As such, we should be seaching for ways in which we can reform our tax code to minimize deadweight loss that necessarily comes with increased taxes, which are a given.
The VAT or other consumption-type taxes are the only answer.
Raising taxes will hurt the economy, revenue could actually go down.
I for one would hope this government goes bankrupt.
Tell the government to STFU
We are not serfs.
No...
We don’t need higher taxes...we need more tax payers.
More people making more money who then pay taxes.
All the fricking gov't agencies and bureaucracies that should be abolished or consolidated and this idiot wants to talk about another tax.
The only way you fix the tax mess is going to either the Fair Tax or Flat Tax. The current system only works for the super poor or the super rich
Both Norquist and Daniels are Liberal RINOs...Daniels even worse. Then again, no surprise that Daniels wants a VAT...he sold the taxpayer built Indian Tollroad to a foreign company....people who are Liberal Globalists like Daniels love higher taxes
Conservatives MUST come to terms with the fact that the ballot box can not longer save us.
That we are Europe II.
That conservative politics are dead.
The VAT is the road to serfdom.
It is the Holy Grail for progressives. No conservative should have anything to do with it.
We have the example of Europe on the VAT and that should tell people everything they need to know. You cannot kill the beast by feeding it our lifeblood.
The VAT allows the government to illegally confiscate at all stages of production. It is a vile and evil thing and I hope all FReepers will fight it to the death.
Within a couple of years, we can balance the budget without raising taxes if we just phase out Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And, if we do so over a three-five year period, current recipients will have the time they will need to make other arrangements.
If we end the welfare state, taxes don't have to be increased.
The underling premise of both the article and your post is that tax rates and revenue are directly proportional. People who believe this are not even worth talking to regarding taxation and budget policy.
Why doesn’t McDonald’s or Burger King raise their price for a Big Mac or Whopper? Because those who set the prices believe that if they did so revenues will drop. Both the price-revenue curve and the taxrate-revenue curve intersect the x-axis twice. Somewhere on that curve their exists at least one maximum. It’s called calculus - look it up.
Their is a maximum amount of tax revenue that can be taken out of an economy. If spending is above that maximum, changing tax rates can NEVER close the gap. Perhaps Mitch Daniels is a grown up, perhaps Santa Claus can bring him some math skills for Christmas.
Grover Norquist is a big stooge for CAIR and Islam. F him.
Is not Norquist married to a Muslim woman and is not Norquist a regular apologist for the Muslims?
We need to get rid of both Norquist and Daniels for disparate reasons.
Both of them offend conservative sensibilities.
Poppycock. If tax rate are raised, the depressing effect on economic activity is likely to bankrupt us even faster.
But suppose the federal government can find a way to extract more money without choking off economic growth. What makes anyone think the additional revenues will be used to reduce the deficit or pay down the debt?
The truth is, no amount of tax revenue can ever satisfy the statists. They will always spend whatever they take in, and more.
The VAT or other consumption-type taxes are the only answer.
If VAT is the answer, it was a stupid question.
The only sure answer to the federal deficit is drastic reductions in spending.
Merda del toro. You assume that the current ridiculous levels of government bureaucracy are something we can't live without.
How many trillion did i just free up?
Such a simple concept totally lost on so many.
That's nonsense. We can increase revenue by CUTTING taxes and spurring economic growth. And, with the trillions spent each year by the government, there is plenty of spending to cut.
That would be fine and dandy, if, and only if, income taxation is forbidden at all levels of government by constitutional amendment.
Otherwise, when the electoral worm turns (which it always does), we will end up with both income and consumption taxes.
Constitutional amendments being hard to pass, the best strategy is to villify anybody calling for VAT, and instead demand a flat tax.
As a practical matter, let the pigs inflate their way out of their (our) fiscal mess. Inflation is easier to deal with than taxation (for one thing, you don't need a new passport).
Ideally, people who don't pay taxes shouldn't be allowed to vote.
No, not without repealing the 16th amendment first.