Daniels: Tax hikes might be necessary (Mitch - 'we need to be grownups about it')

gop12.com ^ | Saturday September 11, 2010

[Bigtigermike]

From Andrew Romano's great new profile of a Mitch Daniels he portrays as pragmatic and principled (kind of oxymoronic, but one of Daniels' principles appears to be pragmatism).

To wit, his suggestions:

Let’s raise the retirement age, he says. Let’s reduce Social Security for the rich. And let’s reconsider our military commitments, too.

When I ask about taxes—in 2005 Daniels proposed a hike on the $100,000-plus crowd, which his own party promptly torpedoed—he refuses to revert to Republican talking points.

“At some stage there could well be a tax increase,” he says with a sigh. “They say we can’t have grown-up conversations anymore. I think we can.”

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Bigtigermike.

• 41 Obama White House aides owe the IRS $831,000 in back taxes -- and they're not alone
• US poverty on track to post record gain in 2009 (the Obama economy)
• U.S. Backs $1B Loan to Mexico for Oil Drilling Despite Obama Moratorium
• CBO Predicts U.S. Debt Crisis If Deficits Are Not Controlled
• Obama says voters may blame him for economy (May???)
• How ObamaCare Guts Medicare
• U.S. Loaned Mexico Over $1 Billion to Drill Oil in Gulf Mexico; $1 Billion More Planned This Year

[Notary Sojac]

Anyone who has paid into Medicare for forty years, assuming their annual income was $80,000 for that entire period, has paid in maybe $50,000, tops.

One hospital stay for something like a cardiac bypass or valve implant will pretty much zero that out.

So from then on, that Medicare patient is riding in the cart that younger workers are pulling.

[nascarnation]

thanks for putting that into perspective

you’re absolutely correct

Bernie Madoff went to jail, Democrats go to Wash DC.

[nascarnation]

After all, he is from the Land of Lugar.

True, but we've also got Mike Pence, a much better choice for Republicans.

[DLfromthedesert]

Medicare recipients also pay for supplemental insurance; when the program first started, there were no co-pays and everything was free; it’s not like that anymore.

Also, the money taken over the years could have been gaining money so the recipient could have been buying his own insurance. Also, hospital bills are out of control because of government intrusion.

I believe government should not be involved in health care at all, at least at the federal level, but you cannot pull the rug out from under people who have already been promised and paid for something.

Like I said, need to be done incrementally.