Taxing Our Patience

Even Greg Mankiw, a loyal Bush economic adviser, even David Stockton, who goaded Ronald Reagan into the same foolhardy nonsense, deny that tax cuts produce more revenue. It's a silly notion.
BUT... the silliest notion, the biggest lie of all, is that high earners stop earning because they are so discouraged by taxes. Let me let you in on a little secret: Last year, I paid 140 thousand dollars in federal income tax... and I happily earned all year and was on the lookout for ways to earn more! And I'm a piker compared to the real money boys, who are sitting on crony-packed boards and voting each other bonuses and golden parachutes. Yachts are booming in size, as are first and second homes. None of those guys hesitated for a second to earn more money. When I make a dollar, almost half disappears before it reaches my hand, but guess what? I get to do all kinds of fun stuff with the other half!
The only thing I really mind about paying 140k in federal income taxes, is that the government went ahead and borrowed countless thousand more in my name, and my family's on the hook for all that dough. Reagan and Bush exploded the federal debt, setting deficit records throughout the 80s, then Bush II repeated the trick, setting new records during his term. Yeah, lower taxes still ought to fix everything! Meatheads!

Which tax breaks for the rich is everyone talking about exactly? If you mean the reduction of the capital gains tax from 20% to 15%, then check the numbers. The year after the capital gains tax cut went into effect, Tax Revenues from capital gains increased in the neighborhood of 75%.

Unfortunately the discourse in the country has denigrated to blnd hatred and ignorance of fact.

Source- Congressional Budget Office
2003 Tax Revenues - 1.8 Trillion
2007 Tax Revenues- 2.4 Trillion
Fact- A 33% increase in 4 years. Tax cuts at the margin spur growth and federal revenues and more capital gains to be taxed. You may try to belittle the President, but you can't deny the basic facts.

Also fact- the top 10% of earners pay over 75% of the income taxes collect. Sure, the more wealthy you are the more you will avail yourself to whatever tax advantages that have always been out there. With the global economy the way it is now, the more you raise tax on the superwealthy, the easier it is for them to move their funds offshore or invest in other countries' business. America loses again.
The tragedy in the story is both the President and Congres somehow can't get by on 2.4 Trillion a year.

Americans need to grow up and check their own fact and stop calling names.

I see Bush as givng tax breaks for the rich and to the rich only. I only made $51,000 and I pay 26% - where's my tax break? That is why I rent an apartment (can't afford a home) and why I have no cable TV, no cell phone, no internet access, and no subscription to magazines and newspapers. If I had a nice tax break , let's say down to the 17% bracket, then I could save for a home, have cable TV, internet access, and maybe a subscription or two. The tax breaks should go to anyone making less than $90,000 and make the rich pay more! Bush is such an evil selfish man - no way he even comes close to being a real Christian!

People against "socializing" healthcare ought to ask themselves why they aren't against our "socialized" fire and police departments, and schools. By guess is you wouldn't think it fun when your house is burning down and the fireman asks you for a credit card before they went to work. This thinking is hypocritical as always. btw was that articale about socializing medicine or about the tax cuts?....

Maybe if the top 1% of the wage earners , large corporations, and millionaires shared their wealth in the form of higher wages, did not eliminate our manufacturing jobs by moving the jobs to countries inorder to reduce wages and increase their profit margen and ceo salaries, the other 99% of us whom got no tax relief from the bush tax cuts would be in the position to pay more income taxes. We would not gripe as much if Corporate America sold the goods to us for half the cost. Their profit margin would be less and they would pay less in taxes too! The rich have the wealth by choice and only want more. When is enough enough! The reality is there are bill to pay and the rich have the money.

Just another take from the rich and give to the poor story. I'm sick of all the rich bashing. We're headed for socialism. I used to make 30k a year and it sucked, so rather than *** like many of the posters here, I got off my a** and did something about it and now I'm in the 1%. I worked hard to get where I'm at and risked everything several times to do it. The government didn't help me at all, rather they made it more difficult and costly due to the excessive regulations in our country. Free Markets and Capitalism will always create wealth for a minority who often use that wealth to create opportunity and jobs for others. I provide good-paying jobs to hundreds of families in my community. That's how I give back. I pay six figures in taxes every year and I don't get any more from the governement than the guys who pay nothing. How is that fair? Government is broken and taking more money from the rich to give to the poor is not going to fix it. We need to throw out the tax system and replace it with something simple and fair. If everyone paid 15-20% tax on all their income over a certain poverty threshold (I'd say $30k) we'd collect just as much money, cut the cost of collecting taxes and I'd be able to file my return on a single page online rather than paying lawyers and accountants thousands of dollars every year.

My daughter does her homework, studies constantly, and makes straight A's in high school. My son, who's a year younger, plays video games all evening, and is lucky to get a C in most classes. Am I supposed to go to the teachers and tell them to take part of my daughters good grades and give them to my son so it will be fair?

Marshall Ross: after the crack whores and abortion comment, I dont think you are any source regarding intelligent responses. You are obviously an anti choice GOP zealot who inspite of facts just won't accept what Mr. B and his cronies have done to the country. Thankfully, you are in such a small minority that your voice will hopefully not be heard during the next election. Your ilk is responsible for the mess we are in.

I regard the current discussion about tax rate increases or decreases as meaningless unless the discussion includes government spending. 500 billion war dollars buys a lot of goods and services that this country will never see. The republican tax cut and spend policies have brought us to this point. It's a shame that they will be booted out of office while the rest of us try to sort out the mess.

A lack of regulations inevitably results in the least ethical having an economic advantage over the ethical, eventually driving them out of business. What we need is meaningful regulations that permit competition on a level playing field without being overly burdensome.

We also need to think twice about privatization. Case in point is Cheney's buddys taking over the maintenance at Walter Reed hospital for our wounded vets. They turned the hospital wing into a cesspool of filth because there priority was to maximize profits, not to improve or provide quality health care for our wounded troops. Support our Troops is just another slogan for our bumper sticker president.

Privitization in concept sounds good, but in practice it is politically connected insiders reinsituting the spoils system.

The Bush approach is equivalent to letting the foxes loose in the chicken coop.

Tax cuts will accomlish two things, bankrupting the nation and the end result, threaten the national security of the United States with the lack of revenue. Wake up America, do you really want our nation to suffer because you don't want to pay for our nation to be defended and see our nation become a debtor country.

Point of order. The President and Congress DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO CUT TAXES. They never had it., read the Constitution of the United States of America, it details what Congress and the President are allowed to do.

It's a shame that the discourse is all centered around peoples' emotions and yes hatred of the president. Fact from the Congressional Budget Office Reports- 2003 Total Tax Revenues- 1.8 Trillion- 2007 Total Tax Revenues-2.4 Trillion.
Fact- Higher percentage of Americans pay no federal income tax in 2007 than ever before and the richest 10% pay almost 75% of the ind. income taxes.

Similar revenue increases were observed after the 1962 Kennedy Tax cut and 1982 Reagan Tax Cuts. Supply side theory is not a theory but a proven fact.

The discourse in this country should not be about hatred of the president, it should be directed at how our entire government can get at 33% raise over that past 4 years and not spend within its means. Gee how can 2.4 Trillion not be enough.

The prospect that tax rates are going to revert to 1990s levels in three years is at the top of my list. I am a middle income wage earner and the Bush tax cuts have greatly benefited my family. Not to mention that some of the tax cuts were simply eliminating taxes that were unfair to begin with. It does not matter if my taxes go up $18 or $1800, I don't want to pay more. Daniel Gross is completly out of touch with America.