Ok, lets take a trip in the Way Back machine. Remember when these tax cuts were put into place? All had sunset provisions (often a year or two; the longest was the 2010 sunset), because without them, the screwy accounting used to justify them in order to not make even the rosiest revenue predictions an ocean of red ink, would make it quite clear that the country could not afford any of them. The non-rosy analyses easily predicted that we would be in this current situation, and that was without the economic downturn and continued wars that even then were not part of the budget. They also predicted that the sunsets would not be allowed to occur under the guise of 'raising taxes'. These were not political analyses of the tax cuts, but ones done using real accounting and not pie-in-the-sky assumptions. I'm sorry that I cannot remember who did the analysis, but it was non-partisan tax geek wonks.
Well, all of the predictions have come to pass. We are drowning in red ink, and politicians are screaming 'tax increases' (and have been all along) about the sunset provisions. And the super rich are keeping more of their money, and getting richer, and the rest of us are getting poorer.
I might be a screaming liberal in some ways.....I understand the use of government to shift external costs onto those who create the costs; ie requiring pollution controls so that the creator of the pollution pays rather than those downwind or downstream of the polluter. I am also a fiscal conservative. In my own life I believe in not counting on money until you get it, rainy day funds (I managed to save money even when homeless and working for near minimum wage as a young adult so that I could get an apartment), and not spending more than you make. I have no debt but my mortgage. I believe in fiscal conservatism for government as well. But we have to make choices. What services do we want? Do we want police and fire departments and pothole-free roads, clean air and water? Do we want to put our elderly on ice floes or at least allow them a small guarantee to prevent utter destitution?
Shared services require payment. And the payment is through taxes and fees, whether we like it or not.
Well, all of the predictions have come to pass. We are drowning in red ink, and politicians are screaming 'tax increases' (and have been all along) about the sunset provisions. And the super rich are keeping more of their money, and getting richer, and the rest of us are getting poorer.
I might be a screaming liberal in some ways.....I understand the use of government to shift external costs onto those who create the costs; ie requiring pollution controls so that the creator of the pollution pays rather than those downwind or downstream of the polluter. I am also a fiscal conservative. In my own life I believe in not counting on money until you get it, rainy day funds (I managed to save money even when homeless and working for near minimum wage as a young adult so that I could get an apartment), and not spending more than you make. I have no debt but my mortgage. I believe in fiscal conservatism for government as well. But we have to make choices. What services do we want? Do we want police and fire departments and pothole-free roads, clean air and water? Do we want to put our elderly on ice floes or at least allow them a small guarantee to prevent utter destitution?
Shared services require payment. And the payment is through taxes and fees, whether we like it or not.
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