The Grover Norquist Tax Myth

M

MojoMan

1,000+ Posts
In the aftermath of the failure of the "Supercommittee," which almost everyone in the know expected to fail right from the moment it was announced, the Democrats and the left have been trying to place the blame for that failure on Grover Norquist and the 'Republican do-nothing Congress'.
Grover Norquist is an avid conservative campaigner against tax hikes. And the Republicans of course only control the House of Representatives, while the Democrats control the Senate and the Presidency.

However, as Charles Krauthammer discusses below, the Republicans are in fact very supportive of the idea of increasing tax revenue, they just are not in favor of raising tax rates, which would be bad for job creation and the economy. Various Republicans have proposed tax revenue increases and if that was the real priority here, something could have been passed last summer. But the Democrats said no.

Meanwhile, President Obama and the Democrats have steadfastly refused to offer any plan to structurally reform entitlements, which is the driver behind our spiraling national debt. And without entitlement reform, the federal debt problem cannot be resolved. Period.

So, who are the "do nothings" here? It is President Obama and the Democrats in the Senate.

In reply to:
 
The only reason the Dems want to "raise the tax rates" on "rich people" is because their IGNORANT constituency can't comprehend loophole closing/raising REVENUE scenarios.
 
Yeah, lowering taxes on rich people during the Bush years and keeping them low thus far into the Obama administration is working great. Why are Democrats too stupid to see this? It's like they don't even watch Fox News or the Fox Business Channel. Allt hose haters beatin' down on those poor Wall Street Millionaires who work hard to earn thier millions though economy building activities like "price discovery" and creating deriviates they sell to people who aren't paying attention, then betting big money on them to fail. God help a government who tries to marginally reduce the take from such hard and meaningful "work." Stupid beelin' heart Dems don't see how much better it would be to close the tax loopholes that make it easier for lower and middle class folk to buy houses and play pretend to be " job creators."
 
If you are playing a zero sum game, which we kinda are because of the lamentable growth in the economy and resultant government revenues, then you want spending and tax policy targeted to where it will do the most good. There's the human face of giving grandma enough money to replace for her worn out dentures after 15 years vs. adding a few million to the Koch Brother's after tax income. There's also the economic impact of giving money to grandma, who will spend, vs. the Koch
Brothers who might spend or might invest in activities that promote domestic jobs or might choose other things to do with their money. Do you ask millionaires to sacrafice, or do you ask the sacrafice of retired solidiers through cuts in their health benefits? Whatever you do on the spending or revenue side, there will be winners and losers. Giving tax breaks to the rich has not had the desired effect of making us all winners in a rising tide that raises all boats. Maybe it's because of my inability to think like a Republican, but I think there may be more than one perspective on this worth hearing and airing. Honest to God, I don't know what we should do. And even though Grover Nordquist and his crowd seem to be certain that they have, they really haven't convinced me
 
Representatives who will not compromise should not be in government. Our system requires compromise. Meet in the middle and get things done.
 
How about decreasing regulation and limiting the size and scope of the federal government? Perhaps we can chop it back down to a size outlined in our Constitution? That would help balance the budget by lowering the need for so gaddamned much federal spending.
 
Representatives who will not compromise should not be in government.

Agreed.

Also, they shouldn't be taking these sorts of pledges....
 
News clip from 9/20/10:

Bush Tax Cuts Heavily Favor Rich, CBO Says -Reports (Reuters). Reuters - President Bush's tax cuts have transferred the federal tax burden from the richest Americans to middle-class families, with one-third of them benefiting people with the top 1 percent of income, according to a government report cited in newspapers on Friday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

NEW: Pro Sports Forums

Cowboys, Texans, Rangers, Astros, Mavs, Rockets, etc. Pro Longhorns. The Chiefs and that Swift gal. This is the place.

Pro Sports Forums

Recent Threads

Back
Top