Just Raise Taxes
Being fiscally conservative requires making a sound national budget and raising the revenue to fund our nation’s needs. The logical approach to paying off our national debt is to find middle ground between raising taxes and cutting spending. The tax rates, particularly those at the top of the earning scale, need to be adjusted upward,and there is also a grave need for spending restraint, elimination of duplicate efforts, and the elimination of waste and wasteful projects driven by special interest groups on both sides of the aisle. Since few Congressmen are willing to vote to cut pet projects, and perhaps lose their own, it leaves us with just one alternative: ” Just raise taxes”.
As the chart below shows, cutting taxes does not necessarily lead to greater economic growth, but it certainly means a large increase in our national debt. The high tax rates and increasing national debt under the Eisenhower administration were mostly to pay off our war debts and rebuild Europe, yet there was also growth in GDPand and jobs. Reagan dramatically cut taxes, and experienced a lower growth in GDP, more jobs, but also a large increase in peacetime national debt.
Tax Rates and Economic Indicators
If you wonder why a country as rich as ours is going broke, it may be because of Arthur Laffer‘s economics, Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge, and ALEC. We should not let men we did not elect or some secretive organization that represents special interest groups determine our tax policy. If you will remember, under Eisenhower, the top tax rate was 90% and we used the money to take care of our soldiers, send them to college, rebuild the countries devastated by war, and build the interstate highway system that fueled economic development for the next several decades. Now we have cut the top tax rate, the corporate tax rate, the capital gains tax, and were now working on cutting the inheritance tax, while we are also cutting the safety nets and help for the poor because we cannot pay for them. We are better country than that.
Norquist claims 235 US Representatives and 41 US Senators have signed his Pledge. In doing so, they have clearly given up their responsibility as our elected representatives. Those in the US Legislature who have signed the pledge are listed here. You may wish to check see who from your state has signed the pledge and contact them. Since Norquist claims that signing the pledge is binding into perpetuity, I would suggest that we make sure none of those who signed his pledge are re-elected.
Tags: ALEC, economic growth, Eisenhower, Grover Norquist, politics, Reagan, Tax Cuts
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