Posted on 11/16/2011 7:14:11 AM PST by AnAmericanAbroad
House Republicans are set to vote later this week on a balanced budget amendment (BBA) that would not cap federal spending as a percentage of GDP or require a supermajority to raise taxes.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the vote would probably take place this Friday.
Cantor said that this version of a BBA, H.J. Res 2 -- rather than one that would cap federal spending, H.J. Res 1 -- was the version “overwhelmingly” favored by House Republicans.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
The good news is that there’s a call to have the constitution changed to require a balanced budget.
The bad news is that under that law taxes must be increased to cover increased spending.
The really bad news is that there is a percent of income that a household needs to both survive, launch, and continue to produce.
Greece is learning that it is possible to kill a nation from within.
Tax rate is not the same as tax revenue.
Balancing the budget doesn’t matter one bit if spending is not tied to GDP. All balancing the budget means is the government has to have income equal to its obligations. A 100% tax rate could be a response to this ammendment.
Cap spedning at a percentage of GDP and then the BBA accomplishes what we need it to.
Liberals will vote this down in the Senate and the GOP can run on this in 2012.
It is an election-year ploy by our side and it is a smart move.
Stop mixing ideology with politics......they don’t go together.
The BBA is a feel good action, that's all. Common sense says the budget should be balanced.
We can deal with the spending level issue later.
We need to address spending now.
Cleanup on aisle 4, please.
That's correct. But, we were talking about spending rates, expressed in a percentage.
If you can get spending rates to match the tax rate, it balance the budget.
This is how Republicans operate. They’ll usually make the wrong choice. I hope the House votes down this bill.
Revenues, not rates.
5% of GDP would be about right if we have a legitimate government.
Yes, and the BBA isn't going to make that happen. The ratification process can take a long time -- it's typically limited to 7 years when the amendment is proposed.
I'd rather get the amendment in the pipeline, and address the spending issue at the ballot box. Putting a spending limitation in the amendment will make it more difficult to achieve the 3/4th's of states for ratification.
Making it a separate amendment is another way to address the spending issue. You might even find that some states decide to ratify it, and not the BBA -- but both amendments achieve the required 38 states from different sets.
You need to read the footnotes:
Average Total US Federal Tax Rate 1979-2007
Or at least the source data:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/USFederalTaxRatesAndTaxShares.1979-2007.PDF
Average tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income.
Comprehensive household income equals pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes and the employer's share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal unemployment insurance payroll taxes) and employees' contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits (Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy assistance).
Individual income taxes are attributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are attributed to households paying those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are attributed to households according to their share of capital income. Federal excise taxes are attributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.
These charts don't reflect the legislated tax rates. They reflect the actual taxes paid (or received, if you prefer), divided by comprehensive income. The actual taxes paid are the same as tax revenue.
5% of GDP would be about right if we have a legitimate government
As much as I would like that to occur, it's not going to happen.
Thomas Jefferson would agree with you.
I have to say I laughed out loud at your comment, otherwise I would be crying at this total lack of leadership by Beohner and Cantor.
When the Dems were in control of the House, they even locked the GOP out of the committee conferences. Have they forgotten already?
Now that we gave the GOP a majority in the House where they can dictate spending, they can't wait to go along to get along. After one year from now, no matter what the outcome of the 2012 election, the GOP needs to go the way of the Whigs,and a new party formed to replace it, and the Dem leadership needs to go to jail. We are hurtling toward a financial iceberg, and these clowns are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
And how do you get Congress to do that? Congress controls it own schedule, pay, benefits, staff levels etc.
I doubt congress pays any income taxes. There’s no way to prove it. They can put out any bogus paper they want. And since they control the IRS’s budget the IRS will help them fool us. Hey, we’re easy to fool.
We the people should have marched on the capital with torches and pitchforks decades ago. It’s too late now.
As for the economy, etc. These congress people have already lined their pockets with our money so all they’re doing is making themselves richer while waiting on the crash.
And my tag line doesn’t even work anymore. I believe most of the tea party candidates had read THE PRINCE. They jumped in front of the crowd and yelled “Follow me!”
There could be a second party, third party, fourth party or dance party and the same type of people will run. Good honest working people can’t afford to run.
Let them spend as much as they want except it must come out of their pay check, not mine.
Are these fools trying to start a revolution?
OMG. If this passes, it’s over.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.