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Let tax cuts expire; John M. Tomaszewski; Beaver County Times; December 18, 2011.
Since September 2004, this is at least the 58th letter from Mr. Tomaszewski with all but a handful spouting leftist talking points, with most bashing Republicans and/or former President Bush. A 2009 letter was entitled “If this be socialism, then give me more” and another advocated raising taxes. The most recent letter was “We need more blue-collar jobs.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Bush’s income tax cuts that were to increase jobs have proven to be false.”
[RWC] Not exactly. Employment grew for 52 consecutive months (9/03 - 12/07) adding more than 8.3 million jobs and GDP grew in every quarter from the fourth quarter of 2001 through the third quarter of 2007. Unemployment went from 6.3% in June 2003 to 4.4% in May 2007. Later in 2007, unemployment began a slow increase as we entered into the early stages of the subprime mortgage mess we’re still in.
As many on the left, Mr. Tomaszewski equates “tax rate cuts” with “tax cuts.” In fact, “Bush’s income tax [RATE] cuts” eventually resulted in record tax collections. Translation: Taxes weren’t cut; they increased. This happens every time we cut tax rates. That’s because people invest, save, and spend their own paychecks more effectively than politicians spending someone else’s paycheck. Before the current economic mess began to kick in, tax revenue peaked at $2.6 trillion in 2007, an increase of $577 billion (29%) since 2001. By the end of fiscal year 2007 (the last before the recession), the deficit was down to $161 billion. Once again, tax revenue wasn’t/isn’t the problem, spending was/is.
“Jobs are made by supply and demand of goods and services. Bush’s tax cuts were the first made while our nation is at war. Let the Bush tax cuts expire!”
[RWC] On December 6, 2010, here’s what President Obama said about the Bush income tax RATES: “Make no mistake: Allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for a typical American family. And that could cost our economy well over a million jobs.” If “a typical American family” gets to keep another $3,000/year of its paychecks, won’t it spend some of it and increase “demand of goods and services?”
Did you notice Mr. Tomaszewski didn’t mention Mr. Obama’s Socialist Security (SS) tax rate cut (aka payroll tax holiday) that began in January 2011 and which Mr. Obama wants to extend? Other than interest on U.S. debt held by the SS Administration, the SS tax is the sole source of revenue for SS. According to the Medicare and Social Security Trustees in their 2011 report to Congress, SS went into deficit (benefits paid exceed SS taxes collected) in 2010, a full six years ahead of the 2008 projection, and will remain in deficit. The report says “the Disability Insurance (DI) program satisfies neither the long-range nor short-range tests for financial adequacy. DI costs have exceeded non-interest income since 2005 and trust fund exhaustion is projected for 2018; thus changes to improve the financial status of the DI program are needed soon.” As for the overall SS “trust fund” (the equivalent of a stack of federal government “IOUs” for revenue already spent by the feds for other programs), it will be exhausted by 2036. Why isn’t Mr. Tomaszewski screaming at the top of his lungs we should “Let the [Obama] tax cuts expire!?” Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.
Finally, Mr. Tomaszewski fails to note he, Mr. Obama, and their fellow travelers are/were supporters of the very policies and programs that got us where we are and are not helping today.
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