Putting goopers in a bad box, let the bush tax cuts expire, as they were intended to.
Create the Obama Tax Cuts, in a bill and put it to a vote before the election.
It cuts taxes beginning Jan 1 for those making less than 150k and couples at less than 250k. Everyone in that "poor cohort" gets the 20% dividend and long-term cap gains cuts, along with current marginal tax rates.
the rich, who arent doing their job by spending, get to pay what they were paying in 1999.
If the goopers want to vote against tax cuts for the middle class, the so-called little people (thank you very much sen. simpson) then let them do it and pay the price.
and let's stop calling the new tax plan anything to do with Bush.
They are OBAMA tax rates.
It is a popular misconception that taxes add to the squeeze on the middle class. But it isn't tax increases that have squeezed the middle class, it's tax cuts. It may be hard to believe (after so many years of constant anti-tax rhetoric) but here is why.
Some years ago the corporate-funded anti-tax, anti-government advocates paid their way to become the dominant voice in our civil discourse. They said there was a magic, simple formula that would lead to shared prosperity. All we had to do was cut taxes, and everyone would have more money.
Everyone wants to have more money so this sounded wonderful. It is always a seductive argument to tell people that you have a magic formula that can make things better for them. One example is machines that create as much energy as they use -- or more. A common myth is that doctors are conspiring to hide the cure for cancer because it would put them out of business. Another is that there is a formula that turns water into gasoline -- or lead into gold.
If you tuned into my appearance on Wednesday's "Which Way LA?" show, you heard me discuss a "structural revenue shortfall" - that since 1978 California has simply not generated enough money to pay for its basic services, from public education to transportation to water. I thought I would expand on that concept this morning, and explain in more detail exactly what I mean by it.
Arnold and the Republicans would have us believe that our budget deficit is caused by overspending in the "good times" that leaves us with huge shortfalls when the economy turns sour. But there isn't $16 billion in "overspending" and Arnold knows it, as proved by his $4 billion cut for California public schools. Others claim that the problem is locked in and/or frivolous spending - but here again, that only accounts for a tiny fraction of the massive deficit total.
No, the real problem is that since 1978 this state has cut nearly $12 billion in taxes. This was done during economically prosperous periods, particularly the 1990s. And that lack of revenue has piled up over the years - the state has fallen further and further behind to the point now that our state's governor is seriously proposing ending public education as we know it.
