Posted on 11/12/2012 8:07:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
This is called surrendering before the war starts: Conservative commentator and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Sunday the Republican Party should accept new ideas, including the much-criticized suggestion by Democrats that taxes be allowed to go up on the wealthy.
*****
"It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "It really won't, I don't think. I don't really understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer."
"Really? The Republican Party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood and are hostile?" he asked.
One of the biggest fights as Congress returns will be over taxes, as cuts put in place by former President George W. Bush are set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans want to extend those tax cuts for all income brackets, while Democrats want to raise revenue by allowing them to expire for wealthy Americans.
Exit polls last week found that six in ten voters supported ending the tax cuts on the wealthy, but House Republicans have remained adamantly opposed to allowing any of the rates to expire, instead supporting other changes to the tax code. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated on Friday that was unlikely to change.
*****
First of all, if Kristol wants to go belly up and grovel before Obama before negotiations even begin, that's his business. Leave the rest of us out of it.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
But Kristol - and much of Washington - misses the point. It’s not that raising tax rates would break the rich. Money is not the issue. Nor will raising rates on the wealthy impede economic growth - such as it is. That is not the issue either.
The point is, we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. It’s a simple, common sense principle:
Don’t raise taxes until you have to. And that means, cutting every last dollar from the budget that can be safely squeezed out of it before thinking about raising taxes on anybody to balance the budget.
Even if it “wouldn’t kill the country” Bill . . if you cave on this, you think they’ll stop at the % and level of taxable incomes?
Or will that just encourage them further?
Was it Kristol’s grandfather that said it won’t kill if they kill the jews.
Get ready, folks. Nothing “conservative” will happen. Here comes Obamacare, amnesty, and higher taxes. Forget about cutting spending.
Kristol, a “Conservative” Commentator?......gag me
I’m cutting Kristol some slack for this. I completely agree in principle that the issue is spending, and that agree in fact that raising taxes on the rich will have negligible impact.
But I see some merit in giving Obama what he wants if only to demonstrate to the public that his “solutions” are nothing of the sort.
Here is an idea I have completely not thought through: why not make any tax increase “temporary”?
We raise taxes and OBAMA spends it...what FOOLS...may be have a one year tax increase if we can get the 800 billion stimulus out of the budget..and cuts so the deficit goes below 300 billion...It is really OBAMACARE....less revenue to the government because unemployment will go up..plus OBAMACARE taxes..
I read that the richest zip codes all went for Obama. You know what -screw em - let em get what they voted for.
“Fiscal Cliff”
devastating crash, no entitlements, social upheaval.
No way to avoid it, and I don’t think we really want to,
because “through” is the only way out.
I agree w Kristol but go further. Let the tax rates on EVERYONE rise, along w spending cuts - real or illusory.
Let’s go to sequester.
Let Obama and Reid own ALL of the disaster that ensues.
Exactly. It might not “hurt” them much initially, but it won’t do anything to help the economy, either, and very possibly hurt it.
So when liberals discover that say, a 10% increase on taxes to the “rich” doesn’t work, they’ll raise it by 20%. Then 50%. Then . . . the sky is the limit.
Raise the taxes of the Hollywood elites.
Raise the taxes of the Silicon Valley Obama enthusiasts.
Raise the taxes of the Warren Buffets and other limousine liberals who have been begging for the government to take their wealth.
Now having siad that, these same “wealthy” types out to be prosecuted if they attempt to shelter their assets offshore following the increase. George Lucas, the hypocrite, comes to mind.
RE: why not make any tax increase “temporary”?
WATCH CALIFORNIA. That is what Proposition 30 (which the Californians passed ) is all about. A “temporary” tax increase on millionaires.
How many are willing to bet that this “temporary” tax increase will be permanent?
Also how many are willing to bet that the “rich” will be defined down to $100,000 and less?
“The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program” — Ronald Reagan.
First - that isn't a new idea. It's been around since Karl Marx and FDR, and it's been destroying economic freedom for decades.
It “won’t kill me” if Kristol will be struck dumb!
Let them reap what they sow.
A conservative is just a Liberal who got mugged, after all.
Let there be mugggings!
Obama still has no plan. His last attempt at a budget got exactly zero votes in the House and Senate. Let him put his tax and spending plan in writing in the open for all to see and review.
Given his and Reid’s success in getting budgets passed over the last 4 years, let these power-hungry thieves put a plan in writing first. I know it’s asking for much, but the Republicans owe nothing in concessions. It is the up to the President to take the lead. As we all know, he is incapable of leadership. No reason to take the lead of surrender monkeys like Kristol and let Obama and Reid off the hook.
Oh, sure, by all means, raise the tax rate on the top bracket of tax payers. Just let the old tax rates, those that were replaced by the “Bush tax rates”, revert to their former level, all up and down the scale.
The bracket that was 10%, becomes 15%. The next bracket, that was 25%, becomes 28%. 28% becomes 31%. 33% becomes 36%. The top rate, 35% becomes 39.6%.
Yeah, we need to kick those rich guys’ collective butts.
How come kicking THEIR butts gives US the nosebleed?
So please explain to me why I should believe or support anything that the GOP says? We have a deal that cuts spending, stick to the deal. Make a new deal for more spending cuts when once again the debt ceiling has to be raised in a couple of months.
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.