Ten Ways to Cut the Deficit

[Startraveler]

The National Journal asks: “President Obama and his team said recently that the fiscal 2011 budget will represent a credible effort to reduce budget deficits and put the federal government on a path toward “sustainable” deficits …How would you alter taxes and spending to achieve (or at least pursue) that goal? ”

Here are my ten proposals to move the budget back to a sustainable path (like the one it was on until January 2001):.

Read more...

A Harvard economist presents "Ten Ways to Move the Budget Back Toward a Sustainable Path." The only one that strikes me as controversial/questionable is the suggestion that we end manned space exploration. Regardless of whether or not we need it, I'd like to see a more compelling argument that it's worth the trouble of ending it.

[Roughneck]

Ending manned space exploration? Might as well just call it quits as a social species and devolve into a survivalist one.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Would "stop spending money" be a sensible route?

Do what we do in Oz - Poker Machines/One Armed Bandits in pubs and clubs and tax the revenue.

[Startraveler]

Would "stop spending money" be a sensible route?

Half of the suggestions on that list are spending cuts.

[Roughneck]

What about raise taxes and stop exporting jobs and importing skills. We lost and are losing so many industries.

Edited December 3, 2009 by Roughneck

[Caesar]

I have a few

1 we should have a spend as you go program in congress

2 we should force those who are not legal citizens out of the country and they shouldn't have access to tax payer services.

3 close all military bases in Europe

4 government jobs shouldn't be unionized

5 stop the policies based on the myth and religious views of man made global warming

6 stop the bailouts and the taking over of companies.

[Purplos]

Bake sales.

Lots and lots of bake sales.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

6 stop the bailouts and the taking over of companies.

State run companies?

What are you... a Commie?

[AROCES]

This is a wish list of someone who is a liberal.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

This is a wish list of someone who is a liberal.

I love how "liberal" is a dirty word in America. It means, to the rest of the world, someone who is fairly laid back, flexible and open-minded.

[Funky Poacher]

I love how "liberal" is a dirty word in America. It means, to the rest of the world, someone who is fairly laid back, flexible and open-minded.

They also don't really know what socialist is, they equate it with communism. Those jokesters.

[+DieChecker]

A Harvard economist presents "Ten Ways to Move the Budget Back Toward a Sustainable Path." The only one that strikes me as controversial/questionable is the suggestion that we end manned space exploration. Regardless of whether or not we need it, I'd like to see a more compelling argument that it's worth the trouble of ending it.

As a conservative Republican I don't have a problem with any of those. Fund what we already have and cut what we don't need. Seems clear. Space can be put on hold indefinately and picked up again at any time. Why would that be horrible?

I have a few

1 we should have a spend as you go program in congress

2 we should force those who are not legal citizens out of the country and they shouldn't have access to tax payer services.

3 close all military bases in Europe

4 government jobs shouldn't be unionized

5 stop the policies based on the myth and religious views of man made global warming

6 stop the bailouts and the taking over of companies.

I only really like 1, 3 and 4.

I think we should identify those who are illegal and let them stay here, but tax them perhaps 50% or 100% more. Force them to either put up with it, leave or become a citizen.

[AROCES]

I love how "liberal" is a dirty word in America. It means, to the rest of the world, someone who is fairly laid back, flexible and open-minded.

Not really a dirty word, just a big concern when Liberals takes control of the governement and wants their way imposed on everyone. You see, most Liberals NEEDS the government to be able to live the lifestyle they desire and attain their wish list.

They also don't really know what socialist is, they equate it with communism. Those jokesters.

It is basically the same ideology, one is just extreme.

[questionmark]

Not really a dirty word, just a big concern when Liberals takes control of the governement and wants their way imposed on everyone. You see, most Liberals NEEDS the government to be able to live the lifestyle they desire and attain their wish list.

Did you check the meaning of the word liberal lately?

Or is this another word that will have a different meaning in the US compared to the rest of the world?

The concept of liberal is not that they want to impose but stop others from imposing.

[AROCES]

Did you check the meaning of the word liberal lately?

Or is this another word that will have a different meaning in the US compared to the rest of the world?

The concept of liberal is not that they want to impose but stop others from imposing.

Yup, that was the concept until they figured out how to use the government as a tool.

[questionmark]

Yup, that was the concept until they figured out how to use the government as a tool.

Then they are not liberal and you are using the wrong adjective. Or are you mad at them because they want to stop you from imposing?

[AROCES]

Then they are not liberal and you are using the wrong adjective. Or are you mad at them because they want to stop you from imposing?

Again, them taking over the govenrment to push their will and sustain their lifestyle is the concern.

[Caesar]

I only really like 1, 3 and 4.

