I keep seeing so many people say this. It is a lie!

Anyone who says taxes MUST be raised is either a liar or is ignorantly parroting a lie.

Over the past several decades taxes have increased as debt has skyrocketed well beyond all increases in taxes. Even small "tax cuts" (like the 'bush cuts') were end arounds and not really cuts at all.

Revenues increased as taxes were "cut".... yet the debt continued to skyrocket. If you believe that cutting taxes increases revenues (which I and Ronnie IhateMachineGuns Regan do/did), then what the heck are we even talking about about?

No one who rationally and logically looks at the situation can envision how tax increases could ever hope to solve this economic disaster.

You cannot TAX your way to prosperity. Ever.

Stop parroting the lie.

We can NEVER hope to tax our way out of this mess.

We drastically increased spending, we can drastically cut spending.

I cannot fathom why people think throwing more money (ostensibly) at someone/something who is spending out of control will solve anything.

Tax increases pretty much seals the deal. It'll be time to un@$$ this country. If I'm going to be living third world, I'd rather do it someplace topical.

Anybody who thinks we can eliminate fifteen trillion dollars of debt and dozens of trillions more in unfunded liabilities simply by cutting spending is simply wrong, and has no idea what he's talking about. Period. Our problems are too far gone to eliminate simply by cutting spending. Unless of course you want our country to just default on everything.

Wake up and smell the coffee.

Of course when I say increase taxes, I'm talking about no more earned income credit, and the half of this country that doesn't pay taxes now have to start paying THEIR fair share, too.

 

[Project972]

Now that's a good idea.

 

[firehawk1]

I keep seeing so many people say this. It is a lie!

Anyone who says taxes MUST be raised is either a liar or is ignorantly parroting a lie.

Over the past several decades taxes have increased as debt has skyrocketed well beyond all increases in taxes. Even small "tax cuts" (like the 'bush cuts') were end arounds and not really cuts at all.

Revenues increased as taxes were "cut".... yet the debt continued to skyrocket. If you believe that cutting taxes increases revenues (which I and Ronnie IhateMachineGuns Regan do/did), then what the heck are we even talking about about?

No one who rationally and logically looks at the situation can envision how tax increases could ever hope to solve this economic disaster.

You cannot TAX your way to prosperity. Ever.

Stop parroting the lie.

We can NEVER hope to tax our way out of this mess.

We drastically increased spending, we can drastically cut spending.

I cannot fathom why people think throwing more money (ostensibly) at someone/something who is spending out of control will solve anything.

Tax increases pretty much seals the deal. It'll be time to un@$$ this country. If I'm going to be living third world, I'd rather do it someplace topical.

THIS^ Cutting taxes raises revenue. History shows that, but we can't allow people to keep more of what they earn, how can we control them if they don't depend on us (government).

The U.S. budget needs DRACONIAN cuts, none of this trillion here trillion there but trillions, and right now, not ten years out.

IMO that will never happen and we are destined to go the same route as say.... Greece.

 

[spec4]

Raising taxes won't solve anything. Govt just expands to suck up the increased revenue. What we need is a major reduction in the size of the federal govt. This has been discussed on other threads and, IMO, is the only thing that will prevent us from becoming Greece at some point. Sadly, our pols lack the political will do do this. Basically, I think we're screwed. A GOP win slows it down somewhat.

 

[John Galt]

Why not just start phasing the government down to the size intended by the Constitution? We have proof with the failure of the tens of trillions spent on the War on Poverty that government cannot "cure" poverty and it can be equally argued that government intervention exacerbates the problem. You know, getting it out of our everyday lives. Then, there would be no "need" for such plundering of the 53% that are forced to fund this train wreck. The bigger government is, the more revenue it "needs". When did common sense become so uncommon?

 

[firehawk1]

That's the whole reason for cutting taxes. You HAVE to reduce the revenue stream going to the Federal Government. If they do not have the money to spend cuts will have to follow. You have to cut the supply first.

 

[Doug]

As I understand it, THERE HAVE BEEN NO SPENDING CUTS, WHATSOEVER, and THERE HAVE BEEN NO PROPOSED SPENDING CUTS!

There have only been discussions of reducing the increase in funding for some government programs.
That is why all savings are spread over 5, 8, 10, or 75 years. No cuts, just less increase.

 

[firehawk1]

As I understand it, THERE HAVE BEEN NO SPENDING CUTS, WHATSOEVER, and THERE HAVE BEEN NO PROPOSED SPENDING CUTS!

There have only been discussions of reducing the increase in funding for some government programs.
That is why all savings are spread over 5, 8, 10, or 75 years. No cuts, just less increase.

Whoops, you weren't supposed to know that. Weren't the government schools supposed to "teach" you better than that?

If I were you I'd keep an eye out for the black helicopters. The Ministry of Truth will be coming after you! 2+2=5

 

[hornadylnl]

As I understand it, THERE HAVE BEEN NO SPENDING CUTS, WHATSOEVER, and THERE HAVE BEEN NO PROPOSED SPENDING CUTS!

There have only been discussions of reducing the increase in funding for some government programs.
That is why all savings are spread over 5, 8, 10, or 75 years. No cuts, just less increase.

Well, there's this one candidate who wants to cut spending but he's bat **** crazy.

 

[firehawk1]

Well, there's this one candidate who wants to cut spending but he's bat **** crazy.

Let me go on the record as stating he's not bat**** crazy. The MEDIA has made him out to be bat**** crazy, and most believe it.

 

[hornadylnl]

Let me go on the record as stating he's not bat**** crazy. The MEDIA has made him out to be bat**** crazy, and most believe it.

Those fighting for the staut quo will be along shortly to set you straight.

 

[firehawk1]

Those fighting for the staut quo will be along shortly to set you straight.

Uh oh... you mean The Ministry of Truth is coming after me!!!

 

[dross]

Anybody who thinks we can eliminate fifteen trillion dollars of debt and dozens of trillions more in unfunded liabilities simply by cutting spending is simply wrong, and has no idea what he's talking about. Period. Our problems are too far gone to eliminate simply by cutting spending. Unless of course you want our country to just default on everything.

Wake up and smell the coffee.

Of course when I say increase taxes, I'm talking about no more earned income credit, and the half of this country that doesn't pay taxes now have to start paying THEIR fair share, too.

Count me among those who have no idea what they're talking about.

If you increase taxes you take money out of the economy. This slows the economy, period. We've raised the deficit from ridiculous to ludicrous in the last two years. And tax revenues are down because the economy is down.

Since you obviously know what you're talking about, you must know about tax capacity. Our deficits are beyond our ability to pay with taxes. We can't raise enough to pay for our deficits.

The debt can never be paid off. Can't happen. What we CAN do, however, is boost the GDP so that our debt as a percentage of GDP is much smaller. We can cut some and grow some. The problem with raising taxes is that you'll slow or prevent growth, and you're likely to reduce the revenue you actually collect.

But then, I don't know what I'm talking about. I find it fascinating that we can spend ourselves up to a certain number, but we can't cut our way back. Fascinating.

 

[Expat]

I saw Ben Stein the other day in an interview. He is a pretty bright guy. He said pretty much the same. We have to slash spending and raise taxes significantly. He said that even then he isn't sure we can avoid default. The problem is that sooner or later we are going to have to raise interest rates due to the inflation that is building in the system. At that point money to service the debt is going to become a real problem. We are going to need a trillion dollars or more just to pay debt interest.

 

[dross]

BTW, everything that happens from now 'til the election is about election politics. Neither side wants anything to pass right now. They are setting up for the election.