"You didn't build that" - Obama

[richardhutnik]

badgenome said:

gergroy said:

I think rich people probably do need to pay more taxes, but not to redistribute to poorer people.  They should pay more taxes and that money should be used to pay down the freaking deficit.  I think republicans need to bend on taxes or we are never going to get the deficit reduced.  I also think democrats need to bend on cutting social programs.  Deficit is one of the most important issues in my opinion.  

Here's the problem with that: we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. If we raised taxes by the amount that the Democrats want to, it will cover about a week's worth of federal government expenditures. The Democrats don't even pretend that it's going to help the deficit, which is why they constantly fall back on the "fairness" bullshit.

There isn't a revenue problem?  Care to post on here what the percentage of the GDP is taken up by federal income tax at this point?  Is it historically high or low.  If it is historically low, unless you subscribe to shrinking the government to the size of a bathtub so you can drown it, explain how it isn't a problem.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/are-taxes-in-the-u-s-high-or-low/

By this measure, federal taxes are at their lowest level in more than 60 years. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that federal taxes would consume just 14.8 percent of G.D.P. this year. The last year in which revenues were lower was 1950, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

The postwar annual average is about 18.5 percent of G.D.P. Revenues averaged 18.2 percent of G.D.P. during Ronald Reagan’s administration; the lowest percentage during that administration was 17.3 percent of G.D.P. in 1984.

Find something more recent if you disagree with this.

And it is bull to say there isn't a revenue problem.  Your flat denial is absurd.  Now, you can argue there is a larger spending problem, but there is also a revenue problem.