What would influence you to pay more taxes?

At this point, a provision that their promises are enforceable. And I’m not talking about merely voting them out in the next election; I am talking immediate removal from office on top of prosecution for perjury.

With a promise like that, I might believe their promises. So let us start there.

Better health care. I got fucked over from appendicitis for an insane sum of money. Better education. Put some more thought into schools, I have one class where we’ve literally done nothing because the school can’t afford it. Not to mention the other schools that are worse. Better Welfare to those who need it. More power to the people on an individual level as to where the funding goes. And put more restrictions and stress on dirty politics (I realize that’s probably impossible, but we can dream..).

Reducing the debt. It would be nice to know exactly how it will be paying down the debt. I would gladly pay more taxes for the US to not owe other countries.

@ddude1116 I would gladly pay higher taxes for socialized medicine and better schools. Socialized medicine will never hapoen here, and schools are run on the local level, so I wouldn’t pay into the fed for that unless the schools become more federally run.

Great question. At this moment in time, if we cut spending enough to balance the federal budget we could only do it by cutting deeply into every element of discretionary spending plus defense, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. We would lay off millions of federal, state and local workers, and massively cut orders for goods and services to the private sector triggering millions of additional layoffs. We would not extend unemployment insurance for these people. So as they went broke, we would go into a whole new round of foreclosures and business failures followed by bank failures. Credit would freeze solid. We are not talking a double-dip recession here. We’re talking cuts of $1.6 trillion a year and that would produce a full blown depression like 1929.

Government spending and size has not grown dramatically over the past 60 years. When viewed as a percent of population, it has from about 4% of the pop. in 1959 to 7% toiday. That’s very much in keeping with the more complex world of today. Shrinking it back to 1950 levels would be incredibly bone headed. We need to raise revenues, and I am willing to do my share. I just won’t do it when millionaires and billionaires get huge tax breaks, ⅔rds of our corporations today pay not income taxes at all, and they pour billions into campaigns asking for Paul Ryan budget plans taxing and cutting for the poor while giving themselves massive tax breaks. They can call that shared sacrifice all they want. People who call that shared sacrifice are liars, pure and simple.

What I would like to see as a step one would be to go through the federal budget and eliminate things we truly don’t need, that don’t invest in jobs or the future. Look for all ways to bring the cost of good healthcare down. Keep the Bush individual income tax rates in place for starters and eliminate virtually all the loopholes. Drop the top corporate tax rate to 25% like European competitors pay, but eliminate their loopholes and subsidies. No tax breaks for companies that ship jobs offshore. No free rides. I think that alone would balance the budget and maintain all needed services. And I KNOW it would make doing your own taxes a huge amount easier. I’d pay more, but be happy doing it.

I’m way too right, I already loathe taxes as they are, to be willing to pay even more better come with a nice old big old incentive.

@Winters I don’t imagine there are very many people who would raise a rousing cheer for a higher tax rate. But we have to stop borrowing and pay off over $14 trillion we’ve already borrowed. The incentive for doing that is our children inherit as decent a country as we did, and we start decreasing the debt service on the National Debt instead of watching it continue to mount toward the stratosphere.

I would gladly give in taxes, the amount I pay to private health insurance if it would set up a central, easily understood structure of seeking treatment and equal access to health care for all.
Then I would throw rocks at the unemployed insurance claims adjusters while they stood in line for their welfare checks

First off I would like to see Social Security reduced (better yet ELIMINATED) as well as Medicare and Medicaid as they take up roughly 42% of the US’s spending (Defense is only roughly 22% compared to those money vacuumsbut could do with a bit of reduction as well). We could also eliminate a few of the safety net programs which take up roughly 9%, and with those taken care of, we could probably return to a comfortable spot within a decade.

Also the Cold War spending needs to stop, we had to outspend the Soviets then and we don’t have the need to outspend anyone now. That was the only reason Ronald Reagan enacted those measures so we could bury the Soviets in debt and the plan was supposed to be that after that succeeded, we’d return to the good old spending.

First priority: reduce unemployment.

Second priority: safeguard the social safety net.

Third priority: pay off the debt.

@WestRiverrat, why is reducing the deficit more important than these other things?

I also wish that people would stop acting as if they earned their income in a vacuum, and then the government comes in and steals it.

Government infrastructure is what enables you to earn an income. If there were no roads, no internet, no electricity or telecommunication structure, no police and fire protection, no regulation against fraud, you would not have a job to begin with. Taxes pay for civilization, without which this country’s economy would resemble that of Somalia’s.

@Winters Do you just want to see the bills gone, or are you actually against people who aren’t in the top 10% brackets? I don’t know if you noticed things like unemployment, high cost of healthcare, or any of the other things that affect us non-elite but doing away with those things would require either a transitional period that will still cost us something (and cost employers even more) or just coming out and giving the working class the finger and calling us unfit to survive.
I may have mis-read your comments, but many who are against safety nets have no plan to balance that loss. No viable way to cover medical costs, no retirement, nothing to compensate those who aren’t already millionaires. Please correct me if that is not where you are coming from.

