Why not let all the tax cuts expire?

[letterwriter]

The lower classes don't get that much of a tax cut anyway. Why not let it all expire? Let the unemployment expire as well. If we are going to balance the budget allowing all the tax cuts to expire as well as unemployment will get a lot closer to that goal. And - they can accomplish it by DOING NOTHING which is what Congress does best.

[pnwmom]

1. You mean, why don't we raise everyone's taxes?

Because this whole thing of call it an "expiration" of a tax cut is just semantics. We cut taxes before, now some people are proposing to raise them. Calling it anything else is just a convenient fiction.

I don't think that, in a deflationary economy, raising taxes on lower and middle income taxpayers makes a whole lot of sense. It will just make people spend less. How's that going to help the economy?

[eridani]

39. Bullshit. Having an extra $400/year or so is meaningless in terms of a yearly budget

If an extra $400 is meaningful to you, you aren't even paying income tax anyway. Having a job or not having a job; having some income from unemployment benefits or having no income--THOSE things make a big difference in your spending habits.

[roamer65]

41. Delete.

[TheWraith]

2. "Not much of a tax cut" is still important to a lot of people.

$400 a year may not sound like very much if you're comfortable, but it can be important to people who are scraping by.

And unemployment: HELL NO. Besides the fact that you're talking about cutting off the only lifeline keeping millions of families fed and in their homes, it would directly harm economic recovery by further slashing public spending. The deficit doesn't matter enough that we should burn down the beginnings of an economic revival in order to reduce it a bit.

[NaturalHigh]

3. I'm okay with letting tax cuts expire.

Unemployment? Would you really like to see people possibly wind up in the streets because they lost their unemployment?

There are other ways to cut spending that won't target the most vulnerable.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. what about the very very rich?

[JuniperLea]

5. "that much of a tax cut"

Is subjective. I'm betting those who earn the least need every cent.

[ProudDad]

8. Those who earn the least

don't make enough to pay income tax...

However, because of the federal and state income tax CUTS over the last 25+ years, we pay MUCH more of our income in regressive taxes that DO primarily hit the poor.

If the bush tax increase were allowed to occur, they would have some cash to pass out to communities so they won't have to hit us with the only taxes they can -- regressive sales taxes and property taxes on our underwater homes...

[JuniperLea]

11. Do you know how much that would be?

That figure is very low. I believe it's between $5 to $10k a year. I'm talking about families of four or five living on $30k or less a year. To them, an additional $400 is a Godsend.

[ProudDad]

30. You're right...

$30K is shit now days...

And 50 or 60 bucks a month less for such folk WOULD be a hardship -- I know 'cause I'm on Social Security and feel the pinch of being denied COLA increases for 2 years now while MY cost of living is rising -- thanks mostly to ADDITIONAL SALES TAX!!! We're nearly at 10% -- 1 out of 10 dollars I spend go for that regressive tax!

The REAL problem is a massively unequal distribution of resources and income...

Regressive sales and other taxes that disproportionately hit those of little means exacerbate the problem...

The truth is that there is enough bounty at present to give everyone in the industrialized world a rather decent standard of living if it were equally distributed...

Of course, thanks to global population overshoot that would be at the expense of the 4 or 5 billion people who live brutish lives to support the global haves...

And with the end of cheap energy and the destruction of our habitat for short-term profit, the reality of an Earth with a carrying capacity of 2 billion humans trying to support 7 billion will sink in and we will sink...

But, in the meantime, there should be more fairness and justice.

[JuniperLea]

35. You'd love the conversations I have had with Norwegians...

They think we are all dumbasses for allowing all this hunger and homelessness.

Oh, sure, they complain about taxes, but when we compare notes on how much I pay in taxes and how much I pay for health insurance (which they do not pay), they actually pay a substantially lower amount overall than we do. And they have beautiful national parks, libraries, museums, etc., that are all socially funded. Do a Google image search of Oslo... the beauty makes me cry.

[ProudDad]

37. If it just weren't so cooooolllllddddd...

Brrr :hi:

[eridani]

42. Except that their total tax liability is only $400 to begin with--

--so their "tax break" would be something like $40 or less.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf

Assuming $30K adjusdted gross income, standard decuttion of $11,400, and exemptions of $3650 each for 4 people you get a total taxable income of $4000, which is taxed at $403. For 5 people your TAXABLE income would be only $350, for a tax liability of $34.

[eridani]

40. Which they won't get from income tax cuts, seeing as how they aren't paying any n/t

[ProudDad]

6. That's much more rational than a $700 billion

giveaway to the already rich...

The median income citizen would pay about $70 per month more than now... (54,000 per year)...

The average rich fuck -- $108,000

[slackmaster]

7. It would hurt the middle class

I'd personally take a hit of about $200 per month.

[ProudDad]

9. The center of the middle class

would only take a hit of about $70-75 per month...

Good news! :)

[JuniperLea]

12. What income range do you consider "center" of the middle class? eom

[slackmaster]

17. Any answer that doesn't account for difference in cost of living, housing affordability, etc....

...would be simplistic.

The housing affordability index where I live (San Diego) is one of the lowest in the nation - A person of median income can't come anywhere near affording a median-priced home. For a person who can barely afford a home, any increase in tax rates could mean not being to afford it.

[JuniperLea]

33. This is the correct answer, imho...

I purposely asked in a simplistic fashion to see who would get it;) You can't just throw numbers out there because Los Angeles, CA, isn't anywhere near equal to Council Bluffs, Iowa!

