Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Conservative: Raise Taxes On Middle Class

Seems logical and I am sure most Democrats would agree:
From the Washington Examiner:
In an apparent bid to outflank the left the tax and deficit issue, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute has called for a tax increase on the middle class — yes, something not even the most liberal Democrats have called for. This is all the more startling since AEI is a conservative, free-market think tank. Its list of scholars is a who’s who of right-leaning policy intellectuals.
That case for the tax hike is made by AEI resident scholar Sita Nataraj Slavov in the think tank’s online magazine, The American. Like Willie Sutton, Slavov’s thinking is that you have got to go where the money is. And that’s not the richest 1 or 2 percent:...
Throughout the recent presidential election campaign, we heard President Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney blast one another for allegedly wanting to raise taxes on the middle class, which they defined as households making less than $200,000 per year. And we heard each candidate repeatedly promise not to do so. One of the only things the two candidates appeared to agree on was that raising taxes on the middle class is a bad idea.
That might be true if you’re trying to be elected president. But from a tax policy perspective, raising taxes on the middle class is a terrific idea.
Raising taxes on the middle class is a necessity given the enormous fiscal gap facing our country. While that gap will have to be closed primarily by cutting entitlement spending, increased revenue will also need to be part of the solution. And it won’t be possible to get all of the money necessary from those making more than $200,000 per year. As Alan Viard, my colleague at the American Enterprise Institute, has documented, observers across the political spectrum have recognized that tax increases on the top 2 or 3 percent won’t be enough to close the fiscal gap.  http://washingtonexaminer.com/conservative-think-tank-scholar-raise-taxes-on-the-middle-class/article/2514493#.ULWfbmc8VXs
If the liberals are true to their word and want to lower the deficit by raising taxes on the rich, then, logically, if you tax the middle class higher, then you would really make a dent in the deficit.
But the liberals are not interested in sound fiscal policy- they just want to tax the rich because the liberals are jealous of people who have money.  They want to punish the rich for being successful and they want to steal their money away.
So, if the liberals really want to lower the deficit and not cut spending, then raise the taxes on the middle class and rich.
And the GOP is for raising the middle class taxes, then let the fiscal cliff perish and we would accomplish everything- higher taxes and a large cut in spending.
Of course, if they just cut the wasteful spending in the Federal government, no one's taxes should be raised.

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