Most, Including Republicans, Ready To Accept New Taxes

There is no doubt that the huge budget deficit, especially when coupled with the large national debt, is starting to scare most Americans. They want the deficit reduced, and also the debt over a period of time. While I don't agree with the idea that the debt or deficit is America's worst problem right now (job creation is more important), I can understand these feelings. People are afraid that the debt will grow so large that it cannot be paid off (and will be passed on to their children).

Most people today are not old enough to remember that, as a percentage of GDP, the nation has had a worse problem with debt -- immediately after World War II. But that debt was not unmanageable, and got paid off through taxes on the rich (much higher than today), job creation (increasing the number of taxpayers), and budget cuts (including significant cuts to the defense budget).

The problem we have today is that none of those three things that solved the last huge deficit and debt is being used. And the Republican Party doesn't want to use any of those tools. They talk a good talk about deficit and debt reduction, but refuse to use the necessary and available tools to get it done effectively. Instead, they are just using the debt/deficit problem to scare Americans into accepting the cutting of government programs the right-wing Republicans have never liked (Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, Food Stamps, public education, unemployment insurance, family planning, etc.). In other words, they are demagoguing the debt/deficit issue to accomplish their own social agenda.

The Republicans refuse to cut any military spending and try to frame this as protecting America, even though both Republican and Democratic administrations have cut military spending in the past without endangering the nation's defense. The sad fact is that our military spending is more than that of all other nations combined. We could cut it in half and we would still be outspending any other nation on Earth by a considerable margin (including those nations considered to be possible enemies). Anyone really serious about reducing the deficit or the debt must be willing to make significant cuts in military spending.

The Republicans also refuse to consider any job stimulus programs that have a chance of working, saying we cannot afford them. The truth is that we cannot afford not to do them. Creating large numbers of new jobs also creates large numbers of new tax payers (assuming the new jobs are better than minimum wage jobs). These new taxpayers will help to pay down the deficit and debt over time. The only "job creation" the Republicans will consider is to lower even further the taxes on corporations, which has been proven to be ineffective (since no competent businessman will hire unneeded employees just because they got a tax break).

And finally, the Republicans refuse to consider any kind of tax raise, even a small raise on the rich and corporations (who are both making record profits). Just eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the rich will reduce the deficit by about $400 billion a year (not an insignificant amount). And the tax rates for the wealthy would still be lower than they were in past administrations (including the Reagan administration).

The current Republican mantra, repeated over and over again, is that the American people do not want any taxes to be raised (even taxes on the rich). But repeating it endlessly does not make it true. Poll after poll shows that a huge majority of Americans are willing to accept at least some tax raises -- especially the elimination of the Bush administration tax cuts for the rich. And a new Gallup Poll shows that this extends across all party lines.

The new poll (taken between July 7th and July 10th of over 1,000 American adults nationwide, with a 4 point margin of error) shows that 90% of Democrats, 77% of Independents, and 74% of Republicans believe that the budget cuts must include at least some kind of tax raise. The most acceptable kind of tax raise would be to eliminate the Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthy.

These tax raises don't have to be as large as the taxes put on the rich after World War II (when the top tax bracket was 80-90%) because our debt is not as critical as it was then. But higher taxes for the rich, coupled with significant job creation and significant cuts in military spending, are the only way out of the debt/deficit problem. There is no other way. Simply cutting social programs (even if Medicare and Social Security are included) will only contract the economy and make the country's economic problems worse.

The Republicans aren't really interested in cutting the deficit/debt. They just want to get rid of some social programs they don't like and win the next election. It's time they were called on their lies and their failed economic theory. The only way to bring down the deficit (and the debt) is to use all three of the tools available to the government -- higher taxes on those making enormous profits, stimulating a large creation of jobs, and cutting military spending by a significant amount. If these three things are done, we won't have to pass on a huge debt burden to our children.