The twelve-member joint House-Senate “supercommittee” on budget reduction has less than three weeks left to submit a plan with at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next ten years. Democrats (and their allies in the media establishment) are hoping that Republicans will cave on tax increases, which are, according to Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.), his party’s “number one priority.”
They are likely to be disappointed.
As was true in previous budget negotiations, the Left has tagged anti-tax activist Grover Norquist as a bogeyman. Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has accused Republicans of being “led like puppets” by the founder and longtime president of Americans for Tax Reform, whose Taxpayer Protection Pledge most GOP members of Congress, including all six Republicans on the supercommittee, have signed.
Advertisement
Regardless of whether Norquist is the puppet master that liberals would like to believe he is, Republicans are poised to reject any offer that includes tax increases — as they have done, successfully, in every budget negotiation this year.
House speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) laid out his stance in an address to the Economic Club of Washington in September. “Tax increases . . . are not a viable option for the Joint Committee,” he said. “It’s a very simple equation. Tax increases destroy jobs.” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has repeatedly echoed this position.
But proponents of higher taxes continue to hold out hope. Some liberal media outlets were almost giddy at the news that 40 House Republicans had signed on to a letter to supercommittee members urging them to consider “all options,” including “raising revenue,” in pursuit of a bigger, $4 trillion proposal.
The list of GOP signers of the letter ranges from moderates like Reps. Steven LaTourette (R., Ohio) and Frank Wolf (R., Va.) to conservatives like Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.) and Paul Gosar (R., Ariz.). Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul (R., Texas) even added his name to the effort. Of the 40 members, all but three have signed the ATR pledge. “This is not an ideal world,” Lummis told the Associated Press. “Grover Norquist is not in my district. I represent the state of Wyoming and its people.”
The saddest part of this whole exercise is that the President and his party have no reason why they want to have tax increases.
They have never come out with any positive reason for raising taxes, and no plan or idea to use the tax money for the benefit of the country. It is hard for me to understand why they think it's a good idea to give money to government, which is so incapable of meeting the perceived needs of the population of the country, especially the old, the poor, and the ill.
One might quibble that all the Republicans are doing is playing to their base. But even if you grant that argument to be true, they are at least saying that their plans will do positive things; get people to work, lessen to role of government in their lives, and expand the economic base of the country so more people can have more.
The Democrats have nothing positive to say about their plan, even the President. Unlike even FDR who put people first in his public speaking, in spite of his misguided policies, the modern Democratic Party has no positive rationale for it's position. It is a 'roadmap to ruin' they are proposing and they have no positive reason to offer to anyone (except a few core political constituencies) to support their program.
It is awful to see one half of our body politic offer the country a suicide pact and demand that the country agrees to its own destruction.
Sounding the likely fool: Isn't this the basic dynamic that brought BO fever into the presidency for a season, and then overwhelmingly rejected his practices? Dems want to give it away on the backs of their 'boogymen' (rich white guys) while the Reps want to foster 'free enterprise'** which has a tendancy to create rich PEOPLE, not all white, and not all guys. It also creates jobs.
I just want to see a REAL REPUBLICAN candidate (NOT ROMNEY),put forward. What ever Alice's Mitthatter promises will be replaced 10 seconds after his Oath of Office, should he be elected.
We need to get this election in hand and quit rehashing the obvious. As part of the voting population, I am. tired of the 'monsters' hinding under the bed' posed by both parties.
** Rep free-enterprise is the boogyman, say the D's.
"at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next ten years. " You mean, of course, 1.2 trillion dollars in recommended reductions in the increase in spending. There will never be actual reductions unless baseline budgeting is banned.
With raising taxes being such a sticking point why not try and achieve the grand bargain based on the Simpson-Bowles committee’s suggestions that had been but forth during the debt ceiling debate? External Link
The Simpson-Bowles committee found that by eliminating tax expenditures and lowering marginal tax rates Congress would be able to simplify the tax code, improve fairness, and spur economic growth. External Link
Would you rather wait for Republicans to budge on higher taxes or achieve revenue-neutral tax reform right now?
I would prefer to wait on Republicans to budge, that might not happen until Nov. 2012 but it least we'll be on the right path.
The Dems are willing to comprmise but the Republicans are not and they will pay the price in the next election. People are tired of being pushed around by the politically well connected. That is not to say the Dems are not motivated by moneyed interests of Washington but at least they are willing to work and fight for the middle class.
We can all do simple math, a return to the tax rates under Clinton when the economy created 22 million new jobs would increase taxes on those who make:
$300,000 the tax increase would $1,500/year or $125/month
500,000 the tax increase would be $7,500/year or $625/month
1,000,000 the tax increase would be $22,500/year or $1,875/month
Ok, so that's what Republicans are fighting to protect, who really beleives and additional $125 a month is going to stop someone from creating a job...
With raising taxes being such a sticking point why not try and achieve the grand bargain based on the Simpson-Bowles committee’s suggestions that had been but forth during the debt ceiling debate? External Link
The Simpson-Bowles committee found that by eliminating tax expenditures and lowering marginal tax rates Congress would be able to simplify the tax code, improve fairness, and spur economic growth. External Link
Would you rather wait for Republicans to budge on higher taxes or achieve revenue-neutral tax reform right now?
Eliminate the AMT - or at lest make it to target the super rich as initially intended - now it targets the middle class and not the super rich! The AMT is a disgrace tax on the middle class! Why are the republicans in congress not talking about the AMT - if they indeed care about the middle class!
Follow
