Posts Tagged ‘deficit’ | Prettay Prettay Good

02
Dec

One sure way to determine the social conscience of a government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent. And one sure way to determine the social conscience of an individual is to get his tax reaction. Taxes, after all are the dues we pay for the privilege of membership in an organized society.

- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, actively making the case for taxes as part of his re-election campaign in 1936. A far cry from our current politics when it comes to taxation. (via upwithchris)

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#news #politics #history #FDR #congress #fiscal cliff #bush tax cuts #taxes #deficit #debt #government

14
Feb

I hope you are aware by now that [Republicans] don’t actually care about deficits. They just care about money being spent on things they don’t like, which outside of overpriced ships the Navy probably doesn’t need and more reinforced steel for the border fence includes pretty much everything. If, say, instead of seeking to spend more money for transportation, Barack Obama had proposed cutting the top marginal tax rate down to 8 percent, well, that would have had a completely disastrous impact on future deficits. But you wouldn’t have seen Republicans complaining about that, because the rich deserve more of their money back.

You also didn’t see Republicans complaining about deficits when George W. Bush was running them up. Oh, a few did. But the protests were infrequent and mousy. By and large, Republicans shuffled along.

- Michael Tomasky