Originally Posted by tophcfa (Post 1743925)

I have a novel idea. Once the covid 19 thing is behind us and the economy normalizes, how about getting back to the good old days where the government runs a budget surplus during good times and uses the surplus to pay down debt.

It's called fiscal responsibility, and it involves cutting spending, not looking for ways to tax people. Deficit spending is acceptable during crisis times like we are now in, but is unsustainable when done year after year as has become the new norm.

Originally Posted by blueash (Post 1744177)

Your point was, if I understood it correctly, that poor people paying no tax were having their votes bought by politicians who supported policies that helped the poor. I am suggesting that it is even less virtuous to have wealthy people having their votes bought by politicians who will support policies that help rich people.

If poor people paid a small tax do you think that would in any way change the economic calculation of whom they would support? Of course not. So your suggestion that non-tax payers are specially susceptible to having their votes bought lacks support. But I am pleased to see we are in basic agreement that all politicians make economic promises in the hope that voters will see how those promises will benefit their own family. As I watch a large percentage of my neighbors cheating within the letter of the law to have their old roofs replaced while railing against welfare mothers and people who don't pay taxes, I see hypocrisy.

Originally Posted by noslices1 (Post 1744255)

How about deducting the U. S. cost of the Virus from the debt we owe to China, since they started this and didn’t warn anyone until it was too late?

Originally Posted by bmit16 (Post 1744293)

If you have been paying attention, you would have heard the President state about a month ago that the money was coming from the existing budget. Instead of funneling trillions to foreign countries in aid, he redirected that money to the American people. We are not giving our usual aid to all the foreign countries that do not support us. He actually is spending less on us during this time then we spend on foreign aid in a month. So, the budget will be fine and the future even better for balancing since under this administration we will not be wasting money propping up our enemies. The MSM has not reported this since he initially said it. Imagine that!

Originally Posted by NJRICHARD (Post 1744314)

Instead of increasing or implementing a new tax idea.....how about something as radical as reducing spending??? Across the board 10% cut, no exceptions. In reality we could cut it bt 20% without any reduction of services.