Tax deal between the President and Republican Congressional leaders
I received the following e-mail from Senator Jim DeMint, the Chairman of the Conservatives Senate Fund, on December 10th. The same letter was also e-mailed to me from the founder of the Tea Party Nation later that same day.
The original e-mail:
“Subject: Why I Oppose the Tax Deal
Dear Fellow Conservatives:
Many of you have contacted me about the bipartisan tax deal reached between President Obama and Republican leaders. I’ve carefully reviewed the legislation and I wanted to explain to you why I cannot support it.
First, I do not want to see anyone’s taxes go up and I have been fighting for years to permanently extend all the tax rates. I disagree with the President that we cannot afford to extend these rates for everyone. It’s the people’s money and we should not raise taxes on hardworking American families. (More on this later—my addition.)
But this bill does much more than simply extend tax rates.
For starters, it includes approximately $200 billion in new deficit spending and stimulus gimmicks (Which just may be why President Barrack Hussein Obama keeps referring to it as a stimulus plan?—my addition). That’s a lot of money that will have to be borrowed from China and repaid by our children and grandchildren. If we’re going to increase spending on new programs, we must reduce other spending to pay for it.
The bill also only extends rates for two years. We don’t have a temporary economy so we shouldn’t have temporary tax rates. Individuals and businesses make decisions looking at the long-term and we’re not going to create jobs without giving people certainty as to what their taxes will be in future.
The bill also fails to extend all of the tax rates. It actually increases the death tax from its current rate of zero percent all the way up to 35 percent. One economic study shows that this tax increase alone will kill over 800,000 jobs over the next ten years.
Finally, the bill now includes dozens of earmarks for special interests (Additions being placed under the Christmas tree that were NOT part of the original agreement between the President and Republican Congressional leaders! The Democrats know they have lost the House and they are trying to do what they seem to do best—spend, spend, spend! And for at least two years and hopefully much longer, this is their last hurrah in the spending binge business!—my addition), including ethanol subsidies, tax breaks for film and television producers, give aways for Puerto Rican rum manufacturers, favors for auto racing track owners, and a hand out for businesses in American Samoa.
The President called Republicans ‘hostage takers’ this week but he should be pointing his figure squarely at himself. We’ve known for years that these tax rates were going to expire but he did nothing about it until the last minute. Now Americans are being told they have to accept hundreds of billions in new spending and stimulus gimmicks, an increase the death tax (American taxpayers who year after year pay taxes to governments at all levels SHOULD NOT pay taxes on THEIR money [estate/inheritance for the heirs] at their death! That money has already been taxed throughout their life! Note to governments: IT IS NOT YOUR ESTATE!!! You do NOT have claim on the money of the people of this nation!—my addition), and a bunch of unnecessary earmarks or their taxes will go up.
I’m not going to be bullied into voting for things that will hurt our country because politicians in Washington ignored the problem until it was a crisis. (Democratic Party motto: Always benefit from a crisis—real, created, and/or imagined!—my addition)
Many of you fought hard to elect new leaders to the Senate this year with the expectation that they would fight deficit spending, tax hikes, and backroom deals. I take that commitment very seriously and I’m prepared to vote against this bill even if I’m the only one in the Senate to do so.
I appreciate the efforts made by my party’s leaders to negotiate this deal but I believe Americans deserve much better. This deal should be rejected and then fixed. We can easily extend these tax rates without increasing spending once the new crop of Republican senators, including Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ron Johnson, are sworn in (True! There are some Democrats who have openly admitted that the tax rates should NOT increase including the tax rates for the wealthy, which is the part that many in the Democratic Party are complaining about. The Democrats love to talk about fairness. What‘s fair about allowing some taxpayers to pay more taxes while keeping the taxes of others the same as before? The Democrats have a perverted concept of fairness!—my addition). The President has already conceded that taxes cannot go up and we’ll have more Republicans in Congress in a few weeks to fight for a better deal.
Thank you for supporting the principles of freedom and for your continued encouragement. I will continue to do my very best to be your voice in the United States Senate.
