tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1522121129844880066.post510807701546575076..comments2023-10-24T11:23:31.580-04:00Comments on Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: "My Success Did Not Cause Your Failure"William A. Jacobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16433685588536441422noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1522121129844880066.post-84061912756515513522009-03-08T21:43:00.000-04:002009-03-08T21:43:00.000-04:00The argument that planning an expiration date for ...The argument that planning an expiration date for the "Bush" tax cuts was something conjured up as a budget gimmick is an old Dem talking point, but is not accurate. Providing an expiration date was the only way to get the tax cuts throught Congress, and the tax cuts were extended to the present deadline only when making the tax cuts permanent could not pass. See this Washington Post article from 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302244.html. <BR/><BR/>The post by "RonClarke" is almost identical to this post on Bloomberg two years ago, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_berry&sid=aXYcxspDvKxM, "Republicans have only themselves to blame, because the expiration dates were set originally to mislead the public about the amount of revenue loss involved. Of course, from the beginning the plan was to argue that letting the cuts expire would impose tax increases that would harm the economy and cost jobs." This tired argument flies in the face of repeated Republican attempts to extend and make permanent the tax cuts.<BR/><BR/>And the tax cuts did help the economy through the tech bubble burst which started in March 2000 under Clinton, the economic shock of 9/11, and two wars both of which received bipartisan support. The current credit and housing crises have nothing to do with the Bush tax cuts. That's just another attempt to make up an excuse for new higher taxes.<BR/><BR/>And the quote on Obama referencing a "waitress" is out of context, Obama was referring to a value added tax and its impact on working people, "You know, I would be open to it except for … here's the problem with the flat tax. If you actually put a flat tax together, you'd probably … in order for it to work and replace all the revenue that we've got, you'd probably end up having to make it like about a 40 percent sales tax. I mean, the value added, making it up. Now, some people say 23 or 25, but, in truth, when you add up all the revenue that would need to be raised, you'd have to slap on a whole bunch of sales taxes on it. And I do believe that for folks like me who are, you know, have worked hard but, frankly, also been lucky, I don't mind paying just a little bit more than the waitress who I just met over there, who's … things are slow and she can barely make the rent." Here's the link to the full transcript, http://www.tampabay.com/news/perspective/article858299.ece. <BR/><BR/>It is amazing how leftists like "RonClark" are so quick to take other people's money, make up history and regurgitate old arguments. <BR/><BR/>Funny, whenever those who want others to pay higher taxes have the opportunity voluntarily to pay more, they never do. In Massachusetts, which provides for voluntary extra contributions on its tax forms, fewer than 2000 of over 3 million taxpayers do so.William A. Jacobsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16433685588536441422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1522121129844880066.post-66670289996662838672009-03-08T20:21:00.000-04:002009-03-08T20:21:00.000-04:00Note to liberals: my success mitigates your failur...Note to liberals: my success mitigates your failure.RightKlikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04475874038428195332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1522121129844880066.post-62879674704576689542009-03-08T20:04:00.000-04:002009-03-08T20:04:00.000-04:00You're missing an ellipses.Right before Obama says...You're missing an ellipses.<BR/><BR/>Right before Obama says "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody" ... he says:<BR/><BR/>"And I do believe that for folks like me who are, you know, have worked hard but, frankly, also been lucky, I don't mind paying just a little bit more than the waitress who I just met over there, who's … things are slow and she can barely make the rent."<BR/><BR/>As I wrote in an earlier post - this isn't a matter of tax fairness. It's a matter of tax sustainability. We are collecting far far less in revenues than we're paying in outlays. We've been doing that for 8 years now - ever since the Bush tax cuts passed. You cannot tax the waitress more, because it will eliminate her ability to pay the rent.<BR/><BR/>Under Bush's plan, we cut taxes in order to create the economic conditions for job expansion that would put more money in the pocket of the waitress as well. The plan failed. That is why we are where we are. Cutting taxes did not generate the economic activity needed to produce sufficient tax revenue to balance the budget.<BR/><BR/>When the Republicans and Bush pushed through their tax cuts, they built in an expiration date. To make the budgetary projections work - so that they didn't show massively inflating deficits into the future - the expiration date was put into place. Had Bush's tax cuts succeeded ... if right now, we weren't facing a massive meltdown of the economic system ... there would be a compelling argument for extending them. Right now, it seems clear that the highest marginal rates were set too low, and that has contributed mightly to the meltdown.<BR/><BR/>If you want to blame someone for the tax cuts expiring - don't blame the Democrats. Blame the Republicans, who built the expiration into the original bill, and who had 8 years to make the system work with the cuts in place.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1522121129844880066.post-58112515494330231432009-03-08T18:58:00.000-04:002009-03-08T18:58:00.000-04:00Outstanding!!!Outstanding!!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16771008643051952354noreply@blogger.com