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Off the Cliff
Jul. 27th, 2012 09:47 amLawrence O'Donnell over at MSNBC has been pushing for something he's calling Off the Cliff about the current Tax Situation in the US.
One of the reasons for the current level of US debt is that in 2001 George W Bush pushed through a set of tax cuts based on the then surplus... which has, if memory serves, added about 4 TRILLION to the US debt over 10 years...there were some unfunded wars too... and a big gift to GOP voting OAPs.
The tax cuts were set to sunset but when they last came up for renewal, Obama caved and extended all the cuts. Now, frankly, I'd let them all lapse - but I accept that hitting most people with the kind of hike they'd see wouldn't be good at this stage. But for all that is holy and sane, increasing the marginal rate on incomes over $250,000 by 6% isn't going to make a damn difference to anybody. $250K, even in a major city is a LOT of money, paying an extra few percent on the amount over isn't going to be noticed by most people. And I am SICK of listening to the "what of the small business?" argument.
If a small business is paying their staff out of after tax income then they're idiots.
So, we've a cliff coming up. Either everybody gets a tax rise, or nobody or the democrats say screw you. Either taxes go up for everyone, or the richer start paying a tiny bit more.
To put this in perspective, Ezra Klein pointed out the following. The GOP are currently pushing for households on over $1,000,000 a year to get a $100,000 a year tax break, over a $10,000 a year tax break - yet they are pushing to kill a low income tax credit that would cost somebody on $30,000 about $1,500 a year.
You do the math and tell me how that works out.
One of the reasons for the current level of US debt is that in 2001 George W Bush pushed through a set of tax cuts based on the then surplus... which has, if memory serves, added about 4 TRILLION to the US debt over 10 years...there were some unfunded wars too... and a big gift to GOP voting OAPs.
The tax cuts were set to sunset but when they last came up for renewal, Obama caved and extended all the cuts. Now, frankly, I'd let them all lapse - but I accept that hitting most people with the kind of hike they'd see wouldn't be good at this stage. But for all that is holy and sane, increasing the marginal rate on incomes over $250,000 by 6% isn't going to make a damn difference to anybody. $250K, even in a major city is a LOT of money, paying an extra few percent on the amount over isn't going to be noticed by most people. And I am SICK of listening to the "what of the small business?" argument.
If a small business is paying their staff out of after tax income then they're idiots.
So, we've a cliff coming up. Either everybody gets a tax rise, or nobody or the democrats say screw you. Either taxes go up for everyone, or the richer start paying a tiny bit more.
To put this in perspective, Ezra Klein pointed out the following. The GOP are currently pushing for households on over $1,000,000 a year to get a $100,000 a year tax break, over a $10,000 a year tax break - yet they are pushing to kill a low income tax credit that would cost somebody on $30,000 about $1,500 a year.
You do the math and tell me how that works out.
