These knotheads STILL don’t get it.
They seem to labor under some notion that if only taxes can be raised to some previous level of confiscatory nirvana, everything will be OK.
It’s over, folks. The corpse has been long ago raped and gutted. They’ve moved on to greener pastures, if you haven’t noticed, leaving the rubes holding the bag.
The US can’t grow its’ way out of this, the US can’t tax its’ way out of this, etc. For all that, the notions of taking money from one to give to another is only theft, but everyone seems to think that’s fine, as long as congress votes on it.
Whatever.
In Texas we've got a big budget deficit. The Rats are out of power, but their suggestions are to use the entire rainy day fund (10 bil) this year, and increase taxes on cigarettes by a dollar a pack, and add taxes on beer, and "sugary soft drinks." Please note the focus group tested phrase "sugary soft drinks," which is designed to remove all sympathy from the organizations that make them. One of the major soft drink companies has closed 38 bottling plants in Texas. All they'd do by increasing taxes on them is close down more bottling plants. They also want to increase taxes on businesses, remove early tax payment discounts, and charge sales taxes on service industries that didn't previously charge sales tax. You're right. They STILL don't get it. Unemployment in real terms is around 20%, and underemployment is a significant force. People don't have any money. Those of us who are still solvent are getting our taxes upped (would you believe that according to the county my property increased in value, despite the fact that property values have fallen about 20% in my area?) I've already switched from major soft drink brands to store brands, and if the prices go up, I can go off them completely.
On the cigarettes, beer, and "sugary soft drinks," they're not even doing their song and dance about health anymore. They're finally honestly saying, "we need the money to feed the beast."