Liberal Left is mad as hell at Obama for supporting Bush tax cuts

[Richpo64]

>>What makes you think they have created no jobs? Because they are black?<<

He's obviously a racist.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I did not say that anyone was advocating a 100% tax or a 0% tax. But those are the two extremes, and both are unworkable.

There is an optimal percentage that will return the greatest revenue. It is hard to provide any figures as to the specific number of jobs provided. The optimal tax rate in some occupations will be different between the optimal rate in other occupations. A high-profit company should be able to pay more taxes than a low-profit company, for example. But the government obviously cannot tax accordingly, ie taxing casinos and Apple computer at a higher rate than importers of shoes from China.

The Juniorbush tax cuts did not produce greater revenues, according to most of the articles I have seen.

The optimal tax rate will also vary according to the state of the economy. There are a multitude of variables,and I really doubt that all of them are known or can be known.

[sirs]

I did not say that anyone was advocating a 100% tax or a 0% tax. But those are the two extremes, and both are unworkable.

Then why bring it up in a supposed serious conversation, when no one is even remotely pushing either extreme

The Juniorbush tax cuts did not produce greater revenues, according to most of the articles I have seen.

According to most of the articles I've "seen", they absolutely did.  and if they didn't, why is everyone, including Obama now saying we can't increase tax rates, if the cuts supposedly don't produce greater revenues?  In fact, it's more of the government's money they're dishing out, to "pay for the cuts".  

In reality though, the timing couldn't have been better as they steered us from a potential economic meltdown, following the WTC's coming down.  Spending outpaced the increased revenues however, which then went into warp deficit speed when the Dems took over

Still waiting for the # of jobs that "should have" been created, under Bush's tax rate reductions

[Xavier_Onassis]

Still waiting for the # of jobs that "should have" been created, under Bush's tax rate reductions

Still waiting for the actual numbers as well.

[sirs]

Then it was (dare I say) obviously a bogus claim to make in citing Bush's tax cut rate reductions "should have created far more jobs", when you have no idea

[Plane]

If lower taxes had this huge power to create jobs, then the Bush tax cuts should have created far more than they did.

If there are no taxes, there is no government and anarchy results. What you get is Somalia.

If taxes were 100%, no one would have any incentive to participate in the economy. People would grow their own food and barter with others for other needs. The economy would not involve money. Perhaps this would resemble what existed after Genghis Khan and Company took over, and his soldiers could plunder at will.


There is an ideal tax rate at which revenue and job creating are at an optimal level. If taxes are lowered beyond that point, revenue drops more than is justified.

Reducing taxes will not always raise revenue received.

I think we agree on this concept , sometimes called the "Laffer curve".

But there seems to be little marker of the point at which the taxes have become too steep to be optimum.

How can we experiment ? If the economy runs best with a light load perhaps the best tax collections are made at the lowest rates.If the economy is very robust after all ,perhaps we can support an even bigger government bite.

I would rather err on the low side , we can always regrow the government if we have too little , but regrowing a damaged economy is more difficult.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The extremes of taxation are 0% and 100%. Neither is actually possible.

But again, there is an ideal tax rate above and below which revenues decrease.

[Plane]

The extremes of taxation are 0% and 100%. Neither is actually possible.

But again, there is an ideal tax rate above and below which revenues decrease.

How is this optimum level located?

[R.R.]

Why would Obama's presidency be over if these tax cuts weren't passed, as Obama apparently was telling congressman?

[Xavier_Onassis]

The optimum tax level would be different in different regions and different industries. The only way to determine it would be with a pretty complex computer program. Of course, there is also the experience of other countries to draw on.

A company with high profit margins can afford a higher tax rate than one with a low profit margin, so there will always be some winners and some losers. It is a difficult thing to do, but not impossible.

[R.R.]

The liberal left talked a big game, but in the end caved. I guess they thought they could placate their wild base with violent rhetoric while voting for Bush's policies. I wonder if Olbermann is still looking for a "new man--or woman"? The Bush tax cuts got more Democrat votes now than when Bush actually proposed them.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The Bush tax cuts did not come at a time of crisis, and did not come with provisions to help the unemployed, either.

And no, I do not miss Juniorbush. Good riddance.

[R.R.]

The Bush tax cuts did not come at a time of crisis, and did not come with provisions to help the unemployed, either.

It's not a time of crisis right now either. This is a an economy that has been kept bad by Obama's policies. We should be doing a lot better right now than we are.

The Democrats still have large majorities in congress. They could have gotten unemployment benefits without passing Bush's tax cuts. They got rolled on this. Unemployment benefits should not have been passed. They are making more per hour on the benefits than they are with a job. People need to go out and try to find a job, even if it is something that they are over qualified for. Benefits should be cut off at this point.

[Amianthus]

The Bush tax cuts did not come at a time of crisis

The Bush tax cuts came while we were still struggling out of the tech bubble burst from the end of Clinton's presidency.