Respectfully,
Jim DeMint
United States Senator
Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund”
Contribute to the Senate Conservatives Fund:
https://senateconservatives.com/site/contribute?c=8C4D023A58A127A
When I was in college, majoring in social science as an undergraduate and political science as a graduate, I took (and passed—my lowest grade was a B) almost 30 hours of economics. Like most students of economics, I was taught about the Keynes model of government revenue and expenditures. Recently talking to an individual who is attending Bradley University, a private college located in Peoria, and majoring in business/economics, he was saying that most of his fellow classmates and professors still support the Keynes model while he does not. The members of the Democratic Party claim to be strong supporters of the Keynes model.
However, whether or not you agree with the model, there is a major problem with the claim of these Democrats. They do NOT practice what they preach. Sound familiar?
Simplifying the model as I must do in such a short space (He wrote books on it.), when times are good, the government is to increase taxes and/or decrease spending building up a surplus of revenue for when times are bad. When times are bad, the government is to decrease taxes and/or spend more money. (Here’s a shocker! The more money being spent is the surplus money generated when times were good when taxes were raised and/or spending was decreased. Borrowing money was NOT necessarily required under the model.) Over the entire business cycle, the government budget would be BALANCED (a balanced government budget!)!
The Democrats are excellent at spending money! The Democrats are terrible at NOT spending money. The Democrats are willing to raise taxes to generate MORE money for government. The Democrats are generally unwilling to lower taxes fearing that government will have less money to spend on pet issues. In short, they do NOT follow the model. They follow their greed for our money! They are tax and spenders!
They should be kicked out of power and kept out of power until they focus on the good of the nation instead of their own perverted view of justice and fairness. Dealing with justice and fairness, the Democratic Party doesn’t have a clue!
Governments: It is OUR money. Keep your hands off of it except to provide the basic services—primarily protection of the people—that governments are suppose to do. Governments are NOT our parents! Government from cradle to grave is NOT GOD’S will for mankind! WE are responsible for ourselves!
I received the following e-mail from Senator Jim DeMint, the Chairman of the Conservatives Senate Fund, on December 10th. The same letter was also e-mailed to me from the founder of the Tea Party Nation later that same day.
The original e-mail:
“Subject: Why I Oppose the Tax Deal
Dear Fellow Conservatives:
Many of you have contacted me about the bipartisan tax deal reached between President Obama and Republican leaders. I’ve carefully reviewed the legislation and I wanted to explain to you why I cannot support it.
First, I do not want to see anyone’s taxes go up and I have been fighting for years to permanently extend all the tax rates. I disagree with the President that we cannot afford to extend these rates for everyone. It’s the people’s money and we should not raise taxes on hardworking American families. (More on this later—my addition.)
But this bill does much more than simply extend tax rates.
For starters, it includes approximately $200 billion in new deficit spending and stimulus gimmicks (Which just may be why President Barrack Hussein Obama keeps referring to it as a stimulus plan?—my addition). That’s a lot of money that will have to be borrowed from China and repaid by our children and grandchildren. If we’re going to increase spending on new programs, we must reduce other spending to pay for it.
The bill also only extends rates for two years. We don’t have a temporary economy so we shouldn’t have temporary tax rates. Individuals and businesses make decisions looking at the long-term and we’re not going to create jobs without giving people certainty as to what their taxes will be in future.
The bill also fails to extend all of the tax rates. It actually increases the death tax from its current rate of zero percent all the way up to 35 percent. One economic study shows that this tax increase alone will kill over 800,000 jobs over the next ten years.
Finally, the bill now includes dozens of earmarks for special interests (Additions being placed under the Christmas tree that were NOT part of the original agreement between the President and Republican Congressional leaders! The Democrats know they have lost the House and they are trying to do what they seem to do best—spend, spend, spend! And for at least two years and hopefully much longer, this is their last hurrah in the spending binge business!—my addition), including ethanol subsidies, tax breaks for film and television producers, give aways for Puerto Rican rum manufacturers, favors for auto racing track owners, and a hand out for businesses in American Samoa.
