The Joy of....Taxes?

Ah, it's time to elect politicians in Texas again. What joy! Right now, sitting Senator John Cornyn is running to protect his seat from Democrat Rock Noiega. One of the main issues they're taking up is-you guessed it-spending and taxes. Part of a four part profile on the candidates by the Austin American Statesman, this section deals with the economy and both candidates economic profiles. Both candidates talk about what they want to do; Cornyn wants to extend the Bush tax cuts, and supports a national sales tax versus a progressive tax system. For those who don't remember, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, instituted by the Bush administration, also cut the top rate for capital gains taxes, phased out the inheretence tax, and lowered income tax rates. Noreiga hasn't been specific on which tax cuts to keep, but has criticized Cornyn for supporting the national sales tax. Cornyn voted for the bailout last week; Noriega said that he would've voted against it because it doesn't protect taxpayers enough, something that was echoed by Lloyd Dogget, an Austin Democrat in the House of Representatives. Noriega supports a pay as you go principle, where all spending increases have to be offset by either spending cuts or tax increases. Cornyn does not support a pay as you go principle, having voted against tax increases for big oil companies to help pay for research in alternative energy sources.

Here's the link:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/10/06/1006senateecon.html

Wow-i didn't think anyone else supported that Fairtax law except those few people who's bumperstickers i see. Who knew? Aside from lowering the taxes on the wealthy (because it's not fair that since they make more, they should have to pay more-and they just get out of it with loopholes anyway), this enacts a 30% national sales tax. So, this only benefits you (aka, lowers your taxes) if you're making over $164,000 a year. Still seem fair?

Here's a link to the tax brackets we have today:
http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm

But wait! There's more, you say? Here's the link to the Fairtax website:
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

Well, i wonder who this would benefit more? The highest tax bracket in the United States is 35%, and it affects people earning $357,700 or more. The closest to the fairtax rate they want to use (Which is 23%-sounds better than 30%, right?) is 23%. The closest tax bracket for that is 25%, which effects people making 32,550 to 78,850. (keep in mind i'm doing all for single people-if you want to do married, you'll have to go to the site). So the incredibly wealthy get a tax cut of 12%, where most of the middle class gets a tax cut of 2%? And that's not biased in favor of the wealthy? Right. Because it's "fair". Just like in Animal Farm, some animals are more "equal" than others.

The economic principles that each candidate endorses is very important. Lets face it; our national debt has passed the ten trillion mark. Wait, i think doing it that way negates the impact of how serious ten trillion actually is. How about i do it this way. Our Debt>10,000,000,000,000. There, that's a nice, round number. We are accumulating debt that our children and grandchildren are going to have to pay off-is that the kind of legacy we want to leave? Noriega supports pay as you go programs, which would mean that any increase in spending would be offset in a decrease somewhere else or an increase in taxes. Cornyn does not. He apparently subscribes to the philosophy of "My kids can pay it off-lets go borrow some more money." At some point, (it might be now), we're going to have to stop borrowing so much money from foreign countries, and start paying it back. But hey, it won't be in Cornyn's lifetime, will it?