WAR TAX question would make GOP heads explode

[yurbud]

David Obey has stumbled upon a way to further sink the GOP.

He warned Obama that if he continued the Afghanistan War, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-david-obey-warns-president-obama-afghanistan-war/story?id=9126805">he would institute a ''war surtax'' of 1% for most people and 5% for the wealthiest to pay for it.. He should add a bracket for businesses too.

I would formalize it and add that when ever troops are sent into harms way, the tax is triggered and stays in place until the war is over, and the rates could be adjusted annually depending on the actual cost of the war.

Bush accidentally set the precedent for this when he continually asked for war spending as supplementals instead of as part of his regular budget (so he could claim his budget wasn't creating as big a deficit as it really was).

Republicans in Congress who want to see any war continue as long as possible should be asked if they support such a proposal to pay for current and future wars or whether we should continue to charge our grandchildren for them.


This would force them to make a Sophie's Choice between two of the cherished policies: endless war and no new taxes.

I suspect they would try to have it both ways or call for cuts in social programs instead, and since so many people are struggling right now, that might not go over so well.

It would also help people re-connect taxes to actual government action, rather than the current disconnect between what people want, and their GOP pavlovian conditioning to assume any tax increase is bad. Maybe people would start to wonder what percentage of the budget goes to other issues too.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. They should tax Republicans - all the people who voted for GW Bush

:evilgrin: if they want war they can pay for it.

[robinlynne]

2. oh yeah. maybe it might even end a war or two?

[cark]

3. War tax sounds good to me.

Lets get these costs out in the open.

[havocmom]

4. War tax sounds about right.

A very few are profiting handsomely from war while millions are suffering and our national economy is ruined for a very long time due to the debt of these wars.

Only a few in America are paying the hardships of family deployed, injured, killed. Only a few in America are doing the math to see what the wars cost in terms of debt and other CONSTRUCTIVE programs not accomplished.

Tax 'em all and wake them the hell up. Yes, tiny rate for the bulk of people, and hit the top bracket hard.

Wars cost. It is time to end the illusion that they don't.

[invictus]

5. K&R

[bridgit]

6. Tax the people that want war & profit from war the upper most, before too long war will end

[yurbud]

15. Randi Rhodes had a good idea: all defense industries become non-profit in wartime

and their execs get paid the same as a private in the army to show solidarity with them.

[yurbud]

16. and a 50% tax on any transnational corporation that does business there after we invade

if they do business here too.

If they weasel out of it their lobbyists and execs should be banned from DC permanently.

[redqueen]

7. K&R!

[Ozymanithrax]

8. I agree with the war tax and will happily pay it.

But Republican/Conservative opposition won't cause them a single moments loss of sleep. Their religiously based conservative ideology states that Taxes are an abomination in the sight of the lord. They will use the lapdog press to whip their fringe into a frenzy.

We have our own fringe on the left who will foam at the mouth at the very idea of any more of their tax dollars going to fund any war. This is a two edged sword that can cut both sides.

[earthside]

9. Cuts -- Not Taxes.

How many bases/installations does the Pentagon operate in Bulgaria? Spain? Japan? Twenty other nations?

Don't raise my taxes for anything until the U.S. military is brought down to a reasonable budgetary level for a country $14 trillion in debt and still in a recession.

Republican heads may explode, but average, ordinary Americans are not going to be very happy with the Democrats for this idea, either.

It just goes to show you how tone-deaf some of the leaders in Congress are ... with a real unemployment rate of close to 20 percent, why does proposing even a one percent tax hike on stressed middle and working class folks seem like a good political idea? Better to reject an escalation in Afghanistan which is what the people want (according to the polls).

I just don't get this anymore ... does the President or the Congress ever care about what most Americans want? Or is Washington just so corrupt that the whole exercise in political activism is a waste of time?

[femrap]

10. great idea

The poor have to fight the wars and the rich will have to pay them to fight it.

Brilliant.

I can't wait to hear some a-hole repugnant complain about the war tax.

War tax or bring back the Draft.

[bergie321]

11. War tax AND bring back the draft.

It is far too easy to start a for-profit war these days. Make it so any future President will face huge pressure and unrest if they start illegal wars.

[yurbud]

19. it is a testament to our progress as a people that they don't dare bring back the draft

The know the politician who does that will be crucified, and in short order, troops would be back to refusing orders and fragging their officers like in Vietnam.

[femrap]

20. I'm still amazed that young

folks enlist....it just shows how little hope they have in this country. Tax + Draft!!!

[Gregorian]

12. A big recommendation!

I've been advocating this for ages. Let it happen. Force their hypocrisy.

[Blue For You]

13. I'd prefer a straight, across the board "warmonger tax" of 10%.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. Our military helps safeguard the interests of giant corporations throughout the world

particularly ones like Exxon, Mobil, and Shell. Part of their profits are due to the presence of our military abroad. I think a windfall profits tax for the special protection they receive on the high seas and on foreign soil would be in order, a tax they would be prohibited from passing on the consumer through higher prices.

[butterfly77]

17. They are the people who want it..

so that they can shout VICTORY! and for the contracts but they love to tell us that we are spending too much money.

They know that taxes will have to be raised and if they keep on playing with the public they will get what they aren't bargaining for.

They keep asking about where are the jobs when they know where they are they are overseas and they the congress and senate are benefitting from them as well as the stock market..

[Naturyl]

18. This would just get every social program cut to smithereens.

The idea is coming from the right place, but it ignores the reality of American thinking. People wouldn't just sit down for such a tax. They would demand huge spending cuts somewhere else, and what little social progress we have would go bye-bye.

It's a matter of priorties, and isn't it crystal clear that war is a higher priority than people's welfare?

[Faryn Balyncd]

21. rec!!!