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Lying About Bush's Tax Cuts
The American Thinker ^ | March 05, 2010 | Andrew Foy and Brenton Stransky

Posted on 03/05/2010 3:28:21 AM PST by Scanian

The majority of the taxpayers in our country believe it a foregone conclusion that taxes will rise substantially in the near future and that the Bush tax cuts will soon be no more than a footnote of political history. You don't need to be a genius to see that the government will have to raise more revenue to pay for seemingly infinite spending, but before we resign ourselves to higher taxes, we should consider defending the Bush tax cuts against the left.

Two of the most oft-cited objections to the Bush tax cuts by the left are that it helped only the rich and it was largely responsible for the federal deficit at the end of the Bush presidency. Instead, it is true that if the current administration allows any or all of the Bush tax cuts to expire, economic growth will be slowed and tax revenue could actually decrease, perpetuating our deficit dilemma.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: deficit; leftists; richpeople; taxburden
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1 posted on 03/05/2010 3:28:21 AM PST by Scanian
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To: Scanian
The Left are pople who would take Walmart and jack up the prices 100% saying, "we have to make more money".
Of course the store would start losing money as it attracted fewer shoppers.
The idea of discount, volume pricing escapes their simple, fixed-pie-size minds.
2 posted on 03/05/2010 3:32:52 AM PST by grobdriver (Proud Member, Party Of No! No Socialism - No Fascism - Nobama - No Way!)
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To: Scanian

Good article, and completely correct.

Reagan’s tax cuts proved that cutting taxes (to a degree) increases revenue because of GDP growth spurred by those tax cuts.

The same thing happened with the Bush tax cuts. Eliminating those tax cuts will prolong the recovery from the financial meltdown, and the Dems know it.

I don’t think they care.


3 posted on 03/05/2010 3:36:56 AM PST by A.Hun (Common sense is no longer common.)
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To: grobdriver

Considering their fifty year love affair with Castro’s Cuba, I’m not even sure they care about prosperity. They just don’t want anybody else to prosper either.


4 posted on 03/05/2010 3:38:06 AM PST by gusopol3
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To: Scanian

It is obvious to any who are not deluded that the intent of this administration is to destroy America, take it over, and then govern it as a Communist country.

Eliminating the Bush tax cuts will destroy an already wounded economy by syphoning off even more disposable income. The banks aren’t lending, jobs are disappearing and with higher taxes people will have even less money to spend.

If the healthcare bill passes doctors and other care givers will be paid less than now. They are already being paid too little so they will stop participating in Medicare and Medicaid. This will force even more people into the new government health care and there will be fewer care givers to serve them.

Are these people just stupid? How could they keep running into all these unintended consequences?

No, these people are very clever liars who are making what they expect to be the final push into Communism after eighty plus years of incrementalism.


5 posted on 03/05/2010 3:51:07 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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To: A.Hun
The same thing happened with the Bush tax cuts. Eliminating those tax cuts will prolong the recovery from the financial meltdown, and the Dems know it. I don’t think they care.

They care - they're counting on it. They know that when enough people hurt bad enough, they'll sell their souls to the government (Dem Party) for some small scraps to be thrown their way.

6 posted on 03/05/2010 3:54:41 AM PST by trebb ("I am the way... no one comes to the Father, but by me..." - Jesus in John 14:6 (RSV))
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To: grobdriver
The Left are people who would take Walmart and jack up the prices 100% saying, "we have to make more money".

And, when market forces cause them to loose money - they nationalize the rest of market and force "price stability" on the consumer.

7 posted on 03/05/2010 3:58:02 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: A.Hun

“I don’t think they care.”

Of course they care. Just as FDR cared that his policies would extend the Depression and was happy that it would. You have to understand that the more miserable the people are and the more the come to depend on government handouts, the happier Dims are.


8 posted on 03/05/2010 4:01:55 AM PST by Kellis91789 (Democrat: Someone who supports killing children, but protests executing convicted murderers.)
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To: Scanian

Bush’s tax cuts raised revenue to levels never before seen and we still had annual deficits of hundreds of billions of dollars. Any tax cuts have to be coupled with real cuts in discretionary and non-discretionary spending. Otherwise it’s continuing the real problem.


9 posted on 03/05/2010 4:04:06 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: trebb
They care - they're counting on it.

I hate to say it, but you're right. It's pretty obvious, isn't it?

10 posted on 03/05/2010 4:04:17 AM PST by A.Hun (Common sense is no longer common.)
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To: Mind-numbed Robot

I am continually amazed at the class envy that allows people to be convinced is is somehow “fair” to penalize the most productive, successful people in the economy.

Many people do not realize that a flat 10% income tax on individuals only — no business tax at all — would raise almost exactly the same amount of tax revenue as all the existing income taxes. But it would make a huge difference in attracting capital investment and jobs to America.

If you just polled all Americans with the simple question, “Would you like to replace the existing federal income tax with a flat 10% income tax, with no deductions, exemptions, or credits ?” I can’t imagine anybody giving a “NO!” answer. How would they defend 10% of their income as too much to pay, but demand others should pay 40% ? How could they do that with a straight face ?


