Compromise

I have been upsetting quite a lot of big government leftists with my school newspaper articles recently, which is a sign that I'm doing a fairly good job.  After complaining about my proposals to cut government programs and not raise taxes on the rich, one student commented on my article asking me to compromise: Would I tax the rich more in order to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts?  It was an appealing offer (I would love to get rid of the NEA) but one I could not quite take.  Why?

Well, what does it mean to compromise?  It means to settle a dispute by mutual concessions.

Undoubtedly, what this student offered me was a true compromise.  I actually appreciated the effort on his or her part, but I couldn't do it in this instance.  To make concessions in life is actually pretty necessary; compromising is not an inherently bad thing.  I compromise with my friends all the time.  They want to see one movie, I want to see another, and we strike a deal of some sort.  That's completely fine.

Accurate Perceptions of the IRS

Here is an IRS publication which consists of 27 examples of the legal system protecting the government's right to your money.  The first mention of a jury is one that acquitted, but it is immediately followed by a similar case in which the jury convicted.
 
 All of the other seven mentions of jury decisions are convictions in favor of the IRS.  Nobody likes to admit their mistakes, but wouldn't it be wise to keep a healthy record of the mistakes that a government bureaucracy makes?  In fact, shouldn't that be one of the functions of the IRS?  The website, irs.gov, contains five documents with the words "jury acquitted" and 52 with the words "jury convicted."  The internet itself contains about 85,000 (according to Google) pages with IRS and "jury convicted" in them, and about 25,000 with IRS and "jury acquitted."
 
 So why is the ratio of convictions to acquittals on the Internet so much lower than it is on the IRS site?  Perhaps a clue can be found in the case of the Rutherfords, who may have suffered from a jury whose judgment was compromised by a fear of audits.  Bullies only retain their power as long as they continue being bullies.  If they wish to have power some other way, they must learn to cooperate instead of intimidate.

80% of Americans Want Higher Taxes??

Leaders in Congress and President Obama are currently in the process of "fixing" the mess of our national debt. However, the President is claiming that 80% of Americans want to pay higher taxes and is using this to push through his compromise on the debt ceiling.

The Hill reports:

President Obama on Friday kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats' demand for tax increases.

"The American people are sold," Obama said. "The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically."

The President must be conducting a poll of the District of Columbia to pull those numbers out of a hat. It can be guranteed that such a huge percentage of the American people do not support a tax increase to fix the economy or the national debt.

How about we conduct a poll of Americans and see how many support cutting spending at a national level?  Then we might actually get 80% support.

Uncovered: The 15 Tax Hikes Hidden in Obama’s New Budget

The President unveiled his budget for the United States government today, and it seems there are some hidden tax hikes buried in the massive budget.

Here are the hidden increases:

• Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike

• Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%

• Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike

• Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike