Posted on 08/30/2012 6:56:56 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Billionaire industrialist David Koch, who is helping steer millions of dollars to elect Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans, on Thursday told Politico he disagrees with the GOP’s stance on gay marriage and believes the U.S. needs to consider raising taxes to balance the budget.
Koch, who is serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from New York, spoke to Politico after delivering brief remarks at a reception held in his honor him by Americans for Prosperity, the political advocacy group he chairs and has helped fund.
The 1980 vice presidential nominee for the socially liberal—but fiscally conservative—Libertarian Party, Koch told Politico, “I believe in gay marriage”, when asked about the GOP’s stance on gay rights. … Koch said he thinks the U.S. military should withdraw from the Middle East and said the government should consider defense spending cuts, as well as possible tax increases to get its fiscal house in order—a stance anathema to many in the Republican Party. …
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Leave the rest of us alone.
As much as I might hate it, taxes probably DO need to go up....on EVERYONE. Spending will probably need to be cut by double the amount we increase taxes. The fact is we’ve already spent too much, and it has to be paid for. After the debt is paid down, taxes should be cut down to nearly nothing.
I’ll give him a libertarian stance on marriage, but raising taxes? What’s the point of all this investment in the conservative movement if raising taxes is a-ok. All these governors are here showing that they accomplished big problems and balanced budgets without new taxes. Tax reform, absolutely. Blanket tax increases...won’t solve anything.
I would accept raising taxes IF an equal amount of government spending could be cut...but we all know that wouldn’t happen.
Ken Vogel thinks he is breaking new ground?? I mentioned this on an FR thread several months ago.
The Koch brothers are libertarians who believe in gay marriage...they aren’t fully conservatives like we are here on FR.
Cut two dollars, raise taxes one dollar.
You won’t hear much out of FReepers about gay marriages performed in the wedding chapels owned by Sheldon Adelson either. His feelings on abortion wouldn’t win him any FR friends.
I am trying to help the gays by opposing gay marriage....why should those poor gays have to go through what I went through in marriage, lack of sex and the pain of divorce!
The federal government owns trillions in assets. Sell them first. Rent out DOD ~ or collect tribute ~ both traditional things to do to deal with a heavy national defense bill.
Dear Mr. Koch - “gay marriage”? Thanks for all the support - but please don’t let the door hit you on the butt on the way out.
exactly
why is it that libertarians can;t use their own platform their own cnvention, their own nomination process instead we have to put up with them coming in and then demanding we become librals except paying taxes.
A freeper once said on here, libertarians are liberals who hate paying taxes, how right that is.
The media will jump up and down about this like they did with McCain’s daughter.
They live in their la land and if it were up to them then get all the drugs you want, marry your sister of which one poster on here once said a couple of years ago and never pay a tax plus get rid of the CIA, FBI etc because if we never bother anyone they won;t bother us, [sigh]
BS. Feeding the beast ain’t the damn answer.
its no use mr. koch - the libs will never like you...
I agree with you in principle, but that was not the lesson we learned in NJ. Problem is not tax increases or tax cuts, it was spending. Raise taxes, make sure the gov follows thru with spending cuts or reduction in the rate of spending increases. In the end it took a tough Gov Christie to kick ass, but even he had a tough time to make all the necessary cuts.
Why do you think he was interviewed by O-litico? I’ll give him a pass on the fudgepacker nonsense, but the tax raise is an issue for me.
His brother controls that
You’ll always get just shy of 19% GDP in revenues, regardless of tax rate. Lower the marginal rates and grow the GDP, if you want more revenues.
Time and again, a wealthy individual says we ought to raise taxes. They might even say that spending should be cut. However, they have an understanding of economics that is only slightly more sophisticated than the typical US high school student. These people think that a combination of cutting spending and raising taxes will somehow ease the budgetary shortfalls in governments. However, the real world doesn’t work that way. First of all, taxes are inherently destructive—if you tax something, you destroy that something at least partly. If you tax earnings, you will reduce the motivation people have to contribute their labor. This is in inverse proportion to income. A dollar of earnings to someone who earns just enough to be in the top tax bracket is more valuable to that person than a dollar of earnings is to Koch or Buffett. You could tax them a bunch but not have much effect and so they perceive income and taxes much differently than people with lower earnings.
Second, if you put more money into taxes, you give money to people whose job it is to spend money. There has never been an incentive or reward for any politician who cuts spending. It does not and will not happen unless the system is changed to reward cuts, punish spending, or both. This is a fatal flaw in the approach of those who harken to John M. Keynes’ Depression-era advice. Politicians spend when times are bad and spend when times are good—they spend—that is what they get rewarded for.
Third, if you take tax money out of the US economy and send it to govt, govt must use a portion of that money to pay interest on past spending—for the interest payments that do not stay in the US, that is an instant loss of value that cannot be applied to spur economic activity more generally. A portion of that interest is paid to non-US entities essentially fueling economic competition against US companies and citizens. Higher tax rates also motivate businesses and those who pay the higher taxes to seek more favorable economic environments. Fourth, taxes sent to gov’t that do not pay for interest often fuel govt programs that are impossible to cut or reduce in size given politicians’ incentives. Once a dollar is sent to gov’t, it is often like buying a subscription. Every year, another dollar must be sent plus whatever increase that politicians deem needed to keep the ultimate recipients happy. Dollars spent by private sector organizations and individuals are often one-time “project” spending—dollars spent by gov’t are repeated “subscription” spending.
These are just some of the reasons higher taxes are a threat to the economy and will not improve govt’s economic state. I would appreciate any economist’s or other individual’s comments on my post that can improve my thinking on this issue.
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