Friday, March 30, 2007

Heritage Foundation -- Tax Increase

I got an email from my mother this morning linking to a YouTube video of "Heritage in Focus", these are short 2 minute episodes about various current issues. Some might call these videos "propaganda," but this one was fun, my cousin is the announcer in this episode.

I agree quite strongly with the Heritage Foundation on this subject. Surprisingly, under George W. Bush revenues in the US Treasury have reached some of the highest highs in recent decades and it has happened without tax hikes. (Apology -- this is information I heard during a tax practitioner conference and I don't recall (or am too lazy to) recall the sources) It would appear that one of the largest contributing factors in increasing revenues is one of the strongest efforts in history to give the Internal Revenue Service the needed resources to close the tax gap. The Democratic party rhetoric that the Bush tax cuts were only for the wealthy is very misleading, I have seen a vast majority of my client-taxpayers, and I would argue most people have, benefited under the tax cuts enacted during the past 6 years. Make the Bush tax cuts permanent!

Update: I received some criticism on this post, and I wrote as if I had nothing but praise for the Bush Administration fiscal management of our nation. Federal spending by Bush and the formerly GOP Congress has been inexcusably high especially on earmarks and nonessential, entitlement, non-defense programs. However, I disagree that tax cuts are the problem. If we would have had a GOP congress that would have stuck the fiscal conservatism GOP'ers claim to embrace (low taxes and low federal spending) the current debt/deficit situation could be much different. If congress and the President reigned in non-essential spending (I believe) a balanced budget would occur.

I have at times in my life believed in Santa Claus so why not believe Congress and the President can stop its addiction to over-spending.

I hope that lowers the critically high propaganda levels of this post. I posted this more because I thought it was neat that my cousin was in the video.


5 comments:

Marshall said...

Here I looked it up for you...

http://www.cbo.gov/budget/historical.pdf

Year Total Revenues
2000 2,025.5
2001 1,991.4
2002 1,853.4
2003 1,782.5
2004 1,880.3
2005 2,153.9
2006 2,406.7

It has taken us 5 years just to get where we were before the tax cuts.

And the tax cuts have not paid for themselves, they have just been stacked onto my generation in additional debt. Do you want me to show you the increase in the national debt?

The poor got some tax cuts but not like the wealthy did, they got a much higher percentage of the tax cut than the poor.

While I think the poor definitely got the short end of the stick with these tax cuts the real loser will be future generations that will end up pay for this.

Stop making future generations foot the bill, repeal the Bush tax cuts.

pramahaphil said...

Thank's for providing the information I was missing.

You are right it did take 5 years, with a recession in between, to reach pre-Bush revenue. However, revenue did reach those levels.

Now I have a question, Why do you think we have reached these revenue levels if if wasn't due to higher taxes? Hmmmm. That's a mystery. Could it be that lower taxes encourages investment and spending, and investment and spending has led to one of the most robust economies in recent history.

Since you seem to have the time for research, why don't you bring some of the hard nembers on national debt to the table. In particular, I would appreciate it if you gave me numbers on national debt for the past twenty years, please. I think a broad look at this might be enlightening.

Show me how the poor got the short end of the stick, I would love to see you demonstrate this.

Cameron said...

The higher tax brackets got a higher percentage of the tax break because they pay a much larger percentage of the tax.

The poorest people in this country do not pay income tax.

The NY Times reported last year that federal revenues are quite volatile and hard to predict even quarter to quarter because they rely so much on the richest taxpayers, whose income is not wage-based and therefore is not easily predicted.

The real question, however, is not how much revenue the federal government is bringing in. Look at the numbers listed in the first comment. That's a lot of money. The real question should be what is it being spent on?

Marshall said...

When did the recession end?

Also those numbers don't even count inflation.

CBO DATA SHOW TAX CUTS HAVE PLAYED MUCH LARGER ROLE THAN DOMESTIC SPENDING INCREASES IN FUELING THE DEFICIT

one of the most robust economies in recent history.

you mean the debt fueled expansion

This economy is not healthy, a few forclosures and the subprime market is in a tailspin. Is that what you look for in a healthy economy?

This expansion has been marginal at best and even worse when considering that a good portion of the growth is coming from increased government spending that at some point will inhibit our future growth potential with paying down this additional debt.

Since this is supposedly a centrist blog take a look at this - It's The Sunsets, Stupid!

There is no hope for a balanced budget until the tax cuts sunset. And spending is a major issue and something that Bush nor the Republican congress could contain, we need pay as you go rules...oh wait Bush opposes those.

pramahaphil said...

Actually, I never have considered myself to be a centrist. It seems that others have labeled me as such.

Now as for some clarification,I have reread this post and concede that I have been cheering on the Bush administration, more than deserved in some material aspects. as Pete du Pont writes at:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pdupont/?id=110009861

Federal spending by Bush and the former GOP Congress has been inexcusably high especially on earmarks and nonessential, entitlement, non-defense type spending. However, I disagree that tax cuts are the problem. If we would have had a GOP congress that would have stuck the fiscal conservatism GOP'ers claim to embrace (low taxes and low federal spending) the current debt/deficit situation could be much different. If congress and the President reigned in non-essential spending (I believe) a balanced budget would occur.

I have at times in my life believed in Santa Claus so why not believe Congress and the President can stop its addiction to over-spending.

I hope that lowers the propaganda levels of this post. I posted this more because I thought it was neat that my cousin was in the video.