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Originally Posted by HowardCohodas
Increased tax revenues comes from increasing the number of tax payers. The best way to increase the number of tax payers is to make the place as attractive as possible for tax payers. Increasing tax rates does nothing to attract tax payers. There are many examples where it drives away tax payers. Increasing the number of people removed from the tax rolls does nothing to attract tax payers. It certainly attracts non-tax payers, if that's your goal. More tax revenue is the only way to fund the noble causes favored by the liberals posting here.
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It may take a raise in tax rates (along with trimming expenses) to start eliminating the deficit. The average tax rate hovers around 12% which is still pretty far left on the Laffer Curve. People will still go to work and earn income if the rates go back to where they were in 2000.
In fact, total income tax stayed below the year 2000 levels from 2001-2006
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html (see Table 4). In these cases, lower tax rates didn't increase income taxes for several years. I believe that the only reason total income taxes has increased above year 2000 levels in the past few years is simply that we have more taxpayers now.
Please understand, I'm all for lower taxes. There comes a point though when the services we pay for are worth more than the price we are paying. The price has to be commensurate with the service we get. Deficits occur when we pay a subpar price, and the services have to be paid for at full price. One way or another, we are going to foot the bill...either through slightly higher taxes, or being saddled with a growing deficit that will hinder us economically for decades to come.
We have to generate the money somehow. And increasing tax rates slightly, in my opinion, would be a step in the right direction.
Bandy