I’m so right that I’m technically an anarchist (nihilist actually but most people don’t need to be explained to what an anarchist is)

I would honestly like to see the bills gone now. History shows that the US is a nation that needs to cycle between a monopoly based oligarchy, and nazi, I mean communist, I mean those who want to strangle the Constitution under the guise of “not just lawful but monetary equality” based oligarchy. Democratic Republic my buttocks.

Personally I’m technically in a low enough class to qualify for welfare (I was just discharged from the Military and am unemployed, however I cannot get a job until my treatment is concluded, so until then I make models and sell them on Ebay and sit back amused that people are willing to pay thousands for them). However, I am a still a strong believer in being equal as is one person is equal to another, I just am disgusted with this whole “oh, let’s make everyone as close to monetarily equal as possible” attitude that tends to resonate particularly strong among liberals. I AM NOT AGAINST PEOPLE WHO AREN’T IN THE TOP 10%. My money is my money, I am not paying for some random lazy bum to live off my earnings while he sits naked in a bean bag chair eating cheetos, that fat asshole needs to learn to get up off his ass and work. I am willing however to support those who are truly disabled and actually need help. Also, if I could, I wouldn’t allow people to take off with such massive inheritances just to waste it away on random unnecessary bullshit, however that is money I cannot touch of those in the top 10% and unfortunately in this day and age, compromise is required to get anything done in a “timely” manner. However, if you eliminate all this IRA bull crap and Social Security, you can encourage people to be more fiscal and spartan with their money instead of tossing every which way and whatnot. If they can’t save up enough for themselves for when they’re old to retire, well too bad so sad it’s on you. You are responsible for you, I am responsible for me, the gov’t can get the hell out of the picture for all I care.

If what is written above isn’t coherent, I apologize, my meds are kicking in… hahaha, death puts so many things into perspective.

If you reduce the debt, you will have more money available to fund all the other things. If you keep increasing the debt, you have to pay more interest on the debt. That leaves less available for reducing unemployment and safeguarding the social safety net.

@Winters I tend to not be inclined to pay for random lazy bums either. But, I am disgusted when a hard working person can’t make enough to live a basic life in safety with shelter because their wage is so low. Especially hard to see is when the peolle closer to the tops of the same companies make huge buckets of money. I would rathe them pay well, then be taxed and have it doled out by the government. But that would take some integrity on the part of the business owners. I am not talking about stealing from the rich to pay the poor, I am talking about a decent wage so everyone can share in the prosperity if everyone is working hard.

@Winters So, what are your solutions for wage stagnation for the non-elite, high unemployment, and transitioning from our current system to one where we all pay our own way? And what of the thousands of jobs you would eliminate in the process?

Nice dream, but not well thought out.

Mention the word education and I am always willing to pay more.

@jerv, more like what would I care for them.

According to the Federal Reserve Chairman, if we continue to spend at the rate of the current proposed 2011 Obama budget, by 2016 interest costs on the debt will triple. That is money that will have to come from discretionary spending.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-14/geithner-tells-obama-debt-expense-to-rise-to-record.html

@Winters, I’m curious as to who this fat lazy bum eating cheetos in your example is.

Is this how you characterize most recipients of unemployment, social security, medicare and medicaid?

@Qingu that’s how characterize most people I see who take advantage of the system just so that they won’t have to take care of themselves, I’ve seen so much more of that than those who are trying to get back up on their own two feet and it disgusts me. And that was a quote from Ron White actually. lol

Who are these people you have seen personally? How do you know them? Please be specific.

So what, you can stalk them? lol

Several of my friends’ parents, a number of neighbors, people I have bumped into or listened in on their conversations at the local mall, etc. Good enough? Yeah sure, you could call it “stalking,” but I enjoy simply observing human behavior, man is such a peculiar creature. Ever seen Christopher Nolan’s “Following”? I am kind of like that, sometimes I’ll just follow someone, no more than for a day and simply watch, listen, and feed my cynical view on mankind.

@Winters And most of the ones I know are bitching that none of the hundreds of applications they’ve thrown out in the last few months has resulted in a job, or that even the small part of their medical bills that is left over after insurance is forcing them to choose between rent and food (unless they want to cease life-saving medication).
Maybe you need to get out more.

@Winters, I actually just think you’re making this up at this point.

@Qingu Hard to say. I’ve heard crazier from people who were dead serious :/

@Qingu call me crazy, call me a liar, call me what you will, What I am stating is fact for where I am and what I have seen.
@jerv the only time I’m home is in the from 7:00 pm – 7:00 am normally. I’m pretty sure I spend enough outside the privacy of my home to interact with/watch people.

@Winters if the only people you see deriving benefit from the system are freeloaders who are deliberately milking it as opposed to people who are honestly down on their luck then the only way that can be true is if you live in a total hell-pit of a town which, I admit, is a distinct possibility. Don’t get me wrong, there are people like that, but if you are going to paint everybody on some sort of benefits with a broad brush just to justify paying lower taxes then than brings up some other issues that I’m not sure I want to get into.

And you still haven’t answered the question of how to transition to a system of ultimate personal responsibility where we all have to plan our own retirements and all.

That ain’t my job, and currently I’m more occupied with the fact that I’m probably going to die by next April and having to put up with the medical bills than that far off with the future. And really all I have to say is that individuals need to be much much more fiscally responsible for themselves rather than putting everything to credit.