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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Economy By the Way...

Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 9:51 AM

France is moving in the right direction...

France's Socialist-dominated parliament voted on Thursday to end tax breaks on overtime work and raise wealth tax, abolishing two cornerstones of the economic policy conservative former president Nicolas Sarkozy pursued over the past five years.

Removing the tax break on overtime will stimulate the job market, and taxing the rich will mean reducing the deficit without reducing government spending (austerity).

Hollande won power on pledges to reboot the economy and get rid of a large deficit without subjecting voters to Greek-style austerity, primarily by proposing a tax-and-spend program that he says will hit the rich harder.

The US, of course, has a deep deficit because it is unable to generate serious revenue from the rich, who, after Obama has been in power for four years, and after five years of a deep recession, are still enjoying Bush-era tax cuts.

National Priorities Project tells it like it is:

Federal revenue has declined over the last decade as a result of a host of tax cuts and growing exploitation of deductions, credits, and loopholes. Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 helped turn budget surpluses into deficits, and the federal government has now run deficits for over a decade. The deficit in fiscal year 2012 is projected at $1.2 trillion, which means the federal government will borrow nearly a third of every dollar it spends this year.

The Great Recession has also contributed to the federal government’s cash shortfall – when fewer people are employed, fewer people pay taxes. But even without the weak economy, the federal deficit would be sizeable.

If the US was to end the Bush-era tax cuts and block tax loopholes for individuals and corporations, the deficit would be nothing to talk about.

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Comments (4) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

After about a dozen years, it's Bush-era tax rates. Not cuts.

Posted by Gay Dude for Romney

on July 24, 2012 at 10:39 AM

The wealth tax of course is an asset tax.

This is something SLOG has consistently refused to support in WA state...HB2100 for example is an asset tax.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on July 24, 2012 at 11:25 AM

It's impossible to find anyone on this planet that loathes and despises this country and its people more than the psychopaths, compulsive liars, and greed-crazed kleptomaniacs that control our political, financial, and eCONomic "systems," as demonstrated by their pathological obsession with avoiding paying their fair share. They've done far more to harm the US and the majority of our people than any terrorists ever could.

Posted by Original Andrew on July 24, 2012 at 11:29 AM

@1 That kind of thinking is so stupid, I don't even know where to begin.

I wonder if this is seriously one of the reasons the republicans have been such a pain in the ass about the end of them. They think if they bunker down, stick their fingers in their ears and scream "nuh uh!" long enough that the tax breaks will just somehow solidify?

Posted by Pick1 on July 24, 2012 at 12:11 PM