23 Polls Say People Support Higher Taxes to Reduce the Deficit

And that's why it's not happening.

*their* taxes being raised? I have a feeling the results might have been different. It's easy for us to be in favor of other folks having their taxes raised. Not so much when ours are about to go up.

nt

by several thousand dollars each year. As a middle class American (making well under the 250K figure) that will be especially difficult on my family. I say that's *very* relevant.

When the question is phrased with tax increases on the 'rich', people go for it, because even the pretty damned well-off don't like to think of themselves as rich.

Personally, while I've taken advantage of the extension of the Bush tax cuts, they really don't mean that much to me. Ditto for the 2% payroll tax holiday that the President wants to extend. It saves me about twenty bucks a week, and frankly, I don't really need it that badly.

Instead of giving me a double sawbuck a week, and way more than that to people at or over the cap, why not make it a break for those who hire the long-term unemployed? You hire a worker who's been jobless for a year, you get a break on the employer's share of FICA taxes for a year. It would level the playing field for those who are long-term unemployed, yet considered toxic by employers just because of that fact.

I've voted many, many times in local elections to raise my own taxes in order to support various community goals.

went up by thousands but you didn't have a say in the matter?

because I knew what the taxes would be spent on and that it was important.

federal level? That's why I made a differentiation between local and federal taxes. Personally, I don't want several thousand more of my dollars going to DC to pay for more of the same.

How have you been? :hi:

:hi:

for personal reasons and for my own sanity hahaha! Stopped posting around Feb I think and lurked a little since then. But, the 'weirdo' fundies seem to always drag me out of my cave and make me want to come back to DU. Miss it always. Love it, too, tho' it drives me nuts sometimes and sucks up my time from my 3 kids!! I'm starting grad school in September, and working full time, so I'm lurking and enjoying DU now while I still can! :hi:

The republicans began their assault on the american economy 30 years ago with Reagan. Their rhetoric has been consistent. They wanted to run govt like a business. they were going to produce MORE FOR LESS, THEY WERE GOING TO GET RID OF GOVT WASTE. They never said that they were going to render govt inefficient or ineffective. They never said that they were going to shrink govt to level of incompetence. GOVT agencies evolved because of the abuses that surfaced from commercial enterprises of their privileges to trade in the american economy. The FDA, business practices poisoned our food, sold contaminated foods that made people sick and dead. The EPA came about because of the toxins that industries were pumping into our air and water with impunity. They were caught operating businesses in careless disregard for the public welfare. Cigarette makers spent years adding addictive drugs to their products to make the american public hooked and addicted to their products. And yet science, DHHS discovered that people were dying across the country some horrible deaths because of SMOKING. We need govt to be the bulwark against the business abuses of the common good in their pursuit of profits. Capitalism is good, but it has to be responsible and honest and socially responsible. The people want govt to function, they are willing to pay for the services, what they don't want is their money being squandered and wasted. That is the very least taxpayers can expect.

This is a battle that has been going on since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson went at it back in the 1800's. Who's govt is it? the 'elite'(adams) or the 'common' (jefferson). Funny over time Jefferson became the saint of the Dem's, and Adams the GOP. Small govt, large govt. the battle has been going on since the Constitution became the law of the land. Remember the GOP is a working machine and are very, very good at it, while the Dem's for the most part are just 'dog chasing their own tail'. yet somehow we end up winning, when we shouldn't.
Ending the Bush tax cuts will raise taxes on all of us, some more than others. I know this much, since the Bush tax cuts, I've received 1 $600 check, I've seen my start taxes go up as well as my state fees. I am not 'better off' than I was 30 years ago, or even 10 years ago, but I feel better these last two years. But if raising taxes gets us out of this slump, then go for it. I don't like taxes any more than the next guy, but I dislike waste even more. I don't want a 'huge' govt, but I sure the hell want one large enough to protect me against 'BIG BUSINESS'.
Somehow America has made it this far, and will keep going on. Democracy is still an experiment. Other forms of govt have been around for thousands of years, but I'll take this experiment any day of the week. Each piece of legislation, just another test of the experiment. Like all test, some pass and some fail. It still comes down to us, the voters. "WE THE PEOPLE..."

:hi:

ain't gonna happen. :(

but then, reality and sanity were not common among the Tantrum Party terrorists ...

democracy? bullshit.

It's manifestly obvious that we live in an oligarchy.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice... won't get fooled again? takin' it to the streets?

the answer is blowin' in the wind...

solely to the almighty Norquistling and Norquistling don't want no freakin' income tax increases, but rather wants the big three to bear the full brunt of massive spending cuts 'cause there ain't gonna be no new income taxes and MIC spending can't be cut a lick without imperiling our national security. Besides lots of dead, starving, and/or freezing/suffocating old, frail, and poor people are but such a small prices to pay for keeping one's pledge to the almighty Norquistling, to whom they are required to answer to, and keeping our national security un-imperiled. :patriot: