Fred Sherman
Well-known member
Wrong, my friend. 46% of American households do not pay taxes. In terms of taxpayer population, that equates to 52%, since the lower incomes brackets tend to have more than one generation under the same roof. Those numbers come straight from The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. Thats about as non-partisan as it gets.because the people that come up with these percentages count kids that don't have jobs, house hold pets and farm animals
My point is when the majority pay no taxes, but vote for politicians who create tax policy, those politicians will always raise taxes on the minority. The problem with that is they kill off investment and business growth, which lowers the tax base and increases the percentage that don't pay. Eventually it fails under its own weight.
Without drastic action, which we see our government is incapable of taking, we're already past the tipping point. It has nothing to do with right/left or republican/democrat. Neither party has the will to cut government spending, they merely differ on what they'll spend like drunken sailors on.
Here are the numbers from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
General government revenue (% of GDP) for United States in year 2010 is 30.533 %. Revenue consists of taxes, social contributions, grants receivable, and other revenue. Revenue increases government?s net worth, which is the difference between its assets and liabilities (GFSM 2001, paragraph 4.20). Note: Transactions that merely change the composition of the balance sheet do not change the net worth position, for example, proceeds from sales of nonfinancial and financial assets or incurrence of liabilities.
General government total expenditure (% of GDP) for United States in year 2010 is 41.118 %. Total expenditure consists of total expense and the net acquisition of nonfinancial assets. Note: Apart from being on an accrual basis, total expenditure differs from the GFSM 1986 definition of total expenditure in the sense that it also takes the disposals of nonfinancial assets into account.
Total Government Net Lending/ Borrowing (% of GDP) for United States in year 2010 is -10.586 %.
Total Government Gross Debt (% of GDP) for United States in year 2010 is 91.552 %. Gross debt consists of all liabilities that require payment or payments of interest and/or principal by the debtor to the creditor at a date or dates in the future. This includes debt liabilities in the form of SDRs, currency and deposits, debt securities, loans, insurance, pensions and standardized guarantee schemes, and other accounts payable. Thus, all liabilities in the GFSM 2001 system are debt, except for equity and investment fund shares and financial derivatives and employee stock options. Debt can be valued at current market, nominal, or face values (GFSM 2001, paragraph 7.110).
Ready for the kicker?
Debt Interest Payments (% of GDP) for United States in year 2010 is -8.876 %. Primary net lending/borrowing is net lending (+)/borrowing (?) plus net interest payable/paid (interest expense minus interest revenue).
Lets say we cut the federal budget by 20% across the board. What does it get us? 10.5% of that is already over budget. 8.8% still goes to paying interest on the debt. Only 0.7% would go towards paying down the debt!
For the US to get out of debt in 10 years, we would have to cut spending by 30%, almost 1/3 of the budget. Neither party has the courage to do that. The American people don't have the backbone for such an austerity program. This is a country that has a sense of entitlement, not sacrifice.
Its not political, its cultural. We are the modern Roman Empire, grown bloated and fat, collapsing under the weight of our own arrogance. The answer is always the same - let someone who has more than me pay more.
Here's the reality for "the rich need to pay more" crowd: you can tax everyone who makes more than $250K/year at 100% and with our current rate of spending, you still won't pay down the debt in 100 years.
its not a revenue problem, its a spending problem. Until we stop thinking we're the greatest nation on Earth and realize that we're nothing more than Greece, supersized, we'll continue to be screwed. Until we stop trying to solve this with politics and start solving with actual mathematics, we're doomed. I personally don't think we have the capacity. My grandfather's generation was called the Greatest Generation. I have no desire to know what history calls ours. There are coffee cups, zippy cups and dixie cups. I'm pretty sure we'll be the Fa cups.
by Peter Schweizer
