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Scare Stories Over Higher Tax Rates Are Just Silly

The economy did pretty well the last time tax rates were higher, during the 1990s boom years

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/09/us-usa-fiscal-cbo-idUSBRE8A71D020121109

The CBO stated extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the middle and lower class, and allowing them to expire for the top 2% of earners will reduce growth of the GDP by the end of 2013 by.25% and would prevent about 200,000 jobs from being created.

What do you tell one of these people that is not going to get a job because the government raised taxes? Sorry kid, we had to make things fair, now we've can give you unemployment benefits for long, now get in the unemployment line.

I think of my grandmother who is first generation Polish, if she moved to America today in 80 years would she have a grandchild as successful as me? I like to think so, but I cannot say the answer is yes.

So it is ok with me if you want to take more money from the wealthy and give it to those with less. But it will not fix the problem and it will not bring them out of poverty, it will only ease their suffering. And that seems what we're after these days, we don't want to help people, we just don't want to have to worry about them.

Judson Duryea of UT 5:13AM November 20, 2012

While I am a conservative Republican, I am also an advocate of higher taxes for high income earners due to some easily to be understood reasons (my background is corporate finance- making sure there is money there to pay the company's bills):

1) There is a financing gap of 1 trillion $!

That's 1 million millions. Even if you cut spending you just won't be able to get rid of it. If you want to save money by laying off government workers that would be 20.000.000 people at a salary of 50.000 $ each. At that level the President would be running the country on his own.

2) Paying taxes instead of causing debt does not hurt the economy

If there is a financing gap (the actuall size is irrelevant), the government can get the money only through taxes or debt (in form of bonds or similar). Either one would be paid by someone in the public. That means money leaves the business man's pocket either way and goes to the government. The only difference is with taxes it is mandatory and the cash is out of your pocket for ever and with bonds someone gives it voluntarily but with the expectation to get it back, but the money leaves the pocket either way and cannot be spend on growing someone's business.

The question is just who will pay.

3) Richer Americans have more than ever

According to the regular study on wealth distribution, the top 1% own a larger share of the country's assets now than they did 10 or 20 years ago. The same is true with the top 20%. While there are several reasons for this, one of the main reasons is our ongoing system of debt financing rather than tax based financing. To understand this imagine the following: The tax collector (representing the government) walks along a line of people (the first few ones being the upper class and the later ones in the line the middle and lower income families) and he collects taxes from everyone in order to finance whatever the government does. Everyone gives something. But suddenly he does a second round and walks along the richer people giving each one money back and now some of the richer individuals have actually not paid anything at all. This back payment represents the interest payments that individuals actually holding the 15 trillion $ of government bonds receive. If this goes on for a while, the people having the money will end up having more and more and be smaller net contributers.

4) To whom much is given, much is expected

This really sums it up. Jesus said it, Uncle Ben (uncle of Spiderman) said it, Rockefeller said it, Roosevelt said it. It is patriotic to pay taxes. Some of us can give more than others and so we should. All of us should give. However none of us should feel entitled either.

If we dont change the way we finance our government, we will tear our social fabric apart and none of us will be happy.