Can We Talk About Taxes for a Minute? Just hear me out...

[margotb822]

So, it's been, what, a week since the "Joe the Plumber" debacle at the debate, and I think it's fair to say that taxes are the most misunderstood issue in an election. Here we are, a nation fighting two wars (which is another issue entirely, but here we are), facing crippling economic slowdown and at an environmental precipice. How the party of "limited government interaction" got us to this point I'll never know, but these are problems where the government is either the only solution (war) or the likely leader of a solution.

I'm not for irresponsible government spending, but something's gotta give. Either government spending must come down drastically or the government must raise more income. What we have now is fiscal malfeasance at its absolute worst.

Now we have Republicans continuing to label Democrats as tax-and-spend. This will be the only time you ever hear me quote Cheney seriously, but "so?" In my view, a fiscal conservative is not someone who says they support small government but then goes and spends more than any administration in history. A true fiscal conservative spends what money they have, regardless of how much it actually is.

But, more importantly, who exactly are we taxing? It's misleading to say that only a certain type of tax scheme is "wealth redistribution." All tax schemes distribute wealth, plain and simple. The idea that somehow the wealth is going to trickle down has been proven false, not once, but twice now.

So, here are my thoughts. Any business person who believes that tax cuts are the best way to grow a business deserves to go under. These excessive tax cuts and rebates for businesses are nothing but corporate welfare. The best, and really only, way to grow a business is to sell more of your product. And, the only way to sell more is if people can buy more. So, doesn't it make more sense to keep the money in the hands of the people who spend it. Instead, with gas and food prices up 300 to 400%, people are struggling to cover their basic needs. They're not buying anything that's not a necessity.

I read a great piece on dkos (that I can't find anymore) that discussed the strength of the economy is in the rate at which money changes hands. It's like comparing the pulmonary system of a couch potato versus that of a triathlete. Right now, this economy is sluggish, slow and out of shape. We don't even have the energy to get off the couch, much less go for a run. And why is that? Probably because the last eight years have not been geared at truly growing our economy. Sure, there were shots in the arm, but we all know that steroids do more damage in the long run. The Bush tax plan was like steroids at the beginning, but the strength wasn't real and now we're suffering from crippling damage.

So, what do we need to do? Well, a good start would be to stop wasting $10-12 billion per month in Iraq and an increasing amount in Afghanistan. And then what? We need to keep the money in the hands of the people who drive this economy. So, rich people, sorry (not really), but you're heyday is over. You didn't hold up your end of the "trickle down" economy theory, so now we're going to go for the "trickle up" theory. I believe that when the many succeed, we all succeed. It's not socialism or communism, it's common sense.

There is a saying in the Navy that goes, essentially, "On the strength of one link in the cable, depends the might of the chain." Well, right now we have a lot of weak links in our economic chain. Strengthening those links would strengthen our economy. It's time to go back to REAL responsible government, a Democratic government.

check out my website for more!

[zeos3]

1. Amen!

I was in an email debate with some high income friends about exactly this topic a couple of days ago. That was the main point of my argument. Put money in the hands of more people and watch them spend it and move the economy.

I like the comparison between the economy and the pulmonary system, I'll use it.

I've also been trying to explain to my business owner friends that they should be looking to sell more product than save more in taxes. They are both concerns for a business but if you have no customers taxes are a moot point. Multiple sources of income! Each paying customer is a source of income!

[margotb822]

3. It's funny in a sad way

Helping people is socialism, welfare for corporations is capitalism...I think not!

[zeos3]

5. The strange thing is

some of the people I argue about this with would go very far out of their way to help a friend. I've seen it with my own eyes. When it comes to society as a whole, they sing a different tune. When it comes to taxes, they whine more than the lower income people they accuse of whining.

[Indenturedebtor]

13. Yes the great tragedy of this whole big economic lie is that it sets us against one another

Whereas the majority of people just want to help the people around them.

[zeos3]

14. Agreed.

It's not only that people vote against their own economic interests, they vote against their own social and political views. I emailed out a link to a political compass quiz a while ago. Some of my most vocal conservative friends found themselves to the left of Obama on the map, to their surprise.

[varelse]

2. Recommended - as is your blog

which I'll be bookmarking and probably sharing as well :)

:kick:

[margotb822]

4. Thanks!

I started a grad school program, so I don't update as often as I'd like, but I'll be getting back into the groove here soon!

[MichiganVote]

6. All we need to do is ask the military to hold bake sales for their planes and tanks you know.

[margotb822]

9. Haha, they're all old now

We only sell that crap to people who can't buy the better Chinese version.

[MichiganVote]

11. More pie?

[Canuckistanian]

7. I hear your words and they are good

Republicans believe that "wealth distribution" only works in one direction. Upwards.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. They have it exactly backwards.

K&R.

[TahitiNut]

8. Taxation distributes COST, not wealth.

Wealth is created by labor ... and labor is the MOST highly taxed source of income. Right now, 'owners' take more than 2/3rd of the wealth generated by labor. Take a look at the "net income per employee" of the S&P 500 and you'll see an amount that's far greater that twice the median income per employee. Yet the "ownership share" of the wealth created by labor is taxed at a low rate ... and income from the death of another is taxed at the lowest rate. We're unfairly burdening labor.

Labor bears the cost not only of taxation but of the wealth that's redistributed to the 'ownership class'

[margotb822]

10. Good point

thanks.

[zeos3]

15. Very good

I wish you'd posted this a few days ago so I could've used it in an argument with some friends over taxation.

[Rancid Crabtree]

12. taxes

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html has a list of taxes from around 1913 to 2008...and the list suggests that taxes on many are lower today than they were eight years ago...I can't reconcile the list at the site with what has been said about 'the Bush tax plan...so, don't know how one can 'keep the money in the hands of the people who drive this economy', nor am I entirely sure who those people are...I do know that the vast majority of us work a good part of the year, for free, to pay taxes...only that wealth is spread throughout the year and we don't notice it as much...but I know that on the day after Thanksgiving, the local Walmart does one million dollars of business, much of that is probably on credit, but given the climate of the local economy here, that number was an eye-opener when I heard it...think of an area with less than 35,000 people in a twenty mile radius...probably a math problem there...if 35,000 people spend one million dollars, how much money did Betty the shopper drop on the floor...or sumpin...then there's the national debt, whatever that is...ten trillion?...something about a budget...