I make 35% more than the national stated median income; however, I live in the area where I was fortunate enough to be born and raised, but let me tell you, it takes a hell of a lot more than that amount to feel anywhere near middle class in Los Angeles County... and the closer to the beach cities you are, the more ridiculous the prices for housing, gasoline, food and clothing. I'm thinking middle class in Los Angeles would be $100k or more a year.

[ProudDad]

31. $54,000 is the USAmerican Median Income...

Or put another way, over 3 times as much as I make with Social Security and a tiny defined benefit pension...

If I didn't have a girlfriend with a good job, I'd be homeless...

[JuniperLea]

34. Let's say you make $54k a year...

That is a hell of a lot of money in Council Bluffs, IA... but it's chicken feed in Los Angeles, CA. I know families of four and five in LA that live on that income. The words "squalor" and "ragamuffin" come to mind. It's very sad.

[eridani]

44. For a family of 4, that would be a taxable income of $28K

The yearly tax rate would be $3369. Add $4000 to that, and you get an extra $33/month. And people wonder why there isn't widespread awareness of this? If that amount had been noticable, people would have NOTICED it and not believed the Repuke BS.

[Johonny]

18. exactly, why hurt the classes that have been hurt by the Bush economy

the poor and the middle class have less money to spend than they did when Bush took office. They lost purchasing power. Increasing taxes on top of that just decreases their purchasing power more. The point of raising taxes on the rich is they aren't spending this money and they certainly are using more of Americas resources than ever before.

[slackmaster]

28. The Reagan economy hammered me, and so have both Bush economies

I'm fighting to keep what I've worked for.

[B Calm]

23. Damn. . . How much money do you make? 200 dollars more a month!

[slackmaster]

27. More than you do, I presume, but not enough to make me wealthy where I live.

I have a good job and work very hard, sometimes very long hours. It's taken me almost 30 years to get where I am in my career.

A $200 per month hit wouldn't kill me, but it would surely hurt.

[JuniperLea]

36. I'm exactly where you are...

That $200 would really hurt. And I've already cut spending drastically!

I just did my online open-enrollment. My health insurance went up, so I cut some of the life and extra AD&D to try and make up for it. I'm still going to pay another $60 a month after all that maneuvering!

[murray hill farm]

10. and the reason to do this....

is that not doing so is the way out to let them continue for all. This will be a little savings for those who make little and a bucket load of profit for those who are wealthy. If we do not stop these tax cuts, the repercussions Will be a disaster for the the lower end of the middle class because it will have to be made up for in cuts to tax deductions such as mtg interest and child care deductions and cuts in social programs and social security and education and intra structure, etc., etc. We need to let the tax cuts expire and not buy into letting them continue for the filthy rich because we buy into the fraud, at any level. What will happen is that there will be a 2 or 3 year extension for all...and then the lower middle class will pay a millions times over to make up for the deficit that results.

[Kaleva]

13. I'd support such a move. rec'd

[stray cat]

14. So if Obama lied about no middle class tax hikes that lie is ok?

[stray cat]

15. I can pay an extra 3000 in a pinch - can you?

[stray cat]

16. Below are the real details if you want accurate info

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/22/expiring-bush-cuts-affect-personal-finance-taxes.html

[letterwriter]

19. The Deficit is important

How can we take a tax cut for anyone on borrowed money?

[TexasObserver]

20. It wasn't important during the Reagan, Bush I and Bush II 20 years?!

The deficit only matters as a talking point for the GOP, which never does anything about it but make it deeper by spending more money.

[tblue37]

29. Cut Defense spending and end foreign military adventures, including

unwinnable wars. If the deficit really matters, start there!

[handmade34]

21. let all the tax cuts expire

not letting the tax cuts on the top 2-3% merely means that we pay- just in other ways... the entire situation is absurd

[Motown_Johnny]

22. bottom bracket goes from 10% to 15%

I agree it would be better to let them all expire than to extend the breaks for the top bracket.


Even so, a 50% increase in your income tax might be seen as something other than "not that much of a cut" by those who are struggling in a horrible economy.



Allowing the unemployment benefits to expire is insane. I won't even start that rant without being directly prompted to do so.

[B Calm]

24. Whenever taxes go up, employers gives us better raises. Thats a fact!

[Owl]

25. I agree, let them all expire.

[dkf]

26. Because we live in lala land and think we can grow the debt forever.

Americans don't believe in sacrifice.

[letterwriter]

32. Sacrifice?

It's not sacrifice. It's paying off a mounting debt. The choice is when, not if. The choice is now or later.

[eridani]

46. No, that isn't the choice. The choice is WHO

I don't mind paying the extra $60 a year I'd pay if the cuts expired, but the top 2% needs to do some sacrificing. The rest of us already have.

[Laelth]

38. I agree with the OP about taxes. That's the fiscally-sound thing to do.

Unemployment, however, should be renewed. That's the humane thing to do.

-Laelth

[roamer65]

43. The tax abatement should be allowed to expire on schedule...Dec 31, 2010.

Tax cuts are permanent. This was a tax abatement until Dec 31, 2010 and should be treated as such. It should be allowed to expire.

[eridani]

45. My tax liability last year was $335. Ending the tax break would add--

$66 dollars to my total tax bill. Big whoop. Fucking with Social Security and Medicare is going to hurt me a LOT more.