Posted on 08/02/2009 11:05:31 AM PDT by Schnucki
TOP US officials said more steps may be needed to firm up economic recovery - including extended jobless benefits - and declined to rule out future tax increases to tame massive budget deficits. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the government needed to show the will to reverse deficits after the recovery, and would have to make some "hard choices" about whether this may include increasing tax revenues.
"We have to bring them down to a level where the amount we're borrowing from the world is stable at a reasonable level," Mr Geithner said on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
"And that's going to require some very hard choices. And we're going to have to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens that the average American already faces."
Asked if he could rule out new taxes, Mr Geithner said, "I think what the country needs to do is to understand that we will do what it takes" to bring deficits down.
Republicans have voiced concerns about the Obama administration's stimulus-related spending and health care reform plans producing trillion-dollar deficits for years to come and eventually sapping US economic vitality.
"We have put trillions of additional debt on future generations of Americans," said Republican Sen. John McCain.
"In the words of the Congressional Budget Office and others, it is 'unsustainable.'"
Top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers later said Mr Geithner was not laying the groundwork for tax increases, and added that none of the White House proposals would burden the middle class.
But he, too, declined to rule out raising taxes as a means to control deficits.
"It's never a good idea to absolutely rule things out no matter what, but what the president has been completely clear on is this: That he
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
the problem is, once everyone who works has been squeezed dry, then where does the money come from?
the welfare majority better take heed. they won't get money if there is no longer any money in taxes.
China, who holds the US debts, will come in and get their money.
You Marxist, power-hungry scum.
We have to bring them down to a level where the amount we’re borrowing from the world is stable at a reasonable level,” Mr Geithner said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
“And that’s going to require some very hard choices. And we’re going to have to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens that the average American already faces.”
Asked if he could rule out new taxes, Mr Geithner said, “I think what the country needs to do is to understand that we will do what it takes” to bring deficits down.
Raising taxes will certainly aid the jobless. Strength in numbers.
Obama is going to have to be pretty crafty to push through tax increases- which are never popular.
To propose major tax increases in 2010 that actually pass and are signed- will be a huge political hurdle for him.
Maybe if he increases the cigarette tax to $200 a pack to close the deficit, he’ll be able to pull it off.
Increase taxes on those who work and extend more benefits to those who don’t.
Who could possibly think that this plan would fail ?
We both live in blue states, raising taxes seems to be quite popular here as politicians who vote to do it are never voted out.
What a sad joke.
Geithner just revealed WHY they have been claiming that we are now IN a RECOVERY.
He said that they WILL raise taxes as SOON as we see a recovery. That's it, we are in a recovery, they said so. Here comes the taxes. And your representatives quit having Town hall meetings because of all those hostile Americans who are setting record crowds and protests.
So the answer is to just turn them off, shut them out and pass the Democrat Marxist agenda anyway. After all, the smartest people on the Planet are in the White House to prove that it IS possible to tax and spend our way into great prosperity. And according to their plans, we should all wind up as Millionaires in a few short months!
The joke’s on us. The hypocrisy of a tax-cheat to tell the rest of us he’ll raise our taxes...hope and freakin’ change.
I’m on disability right now, but I’ve had hopes of returning to work. Lately though I keep thinking maybe I will be better off staying home. True, I’m living on less money, but I’ve done it and it’s not so bad.
Maybe we should all just quit our jobs, stay home and apply for benefits. Let’s see how much tax revenue Obama will get from us.
He's always eying something. Or, making something perfectly clear.
LOL, once again proving Team Obama is clueless on the economy, Obama proposes to revive the economy by taking more capital out of it and putting it into the pocket of the most inefficient user of liquid capital, the US Federal Govt. This once again goes to prove Fred Barnes’ proposition in his outstanding Weekly Standard piece this week that Obama is utterly, hopelessly clueless on economics and cannot even begin to acknowledge the supremacy of the free markets in being the greatest generator of economic prosperity in the world today: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/765kishz.asp
They've been hitting me in the wallet since the first day I worked a real job! It's well past time to return the favor.
I stand in support of a national strike. Shut it down.
If you're a trucker, stop the truck where it stands.
If you're a doctor, go golfing that day.
If you're a plumber, don't take any calls that day.
If you own a business, close for a day.
We both live in blue states, raising taxes seems to be quite popular here as politicians who vote to do it are never voted out.
______________________
Yes, I see your point. But the politicians in Pennsylvania have always promised “property tax relief” or some other carrot in their proposals for “temporary” tax increases.
Also, Obama ran on a tax-cut platform promising tax cuts for the “bottom 95%”. That was his main plank, if anyone showed any doubts about it- it was deemed a “smear” against Obama.
Switching from tax cuts to tax increases requires very skillful politicking.
“the problem is, once everyone who works has been squeezed dry, then where does the money come from?”
Their rich employers will be squeezed even more by lack of demand for their products and will be forced to cut back by laying people off. These workers then will join the ranks of the poor.
So the answer is: the money will come from the government, silly.
“China, who holds the US debts, will come in and get their money.”
Never worry. Obama has some coal deposits he’d like to sell them. And if that isn’t enough, there’s these oil fields off our continental shelf.
Just don’t burn the stuff here, fellows. We only accept green jobs.
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.