Palin Vows to Relieve Tax Burden on American Families and Small Businesses - Video 9/15/08

Blogs for John McCain ^ | September 15, 2008 | brianinmo

[blogsforthompson.com]

Here is video from Sarah Palin's rally today in Golden, Colorado. In this clip from her remarks, Palin talks about how she and John McCain will relieve the tax burden on America's families and on the small businesses in America. . . . . (see video at link)

[diamond6]

Wooooooo Hoooooooooooo!!!

[kenavi]

Keep talking to Main Street.

[org.whodat]

I guess that means the tax on oil in Alaska is out the window, when do we get the money back from the citizens.

[veracious]

Careful. I want low taxes, but it is inappropriate to tax less than the government spends. Only wartime warrants such reckless borrowing. Ie., we're currently running a huge deficit/borrow government which will have to be paid back some day. Either shrink government or raise taxes! You can't have it both ways and remain solvent.

[diamond6]

Who said anything about both ways? McCain and Palin say they want to reduce earmarks and reduce inefficiencies.

Let’s get it done!

[supercat]

Careful. I want low taxes, but it is inappropriate to tax less than the government spends.

There is an upper limit to what government can successfully collect in taxes, no matter what the tax rate. Cranking tax rates beyond a certain point will hurt the taxed industries sufficiently that generated revenue will decrease.

The problem is over-spending, not under-taxing.

[Kellis91789]

“The problem is over-spending, not under-taxing. “

True. But the only way to curb spending is to make sure the voters feel the pain taxes. I am disappointed to see Palin and McCain trying to pander to the masses this way. Trying to buy votes by promising to untax people is irresponsible. That provides ZERO incentive to vote for spending cuts.

I’d much rather hear a promise to eliminate all the loopholes, deductions, and tax credits that make the tax code so convoluted. Tell everyone that the Federal Income tax will be a flat 10% on both individuals and corporations and the government will stop trying to reward and punish people through the tax system. Tell them that a 10% Flat Income Tax will raise the identical revenue as all the convoluted mess we call an income tax now. Tell them it will eliminate $600B/yr of wasted time and energy. Tell them it will make the US the best place in the world to operate a business. Tell them it will bring back money currently stashed in offshore money havens. Tell them you’ll protect senior citizens by exempting SS income, and you’ll protect the working poor by raising the minimum wage by the same 10% so they retain the same after-tax income.

Tell them you’ll simplify the budget by breaking it into two parts — the SS/M benefits payouts and their assoicated mandatory contributions; and the Federal Spending and its associated taxes.

[supercat]

But the only way to curb spending is to make sure the voters feel the pain taxes.

I really don't follow your logic. If the voters who would feel the pain of taxes were the same voters that were promoting reckless spending, then making them feel a tax byte might make sense. As it is, though, the voters who would demand the most reckless spending are, for the most part, not the ones who are paying the taxes.

Telling person X that if he does something bad, you'll punish some other person Y, may be effective if X likes Y and does not want to see him punished. It is almost guaranteed to be ineffective, however, if X hates Y and wants to see him punished.

Many of the tax rates in this country are almost certainly above the long-term and/or short-term optima. Reducing the ones that are above the long-term optimum may result in a short-term loss of revenue from those particular taxes, but that could be offset--even in the short term--by reducing some other rates that are above the short-term optimum. Reducing capital gains taxes, for example, will often encourage people to accelerate gains and thus pay taxes on their money sooner than they otherwise would. Such accelerated gains could offset a temporary loss of revenue from other tax reductions.

[Kellis91789]

“As it is, though, the voters who would demand the most reckless spending are, for the most part, not the ones who are paying the taxes.”

Exactly. This is why I don’t like to see Republicans telling people — who already aren’t paying any income taxes — that they will get “tax relief”. A flat tax that applies to the first dollar earned — which is what happens when there are no deductions, exemptions, loopholes, and tax credits — will put millions of people back on the tax rolls.

In short, raising taxes on the lower middle class would create a block of voters large enough to vote for lower taxes via lower spending. Even raising the minimum wage to compensate would still create an incentive for those workers to vote for lower tax rates so they keep more of that wage increase. At the same time, lowering tax rates on capital gains and corporate earnings would encourage business expansion that would cause full employment and result in higher wages. Those people who suddenly find themselves paying income taxes for the first time at the 10% flat rate would still end up with more after-tax spendable income than they had before.