I think we should identify those who are illegal and let them stay here, but tax them perhaps 50% or 100% more. Force them to either put up with it, leave or become a citizen.

I have some more

1) We use mirror trade policies with other nations.

2) We start drilling our own oil and build more nuke plants

3) End these class action lawsuits

4) Corporate tax cuts so that they match other developed nations.

I think the biggest problem with Obama is that small businesses have no idea what costs will be down the road. you have,

1 Cap and trade - so energy prices could go up.

2 healthcare so companies could pay more for healthcare depending on the busniss structure aka corporate entity.

3 Obama is pushing for unions so the costs of labor could go up. you have seen this with the pro-union executive orders he has made to help or to make it easier for unions to get government money/contracts.

4 Taxes. with all this spending, do you think taxes will stay the same?

As long as you see these factors I don't see unemployment going down. companies will stand on the sidelines and give employees overtime or use temp workers first rather then add new employees to its payroll.

[questionmark]

corporate tax?

There are only some exotic countries and Ireland that has a lower corporate tax than the USA. All countries economically more successful then the USA have higher corporate taxes and no breaks for smaller companies. All excuses. I bet they would scream their lungs out had they 33% like Belgium, Germany or France.

Argentina 35%

Australia 30%

Austria 25%

Belgium 33.99%

Brazil 34%

Bulgaria 10%

BVI - - -

Canada 19.5%(federal)

China 25%

Croatia 20%

Cyprus 10%

Czech Rep. 20%

Denmark 25%

Egypt 20%

Estonia 21%

Finland 26%

France 33.33%

Germany 30-33%(effective)

Gibraltar 27%

Greece 25%

Hong kong 16.5%

Hungary 16%

India 30-40%

Indonesia 28%

Ireland 12.5%

Israel 26%

Italy 31.4%

Japan 30%

Latvia 15%

Lithuania 20%

Luxemburg 21%

Malta 35%

Mexico 28%

Monaco 33.33%

Morocco 35%

Montenegro 9%

Netherlands 20-25.5%

New Zealand 30%

Norway 28%

Pakistan 35%

Philippines 30%

Poland 19%

Portugal 12.5/25%

Romania 16%

Russia 20%

Saudi Arabia 20%

Serbia 10%

Singapore 18%

Slovakia 19%

Slovenia 21%

South Africa 28%

Spain 30%

Sweden 26.3%

Taiwan 25%

Thailand 30%

Tunisia 30%

Turkey 20%

U.K. 28%

Ukraine 25%

U.S.A. 15-35%

Vietnam 25%

Zambia 35%

Source

[Caesar]

corporate tax?

There are only some exotic countries and Ireland that has a lower corporate tax than the USA. All countries economically more successful then the USA have higher corporate taxes and no breaks for smaller companies. All excuses. I bet they would scream their lungs out had they 33% like Belgium, Germany or France.

The combined U.S. federal and average state rate of 40 percent is almost 9 percentage points higher than the average OECD top corporate rate of 31.4 percent. when you add state corporate taxes to the 35 percent federal rate, you arrive at a 40 percent average these are numbers from the Cato Institute.

Cato Institute {pdf} The Cato Institute is non-partisan

"In a 2006 study, the economist William C. Randolph of the Congressional Budget Office concluded that “domestic labor bears slightly more than 70 percent of the burden” imposed by corporate taxes."

source and full article

The Cato Institute

[questionmark]

The combined U.S. federal and average state rate of 40 percent is almost 9 percentage points higher than the average OECD top corporate rate of 31.4 percent. when you add state corporate taxes to the 35 percent federal rate, you arrive at a 40 percent average these are numbers from the Cato Institute.

Cato Institute {pdf} The Cato Institute is non-partisan

"In a 2006 study, the economist William C. Randolph of the Congressional Budget Office concluded that “domestic labor bears slightly more than 70 percent of the burden” imposed by corporate taxes."

source and full article

The Cato Institute

Ehm...do they also tell you that in the countries I mentioned before there are additional state and local taxes for corporate income?

See these publications?

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8382

http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_0707_48.pdf

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/04/18/tax-competition-forcing-lower-corporate-rates-in-europe/

They all say that tax is too high in the US and to low in Europe (strangely the publications aimed at Europeans say otherwise)

And here we have the official statistics of the EU:

In comparison with the rest of the world, the EU27 tax ratio remains generally high, exceeding those of the USA and Japan by some 12 percentage points. However, the tax burden varies significantly between Member States, ranging in 2007 from less than 30% in Romania and Slovakia (both 29.4%) and Lithuania (29.9%), to a little less than 50% in Denmark (48.7%) and Sweden (48.3%).

