Poll: Raise Taxes or Cut Spending?
- Thread starter The Tradition
- Start date
Both, duh.
How would you suggest slowing down the deficit train?
How would you suggest slowing down the deficit train?
Tax smokers of cigarettes and delicious meats, like fake burnt ends type shit. Freedom isn’t free muffückers.
Both - significant cuts to defense and increases to infrastructure. Tell the boys to put down their guns and pickup a shovel.
Everyonne is gonna say cut spending then through a fit when programs that effect their family get cut.
Anybody who doesn’t say to do both is not a real conservative but a RINO
Anyone who says tax the rich which actually means tax everyone and everything is a Democrat.
We tax a far lower % of GDP than other countries. Some things need to be cut. We certainly don't need to spend as much on defense as we do.
But just cutting spending is not the answer.
But just cutting spending is not the answer.
Freeze spending is all I ask. Move money around but spend no more.
Do that and I could get behind a 1% sales tax to pay down debt.
Do that and I could get behind a 1% sales tax to pay down debt.
Chances are both, but until you cut spending, which will mostly consist of more efficient spending (reduction of red tape, etc.) rather than cutting actual services, a tax hike is just an excuse to continue wasteful spending.
At one point Trump promised to focus on making government more efficient. If this has happened, it's lost on me. IMO it would be an excellent first step. Then after a couple years of real focus on lean government, we'll be in a much better position to determine where more funding is needed, and the case for raising taxes can be made much more palatable. The problem today is that everyone running for office (GOP and DEM) wants to spend more, not focus on spending what we have more efficiently.
At one point Trump promised to focus on making government more efficient. If this has happened, it's lost on me. IMO it would be an excellent first step. Then after a couple years of real focus on lean government, we'll be in a much better position to determine where more funding is needed, and the case for raising taxes can be made much more palatable. The problem today is that everyone running for office (GOP and DEM) wants to spend more, not focus on spending what we have more efficiently.
The first step should be to cut military spending by the exact amount Trump redirected to his wall.
Clearly that money wasn’t needed for what it was intended for.
Clearly that money wasn’t needed for what it was intended for.
I would cut the military a lot more than that. Time to close a lot of foreign bases and cut back on number of carrier groups.
Tell the rest of the free world to protect themselves. Free lunch for them is s big reason the debt is insane.
Oh, I agree completely. I was simply using that money as a starting point.
The second place I’d cut would be aid to Israel.
The problem with focusing the most on cutting spending is nothing of substance will get cut. Trump ran on draining the swamp. Instead, he's created a bigger one.
The big cash cows are SS, Medicare and Medicaid, and military spending. Of those three, two are supposed to be separate and not dipped into by the government.
It's great rhetoric talking about lazy people on food assistance, and there is plenty of fraud and waste in welfare, but i.e. cutting food assistance is like shooting a pellet gun at the Enola Gay as far as government spending is concerned.
As much as social programs are a staple for the Dems, military spending is for the GOP. It would take a change in philosophy before either side works to enact some real action.
Right, and Republicans tend to shift their social programs from one Republican president to the next. With Trump, it's obviously been farmers.
Yes, it's true, everybody who earns a paycheck or buys tooth paste at Walmart pays taxes. You are correct.
We should just tell the military, politicians, teachers, police officers, DOT, etc. to work for free so no one is taxed.
I like where your head is at. Brilliant.
For all the grief Obama took for the auto companies bailout, (that was a problem he inherited from Bush II) did you know that the current bailout of farmers is over 2x that amount? And they (farmers) want more.
And every single penny is because of Trump’s tariffs and his giving 35 refineries subsidies to quit refining ethanol and focus on fossil fuel refining.
If we are gonna cut welfare, let’s cut it across the board. Corporations as well as people.
And don't forget that the Auto industry repaid their bailout Monies. Are farmers going to do the same thing? I have yet to see that mentioned anywhere.
Neither. Let's pretend it is not a problem and inflate our way out of it. Free Fed money is fun.
No. Not both.
We have bills that need to be paid. Raise taxes to pay them.
If you want the bills to be lower in the future, cutting spending is certainly a logical way to go, but cutting spending doesn't reduce the current bills, which still need to be paid.
These issues should not be conflated.
Pay the bills first. Always pay the bills.
Separately, decide what you want to accomplish and cost it out. Then you may be able to cut taxes by cutting spending. Or not. Depends on what you want to do.
And that's the rub.
I wish both parties could be the mature, sensible parent and make this whole thing a unifying principle. EVERYBODY should have skin in the game, the days of "someone else can pay for it" need to be over. We are taxed quite a bit less than most developed countries, I think there is plenty of dry powder there. That said, I think the notion of free health care, free college, etc. etc. is pure lunacy. There has to be a balanced approach. Nobody gets to manage their personal finances the way the federal government currently manages theirs.
My guess is that nothing will change until it's about 30 minutes from being too late.
Apparently you didn't realize that we would need a 10% sales tax on all retail sales just to pay the annual interest accruing on the current debt load and obviously nothing would be available to pay down the principal under that scenario.
Nice try though.
At least if you freeze spending the growing economy will help increase revenue without increasing spending.
It’s a start. I would be impressed as hell with a freeze. I would love some cuts but we need to crawl before we start running.
Currently we have candidates for president giving serious consideration to things like universal income and slavery reparations.
Unfortunately, yes. Total US retail sales is ~$5.5 T annually. Annual interest on the debt is ~$480 B.
Latest posts
-
-
-
Who was playing quarterback at your first-ever college football game?- Latest: Hawksofly101789
-
-