11 posted on 03/05/2010 4:14:58 AM PST by Kellis91789 (Democrat: Someone who supports killing children, but protests executing convicted murderers.)
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To: gusopol3

No prosperity, only total control over people’s lives.


12 posted on 03/05/2010 4:20:33 AM PST by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: Mind-numbed Robot

It’s the musty, dusty Cloward-Piven strategy: overload the system until it crashes, then try to re-boot with Marxism.

The flaw is that sush a concept might work in the slums where a work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit are almost non-existant. Those people would call for statist solutions because government dependency is a way of life for them. In the larger population, however, the C-P crowd will be in for a rude awakening: typical Americans will BLAME government for economic failure and will demand the hide of the people who caused the problem. Socialism or communism will not be an option for the overwhelming majority.


13 posted on 03/05/2010 4:32:59 AM PST by Scanian
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To: Scanian

What the left calls tax cuts for the rich were tax cuts for American small business owners!

How many new employees will these small business owners be hiring when the Bush tax cuts expire and their personal income tax goes up 5%?

Poor people do NOT pay federal income tax!

Poor people actually make many on taxes!

What the left means by cutting the “poors” taxes is to send the “poor’ a check.


14 posted on 03/05/2010 4:37:14 AM PST by reaganator
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To: Scanian

I agree and the C-P strategy has been employed for a long time. Actually Social Security is that as well as Medicare/Medicaid. Each sooner or later will overwhelm the system. However, don’t expect Communism to die a quiet death simply because it doesn’t work.

Look at all the Communists elsewhere before this bunch came to power. Millions were murdered and millions of others were enslaved in other countries. Communists don’t encourage consumers and entrepreneurs, they coerce and/or eliminate them. When citizens try to flee they wall them in or jail them.

Do you think this bunch would be any different?

The time to act and throw them out is NOW, not later. Thank God for the Americans who are involved in the Tea Party Movement and for Sarah Palin who is a strong voice for simple common sense and freedom.

We will survive by fighting our way out, not by waiting to evolve our way out.


15 posted on 03/05/2010 5:10:07 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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To: grobdriver

>”The Left are pople who would take Walmart and jack up the prices 100% saying, “we have to make more money”.”

Thats exactly what Walmart is doing. Have you noticed lately? All prices are going up and there is never anybody on the floor to help you? At ours in Cloquet Mn, there is NOBODY on the floor after 5 pm, and good luck trying to find anybody before that.

Thats OK. I’m told there is currently a grassroots effort underway with the local Union. Cloquet Mn might be the first Walmart to Unionize. Interesting turn of events. Stay tuned.


16 posted on 03/05/2010 5:29:25 AM PST by scoobysnak71 (I'm light skinned with no negro dialect. Could you milk me?)
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To: scoobysnak71
Had not noticed.
Pretty much only thing I buy there is ammo - and I pay what I have to.
17 posted on 03/05/2010 5:47:18 AM PST by grobdriver (Proud Member, Party Of No! No Socialism - No Fascism - Nobama - No Way!)
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To: Scanian

Saying “tax-cut” to a liberal is like waving a crucifix in Dracula’s face.


18 posted on 03/05/2010 8:35:26 AM PST by driftless2 (for long term happiness, learn how to play the accordion)
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To: Kellis91789
I am continually amazed at the class envy that allows people to be convinced is is somehow “fair” to penalize the most productive, successful people in the economy.

You have correctly labelled the problem - class envy. However, that envy is stimulated and encouraged by the rabble rousing politicians and activists who profit from the present system or who want to change our entire government into a collective, top-down society. They, of course, would be at the top.

If you just polled all Americans with the simple question, “Would you like to replace the existing federal income tax with a flat 10% income tax, with no deductions, exemptions, or credits ?” I can’t imagine anybody giving a “NO!” answer.

Two or three years ago there was much discussion of the Fair Tax, a one time ad valorem tax on all new goods and services. Although it is not the Flat Tax it did much more, such as eliminate the IRS and the income tax. On those threads the flat tax was occasionally discussed. I was amazed at the number of Freepers, all supposedly conservatives, who were against it. Apparently they have some vested interest in the present system and want desperately to hang on to their pet deductions. No amount of reasoning would change their minds.

19 posted on 03/06/2010 10:23:39 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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To: Mind-numbed Robot

I was on those FairTax threads. I started out supporting the FairTax, but eventually I realized it would be unworkable for a variety of reasons.

The Flat Tax opponents generally take the view that the current income tax started out mostly “flat” and it only took a few decades to be a mess. That view is wrong since from the very beginning, a huge amount of income was exempted so that it looked like a tax on the rich and that is how it was passed. If there is a lesson to be learned, it is that exempting anything means it isn’t flat and just creates pools of non-taxpaying voters that will sell out their neighbors for any little crumb.

I’d like to see the 16th Amendment repealed and replaced with a new one that specifies no income tax rate can exceed 10%, the same rate must apply to all individuals, no source of income can be excluded, and corporate income can only be taxed after it has been distributed to the shareholders.


20 posted on 03/06/2010 5:00:38 PM PST by Kellis91789 (Democrat: Someone who supports killing children, but protests executing convicted murderers.)
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