Source

And at the end of that you can see what other taxes corporations (and individuals) pay additionally to the income tax.

The Cato institute has one agenda, zero corporate tax and low flat tax for everybody else. And to get that they lobby in the US to lower taxes and then march over to Europe pointing at the taxes in the US and then to Japan pointing at the taxes in Europe. Then the game starts again in the the US.

While I am all for not paying taxes (at all) I know that we demand services from out governments that require vasts amounts of money .

This tax reduction crap will only lead to one thing: The immeasurable indebtedness of governments (in fact soon 50% of the taxes collected in the US will go straight to pay interest to debtors). Time to quit it.

[churchanddestroy]

Fifth, end manned space exploration. We don’t need it. Spend half the money on useful science instead, including research on energy and medicine (and unmanned space exploration).

While I agree with the need to reduce the deficit, space exploration should be a major prerogative. I believe that exploring and colonizing space is necessary for the survival of our species. In that light, this one is a poor choice.

Fourth, continue to cut expensive weapons systems that the military doesn’t want, but have in the past been been kept because the suppliers are in the districts of influential congressmen. President Obama and Defense Secretary Gates have, amazingly, managed to do this with the F22.

He is definitely on the right track here, but he has it a little bit backwards. Rather, I would argue that we should cut down infantry and mechanized units in the Army and Marines to a few select 'elite' units. We should also remove every base outside of U.S. territory. Instead, we should focus on maintaining a strong blue water Navy, and expand our Air Force. There are also budgeting problems in the Pentagon that need fixing. The F-22 was supposed to cost about 1/3 of what it costs now, but, you know, government bureaucracy, inefficiency, blah blah blah, that old song and dance. At the moment, the United States only has 187 F-22s. With the exception of the EF2000, there aren't any fighters in any other countries that can stand toe to toe with the F-22, and in light of the fact that the F-15s and F-16s are aging, I think it would be a good investment to cut the military with regards to the Army and Marines while expanding the Air Force with F-22s and F-35s. Just my opinion.

[Caesar]

Ehm...do they also tell you that in the countries I mentioned before there are additional state and local taxes for corporate income?

See these publications?

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8382

http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_0707_48.pdf

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/04/18/tax-competition-forcing-lower-corporate-rates-in-europe/

They all say that tax is too high in the US and to low in Europe (strangely the publications aimed at Europeans say otherwise)

Have you looked at the dates of those sources? most of them have cut taxes

And here we have the official statistics of the EU:

In comparison with the rest of the world, the EU27 tax ratio remains generally high, exceeding those of the USA and Japan by some 12 percentage points. However, the tax burden varies significantly between Member States, ranging in 2007 from less than 30% in Romania and Slovakia (both 29.4%) and Lithuania (29.9%), to a little less than 50% in Denmark (48.7%) and Sweden (48.3%).

Source

And at the end of that you can see what other taxes corporations (and individuals) pay additionally to the income tax.

Countries such as Canada, the Czech Republic, Korea, and Sweden have cut their corporate rates in 2009, I'm not sure I see the point of 2007 numbers.

The Cato institute has one agenda, zero corporate tax and low flat tax for everybody else. And to get that they lobby in the US to lower taxes and then march over to Europe pointing at the taxes in the US and then to Japan pointing at the taxes in Europe. Then the game starts again in the the US.

While I am all for not paying taxes (at all) I know that we demand services from out governments that require vasts amounts of money .

CATO, CBO and the Tax Foundation all claim that U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Remains Far Above Non-U.S. OECD Average

source and full article

This tax reduction crap will only lead to one thing: The immeasurable indebtedness of governments (in fact soon 50% of the taxes collected in the US will go straight to pay interest to debtors). Time to quit it.

Thats what all liberals say but the facts don't show that. just look at the position of the two largest states in America. California and Texas. CA. has the largsest taxes in the country while Texas has the lowest. CA is almost in default. or look at the tax rate of Japan the have the highest taxes on the planet and they also have the largest nation debt as a pec. of its gdp

[acidhead]

Have you looked at the dates of those sources? most of them have cut taxes

Countries such as Canada, the Czech Republic, Korea, and Sweden have cut their corporate rates in 2009, I'm not sure I see the point of 2007 numbers.

He doesn't care.... its his computer... his numerous threads...his board... his thread to hijack as he pleases every time he feels like spreading dis-info....

[questionmark]

He doesn't care.... its his computer... his numerous threads...his board... his thread to hijack as he pleases every time he feels like spreading dis-info....

Deducing from yourself on others?

And, no matter what the "weighted" numbers above say, I stay with my statement that many successful nations have a higher corporate tax than the US. That is not the problem of the US.