{"id":2906,"date":"2011-08-15T11:31:39","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T15:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=2906"},"modified":"2011-08-15T11:31:39","modified_gmt":"2011-08-15T15:31:39","slug":"balancing-the-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/08\/15\/balancing-the-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 Balancing the Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

In These Times<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Invoking his experience as a plastics salesman, Boehner asks why government doesn\u2019t act like other businesses that \u201clive within their means.\u201d But virtually every business\u2014big or small\u2014borrows money to operate and grow. More obviously, government is not a business. Its \u201cmeans\u201d depend on its tax revenue, which can be increased to do important things like building roads, educating young people, protecting the environment and helping the needy. The United States takes in relatively little revenue: Its tax share, from 2004-2008, ranked 29th out of 33 OECD developed countries and the lowest at the federal level since 1950.<\/p>\n

Center for American Progress economists Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden noted that if the United States increased its share to that of 22nd-place Canada, the deficits would be eliminated. Taxes on investments, on corporations and on large estates are lower than any time in more than 65 years, while tax loopholes mainly benefiting the rich have nearly doubled to more than $1 trillion\u2014even though the top 2 percent have captured almost all new income since 2000. That\u2019s where government could find the \u201cmeans\u201d within which to live: As Ettlinger later testified before a Senate committee, if the income of the rich continues to grow as it has, wealthy Americans could pay the cost of letting the Bush tax cuts expire in January and still be taking home more by the following October.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am not liberal or conservative but it’s very hard to ignore that the US needs to bring in more money. I want more accountability and more cuts to stupid and idiotic spending. I’m not talking about planned parenthood or NASA. I’m talking about the lifestyles we afford for our leaders to live like kings or the months of work to pass one bill through the house. We need to do things more efficiently.<\/p>\n

…and I’m still bent out of shape about 700 billion dollars going to the bailout of our financial systems and no one tracking that money or demanding it get paid back. That is a lot of money and it’s gone forever. We need to bring in more money and spend less. It’s two-fold.<\/p>\n

Speaking of bringing in more money, Warren Buffett in an Op-Ed for the Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as \u201ccarried interest,\u201d thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they\u2019d been long-term investors.<\/p>\n

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It\u2019s nice to have friends in high places.<\/p>\n

Last year my federal tax bill \u2014 the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf \u2014 was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income \u2014 and that\u2019s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I LOVE paying taxes. I’m not a homeowner, am not saving for my kids’ college or anything else. I do save money for retirement and for trips and I am in a higher tax bracket than I used to be. I spend thousands and thousands in taxes each year. I don’t mind that it funds our military or helps the retired live out their lives or fix my roads. That’s fine. However, it’s sickening that people making 1,000 times what I make a year don’t pay an equal share.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In These Times: Invoking his experience as a plastics salesman, Boehner asks why government doesn\u2019t act like other…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-linked","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-KS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6655,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2017\/02\/15\/linked-repealing-obamacare-just-what-the-doctor-ordered-for-wealthy-investors\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":0},"title":"Linked: “Repealing Obamacare: Just what the doctor ordered for wealthy investors”","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"February 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"via CNBC: Urged on by Trump, the Senate overnight adopted a budget resolution that clears a path for eliminating the tax-and-spending provisions of the Affordable Care Act by simple majority vote \u2014 no Democratic cooperation required. That means repeal of two provisions targeted at high-income households: a 0.9 percent hospital\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linked"","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2531,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/06\/09\/e-mail-legal-disclaimer-footers-are-bogus\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 E-Mail Legal Disclaimer Footers are Bogus","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"June 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Economist: \u201cIF THIS e-mail is received in error, notify the sender immediately.\u201d \u201cThis e-mail does not create an attorney-client relationship.\u201d \u201cAny tax advice in this e-mail is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code.\u201d Many firms\u2014The Economist included\u2014automatically append these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linked"","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3798,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/07\/27\/red-vs-blue-2012-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":2},"title":"\u2605 Red vs Blue (2012 Edition)","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"July 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"To many Americans and journalists, 2012 is an \"election year' so the coverage (aka name calling) is turned up to 11. The joke is that every year is an election year. I'm not talking about a global scale. I'm talking about The USA and how every November, citizens vote for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ideas"","block_context":{"text":"Ideas","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/ideas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2806,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/07\/26\/airline-taxes-are-illegal-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 Airline Taxes are Illegal now","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"July 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"NYTimes: On Friday, Congress failed to approve the extension of a bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration running. Among other things, that meant the agency no longer had the authority to impose the various federal taxes that airlines add to the price of each ticket. So as of 12:01\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linked"","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4573,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/04\/16\/linked-peak-cable\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":4},"title":"Linked: “Peak Cable”","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"April 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"via Asymco: These benefits were priced modestly but as the quality and breadth of programming increased, prices rose. An average cable bill of $40\/month in 1995 is $130 today[2]. Some of that revenue went into upgrading the capital equipment in use (the plant) and some into paying for the higher\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linked"","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5813,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2016\/05\/05\/linked-cupertinos-mayor-apple-abuses-us-by-not-paying-taxes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":5},"title":"Linked, “Cupertino’s mayor: Apple ‘abuses us’ by not paying taxes”","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"May 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"via The Guardian: This freaking article. Seriously. The last time the mayor of Cupertino walked into Apple \u2013 the largest company in his small Californian town and, it so happens, the most valuable company in the world \u2013 he hoped to have a meeting to talk about traffic congestion. Barry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linked"","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}