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Subscribe to RSSAs the Obama White House and Congress negotiate to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they favor a balanced deal to reduce the deficit -- consisting of both higher tax rates and cuts to key entitlement programs.
According to the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 65 percent say congressional leaders should make compromises to deal with the budget deficit, even if that means Democrats would need to accept targeted spending cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and that Republicans would need to accept targeted increases in tax rates.
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President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at the Daimler Detroit Diesel engine plant Dec. 10, 2012 in Redford, Mi.
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks to the House chamber to speak on the pending fiscal cliff negotiations Dec. 11, 2012 in Washington.
That includes 68 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of political independents who support this position.
By comparison, just 28 percent believe leaders should stick to their traditional positions on the budget deficit, even if that means Congress goes over the fiscal cliff, triggering the automatic spending cuts and tax increases that are set to take place at the beginning of the year if Congress is unable to reach an agreement.
The full NBC/WSJ poll -- which was conducted of 1,000 adults from Dec. 6-9 and has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points -- will be released at 6:30 pm ET.
This particular question has margin of error of plus-minus 4.4 percentage points.
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Is that the Oblunder/Pravda "balanced" that equals $1.6 Trillion in new deficit spending and carte blanche on borrowing forever.... or what the rest of us consider balanced... ie cuts to offset tax increases..... (wonder why Oblunder and the Liberals are against closing loopholes to get income... could it be Liberal billionaires and millionaires who wouldn't be able to weasel out of taxes anymore?)
Whatever happened to the Flat Rate Tax concept? Why shouldn't the taxes be a flat rate of say 15% accross the board? No matter what any individual or corporation makes in income they pay the 15%. I believe that would be the fairest way to tax all of us! Maybe the 15% is too high or too low but set it at whatever to level the tax burden to all citizens. That would in fact bring in the revenue! And what about making government spend only what they get? We as citizens have to stick to a budget they should too. Also why are we spending any money overseas? Wrap up our borders and take care of Americans for God's sake!! We keep re-electing the same and expecting things to change?? How about getting back to basics and not allow any re-electing be done. Fresh ideas and fesh blood do your term and go back to whatever you did prior to being elected. Anymore when a candidate says go with him or her because they have experience I want to sit on my ass because they are saying they are experinced in sticking all of us in the ass?? Who wants to abused? I dont and wont!
Catman the problem with the flat tax concept is this. You suggest 15% so for an income of $10,000.00 per year that would amount to $1,500.00 per year. Now this person is struggling as it is just to pay basic bills like utilities, groceries, and transportation never mind any medical needs. Now that same tax rate for someone making $100,000.00 per year comes to $15,000.00 leaving $85,000.00 for them to live on. A big hit yes but they can still survive much better on $85,000.00 than on $8,500.00. That is why there has to be a graduated tax schedule.
Then you suggest that we wrap up our borders and take care of Americans. I don't totally disagree with that concept except in this day and age we cannot fall into total isolationism. That is because we rely on too many products from off our shores and are no longer self sufficient to the extent that we were in the 1940s when we manufactured or grew almost everything that we needed right here and we also supplied most of the civilized world as well. Unfortunately the tables have turned thanks to the free trade agreements. I would rather see some moderate protectionism and a concerted effort to bring back our manufacturing strength as much as possible. Also we need to do some major repairs and upgrades on our national infrastructure. And yes I agree with re-evaluating our wholesale giveaways of cash to nation's who don't need it, don't want it, and who don't appreciate it. We are wasting our time and money trying to buy influence and agreement in places like the Middle East.
As for single term limits that would be an international disaster in my opinion. There has to be some sense of consistency in our government in order for other nations to even consider dealing with us. If we threw everything up the stairs every 4 years it would be very difficult to build any kind of a consensus internationally. From a political stand point America would be the equivalent of a schizophrenic for other nations and they simply would never know what to expect with each new administration.
I don't mean to belittle what you suggest but it really is kind of an oversimplified concept and we live in a very complicated world today. The flat tax idea could have some merit if it were graduated based upon the established poverty line and then stepped up through various income levels until it reaches an established maximum. However even that would be difficult to craft in such a way as to be fair in all cases. Some would ultimately still wind up paying nothing and others would pay a much larger share of the tab.
Republican Party is now the Party of the rich, by the rich and from the rich. They still have not learned any lessons from Nov 2012 elections. They must learn to represent all Americans not just the rich. Otherwise they will be out of the halls of Congress in mid-term elections in Nov 2014.
The more taxes collected by the government, the more they will spend. It is time to start reducing our governmental expenses to a reasonable and affordable level.