This is austerity. It's war on Americans.
These same greedy fucks took their industries and jobs and sent them to Mexico and China, sold us loans they knew our undereducated asses couldn't pay off if our jobs went out with the next container ship.
Now they want to take the bread out of our hands:
It's not news when Jon Huntsman criticizes fellow Republicans. It's news when he agrees with them. On Sunday, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Huntsman found himself in a virtual love-in with Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann over, of all things, taxes. The paper asked Huntsman if "the half of American households no longer paying income tax—mainly working poor families and seniors—should be brought onto the income tax rolls."
The Journal called this position the "new GOP orthodoxy," which it is. When he announced his presidential bid two weeks ago, Perry told a room of conservative activists and bloggers that "we're dismayed at the injustice that nearly half of all Americans don't even pay any income tax." He was following on Bachmann, who'd just told the South Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce the very same thing.
It's not news when Jon Huntsman criticizes fellow Republicans. It's news when he agrees with them. On Sunday, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Huntsman found himself in a virtual love-in with Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann over, of all things, taxes. The paper asked Huntsman if "the half of American households no longer paying income tax—mainly working poor families and seniors—should be brought onto the income tax rolls." He agreed, crediting the GOP's current front-runner for vice president, Sen. Marco Rubio, with the insight that "we don't have enough people paying taxes in this country." The Journal called this position the "new GOP orthodoxy," which it is. When he announced his presidential bid two weeks ago, Perry told a room of conservative activists and bloggers that "we're dismayed at the injustice that nearly half of all Americans don't even pay any income tax." He was following on Bachmann, who'd just told the South Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce the very same thing. Advertisement "Part of the problem is today, only 53 percent pay any federal income tax at all; 47 percent pay nothing," said Bachmann. "We need to broaden the base so that everybody pays something, even if it's a dollar. Everyone should pay something, because we all benefit."
Oh wait... there's more:
One funny thing about the nonpayers: They do pay taxes. Everyone who works pays FICA taxes. Everyone who fills up a car pays federal gas taxes. The theory that these people don't appreciate how much the government is moving around money is just that: completely theoretical. This may be why the policy responses to the problem are so gimmicky. Bachmann said that the lucky duckies might get a better appreciation for the size of government if they paid a "dollar" a year. Last month, I heard Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., make the case for tax reform and suggest some sort of nominal charge that would "broaden the base" and make the system more fair.
"Those who are not paying any taxes but are receiving benefits from the government because of their income status— there ought to be a reduction from the benefit they receive," Coats said. "Even if it's 10 bucks, or 15 bucks, we [need to say we] have deducted for your participation in helping to support our country's needs."
Bachmann's "dollar" plan would net around $60 million, or two-thirds of NPR's annual federal funding. Coats' plan would net a little more. We're being generous, though, because these aren't plans. They're debating tactics.
"We should be doing this even if we had a balanced budget," says Hodge. "This is not really about deficit reduction."
So for a token amount you plan on potentially sending millions more Americans into the streets? Is there anyone not buying this?
This idea hasn't gone totally viral yet. There is a Republican case against making sure that poorer people pay income taxes. It's being made by Ron Paul.
"Dr. Paul doesn't want to be president so he can raise taxes on anyone, especially on the poor and middle class," says Ron Paul's spokesman, Jesse Benton. "If half of the American people don't pay income taxes, then we are halfway to our goal of eliminating it for everyone."
Oh great. Him.
Read all: http://www.slate.com/id/2302131/pagenum/all/#p2
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