‘Tis the season: Like other Americans, I am receiving various tax documents in my mailbox. Even at my level, I am paying too much in taxes. Sure, this year I had the comfort of knowing that some of my money went to help fighting the war in Iraq. As a guns not butter gal, I don’t begrudge a penny for national defense. It’s when I have this sneaking suspicion that my money is going to, say, federal disability payments to able-bodied folks that I get angry.
But there are evildoers abroad in the land want to take more of my money. They are known as presidential candidates. They think “my money” is their money. The higher taxes clique just got a huge boost from the “nonpartisan” Congressional Budget Office. Message: They want more of “my money.”
The CBO issued a report yesterday. The Washington Post story on the CBO report had a perfect summation of what it is all about: “Extending Tax Cuts Could Double Deficit.” “The government’s $4 trillion debt could more than double if President Bush succeeds in making permanent an aray of tax cuts that are set to expire by 2011, the CBO’s annual budget report added.”
Read my lips: I do not want to pay more taxes. The CBO report apparently doesn’t consider that lowering taxes can create jobs and bring in more money. But my position is this:I want to spend “my money” myself. If I don’t spend it in an approved way, I’d still rather waste it myself than have the government waste it for me.
Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary, not surprisingly, is a deficit hawk and a tax raiser. There was a terrific article last week on Robert Reich by James K. Glassman. JKG explains that the real problem is government bureaucracy and govt waste, not lowering taxes. I have googled, done searches of the Washington Times, where Jim’s article appeared, but I can’t find it. Does anybody out there know how to get Jim’s article?