Let Bush Tax Cuts Expire

[Joanne98]

The midterm election is over and the results are exactly as expected. The Republican party has overtaken the House of Representatives and has strengthened its minority in the Senate. Much of this has been due to the effect of Tea Party activism on the conservative side of the political spectrum. Voters turned out for these candidates out of excitement over the Tea Party promise to rein in government spending and reduce the national debt. These newly elected representatives will face their first test almost immediately, and it will come with the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts at the end of the year.

Not surprisingly, Republicans are pushing for a full extension of the entirety of the Bush tax cuts. There seems to be an elephant in the room that nobody is talking about though: this position is almost entirely antithetical to the principles of fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction that these same Republicans claim to represent.

The Bush tax cuts, which encompass two separate pieces of legislation signed into law in 2001 and 2003, have turned out to be one of the most fiscally irresponsible actions ever taken by the U.S. government. While it must be acknowledged that the cuts did reduce taxes for almost everyone, the greatest and most costly reductions were reserved for the rich. By vastly reducing taxes for the wealthiest Americans, the cuts have robbed us of well over a trillion dollars already. To put this into perspective, the money lost by the Bush tax cuts could have paid for health insurance for every American, which would have made Obama’s health care bill a deficit non-issue. The lost money could have also completely paid for the Iraq War.

The theory behind the tax cuts was the same idea behind the “Reaganomics” of the 1980s. The notion was that if you reduced taxes on the richest Americans – people who absolutely do not need their taxes reduced and are doing just fine – there would be a “trickle down” effect that would lead to job growth and a stronger middle class. This is a principle that has proven time and time again to be completely false. Worse yet is that this “trickle down” principle is always pushed by administrations that couple it with drastic deregulation of the private sector.

http://www.newuniversity.org/2010/11/opinion/let-bush-tax-cuts-expire/

[Lasher]

1. Kick and double-dog rec.

We could handle this in the Senate just fine. Just say, "No no no no no!" Bring back the Clinton tax rates that eliminated deficits while ushering in prosperity!

[Warpy]

2. Killing the ones at the bottom will cost me $1000 next year

and will likely cost people with children a lot more. Still, they need to go. Our government was nearly bankrupted by the combination of these reckless tax cuts and an appointed president who thought he had a mandate to spend like a tweaker with a stolen credit card.

If we want our country back, we're all going to have to pay for it up front.

Clearly, some of the cuts for the bottom quintile for workers will need to be reinstituted, paid for by ending the largesse to the very top. However, allowing the whole package to die is the best policy.