The President called Republicans ‘hostage takers’ this week but he should be pointing his figure squarely at himself. We’ve known for years that these tax rates were going to expire but he did nothing about it until the last minute. Now Americans are being told they have to accept hundreds of billions in new spending and stimulus gimmicks, an increase the death tax (American taxpayers who year after year pay taxes to governments at all levels SHOULD NOT pay taxes on THEIR money [estate/inheritance for the heirs] at their death! That money has already been taxed throughout their life! Note to governments: IT IS NOT YOUR ESTATE!!! You do NOT have claim on the money of the people of this nation!—my addition), and a bunch of unnecessary earmarks or their taxes will go up.
I’m not going to be bullied into voting for things that will hurt our country because politicians in Washington ignored the problem until it was a crisis. (Democratic Party motto: Always benefit from a crisis—real, created, and/or imagined!—my addition)
Many of you fought hard to elect new leaders to the Senate this year with the expectation that they would fight deficit spending, tax hikes, and backroom deals. I take that commitment very seriously and I’m prepared to vote against this bill even if I’m the only one in the Senate to do so.
I appreciate the efforts made by my party’s leaders to negotiate this deal but I believe Americans deserve much better. This deal should be rejected and then fixed. We can easily extend these tax rates without increasing spending once the new crop of Republican senators, including Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ron Johnson, are sworn in (True! There are some Democrats who have openly admitted that the tax rates should NOT increase including the tax rates for the wealthy, which is the part that many in the Democratic Party are complaining about. The Democrats love to talk about fairness. What‘s fair about allowing some taxpayers to pay more taxes while keeping the taxes of others the same as before? The Democrats have a perverted concept of fairness!—my addition). The President has already conceded that taxes cannot go up and we’ll have more Republicans in Congress in a few weeks to fight for a better deal.
Thank you for supporting the principles of freedom and for your continued encouragement. I will continue to do my very best to be your voice in the United States Senate.
Respectfully,
Jim DeMint
United States Senator
Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund”
Contribute to the Senate Conservatives Fund:
https://senateconservatives.com/site/contribute?c=8C4D023A58A127A
When I was in college, majoring in social science as an undergraduate and political science as a graduate, I took (and passed—my lowest grade was a B) almost 30 hours of economics. Like most students of economics, I was taught about the Keynes model of government revenue and expenditures. Recently talking to an individual who is attending Bradley University, a private college located in Peoria, and majoring in business/economics, he was saying that most of his fellow classmates and professors still support the Keynes model while he does not. The members of the Democratic Party claim to be strong supporters of the Keynes model.
However, whether or not you agree with the model, there is a major problem with the claim of these Democrats. They do NOT practice what they preach. Sound familiar?
Simplifying the model as I must do in such a short space (He wrote books on it.), when times are good, the government is to increase taxes and/or decrease spending building up a surplus of revenue for when times are bad. When times are bad, the government is to decrease taxes and/or spend more money. (Here’s a shocker! The more money being spent is the surplus money generated when times were good when taxes were raised and/or spending was decreased. Borrowing money was NOT necessarily required under the model.) Over the entire business cycle, the government budget would be BALANCED (a balanced government budget!)!
The Democrats are excellent at spending money! The Democrats are terrible at NOT spending money. The Democrats are willing to raise taxes to generate MORE money for government. The Democrats are generally unwilling to lower taxes fearing that government will have less money to spend on pet issues. In short, they do NOT follow the model. They follow their greed for our money! They are tax and spenders!
They should be kicked out of power and kept out of power until they focus on the good of the nation instead of their own perverted view of justice and fairness. Dealing with justice and fairness, the Democratic Party doesn’t have a clue!
Governments: It is OUR money. Keep your hands off of it except to provide the basic services—primarily protection of the people—that governments are suppose to do. Governments are NOT our parents! Government from cradle to grave is NOT GOD’S will for mankind! WE are responsible for ourselves!
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 5:53 AM
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