Ridiculous
 

I still think it's ridiculous that the GOP steadfastly protects the wealthiest among us from paying any more in taxes than they pay now. In fact, most of the GOP proposals cut the taxes on the rich even more. It's pretty clear to anyone who pays even the least bit of attention that the tax code, including all the loopholes, deductions and exclusions, has been bought and paid for by the lobbyists representing the wealthy. Most people know it and the overwhelming majority of Americans think it's wrong and that the wealthiest should pay more. But the GOP continues to 'serve and protect', just like the police for the rich.

Doesn't anyone ever ask WHY??

So you are one who believes in the Buffet rule ? That is the political gimmick that the President is touting INSTEAD of wholesale tax code revision.

So you believe in NO BUDGET at all, hiding the health care costs ? That seems to be the way of the Democrats and has been for years they are in control.

VK I totally respect your financial knowldege and your post will be the mantra of the democratic party....and it is class warfare. The house budget by Ryan is far far from right on but our secy of Treasury says he doesnt care what it says, he is against it.

The Republicans are not correct and neither are the Democrats, but you seem to think they got it and the Republican do not With all due respect I disagree totally with you.


As far as the polls, the polls also said that the majority were against the healthcare bill, but we got it anyway, and NO conversation about all the taxes hidden in that bill EVER !

You and the democrats propose the easy way...the way that sounds good and will certainly sway voters....and that is it. If you think that just raising taxes on a few rich people is the answer, wow...how simple that is.

Lets go to work and revise the tax code.....but stop the political pandering about rich and poor !!!

Sorry, I do respect your opinion but when you come out backing this Democratic party I have to disagree. It was you who said we need to cut and cut deeply, yet the house budget gets not a look....just tax the rich and we will be ok.

By the way...the "serve and protect" line is a good one. Did you share that with the party ?

VILLAGEKAHUANA....saw this the other day and thought of you when you used to go on about the size of banks and how whatever was being done would reduce those large banks....I am paraphrasing so feel free to correct me on that but at least in my head that is what you were saying.

This is from a blurb I saw the other day...

"Two years after President Barack Obama vowed to eliminate the danger of financial institutions becoming “too big to fail,” the nation’s largest banks are bigger than they were before the credit crisis.

Five banks – JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — held $8.5 trillion in assets at the end of 2011, equal to 56 percent of the U.S. economy, according to the Federal Reserve.

Five years earlier, before the financial crisis, the largest banks’ assets amounted to 43 percent of U.S. output. The Big Five today are about twice as large as they were a decade ago relative to the economy, sparking concern that trouble at a major bank would rock the financial system and force the government to step in as it did during the 2008 crunch."

Great news: “Too big to fail” banks even bigger now « Hot Air

Bottom line to me....I/we trusted this man on health care and he lied and continues to do so. There were a number of things that I actually thought this man would or could do...but he lied all around.

That is enough for me !!

Broader
 

You kinda broadened out the discussion, Bucco. Of course I'm for a broad and complete reworking of the tax code...combined with an aggressively crafted budget that substantially cuts both discretionary spending, but more importantly entitlement spending.

What I'm really for is a Congress and a POTUS who will do the arithmetic and then act on the results. Our fiscal problems cannot be solved without both substantial spending cuts as well as tax increases. The most likely and logical tax increases will have to be borne by the wealthiest individuals and those companies who either pay no or little taxes or benefit from tax loopholes that are not needed other than to increase their profits.

Is that "income redistribution"? Yeah, I guess it is. The wealthy will have to contribute more of their earned income to pay for government services, many of which will benefit those who can't afford to pay for them. But in my mind, that's the role of a democratic government in a developed country.

If that's the Democratic mantra...yep, I'm for it! If that's what the GOP will support, I'm for them too!

"Big" Isn't Always Bad
 

Big isn't always bad, Bucco. But what is bad is big combined with a tepid and ineffective regulatory structure. Unfortunately, that's what we have. Dodd-Frank is a joke. It doesn't provide the regulatory structure that I think is necessary and in fact the complicated regulations it does require tends to drive the smaller, community banks out of business, making the largest banks even larger. (That's what they wanted, of course, and that's what they got as the result of their lobbyists payments to members of Congress.)

I know that the vast majority of those on the right have ObamaCare squarely in their sights. But really, the law that has the potential of creating another life-changing crisis in the near term is Dodd-Frank. But nary a word about overturning that abomination. And unfortunately, the critics don't understand our financial regulatory structure any better than they understand the contents of ObamaCare.

It iis interesting how you rail against Republicans all the time, and in this case on Dodd-Frank, the Republicans ARE and HAVE been trying to get this thing "fixed". HOWEVER, your wonderful Democratic party says...well..

"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is warning that if GOP lawmakers continue their push to roll back portions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, it could "critically undermine" the ability to prevent damaging future crises.

In a letter sent to lawmakers Tuesday, Geithner blasted a package of measures set to be considered by the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, including a pair that would repeal or trim key pieces of the Wall Street makeover.

"The act provides essential reforms that should not be weakened or repealed," he wrote to committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) and ranking member Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)."

Geithner: Hands off Dodd-Frank - The Hill's On The Money

And I think the Republicans actually have legislation to change parts of it already in the works.

Render unto Caesar
 

IRS tax exempt status for religious organizations is predicated on the institution compling with Federal law/IRS rules. One rule prohibits partisan politics. I (Jim) believe churches should not avail themselves of the exemption. Church leaders would then be free to say anyhting from the pulpit without fear of losing their tax exempt status.

In turn, members would not be able to take tax deductions for their contributions. That seems right in view of the Bible's admonition to, "render unto Caesar,that which is Caesar's" and to give your "alms in secret that you may be rewarded" secretly.