Now that the voting is over we will see what the lame duck session of Congress brings forward. I am interested to see how policy will change, if at all, with a more balanced legislative process. People seem to be worried about taxes but at the same time do not like the budget deficit and the current debt of the U.S. government. The nation's debt is approaching $14,000,000,000,000. That is staggering, but as a percentage(85%) of GDP is still less than the post WWII debt of 120%.
Should we ask our representatives to fight the deficit and the debt by increasing taxes and/or reducing spending or should we focus on lower taxes now and a stable size of government(which will increase the debt/deficit)?
I think we should have higher taxes so we can start lowering our debt even though it won't be popular among citizens. Because there isn't a lot of other ways to lower the debt.
ReplyDeleteIf raising taxes will help solve the national debt, then I think that would probably be best. I know people don't like taxes and maybe raising taxes right now would hurt people who are unemployed, but maybe in the near future as people start getting more stable and well paying jobs the government could raise taxes and stop overspending.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we should lower taxes and increase the national debt because as a society we are more directly affected by our taxes than we are by our national debt. More people are complaining about our higher taxes than our national debt, therefore the government should focus more on our taxes that are being raised.
ReplyDelete- Dan Recht
I believe we should lower taxes and control government spending because a lot of money is wasted through our government spending money for reasons that don't benefit the country.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should focus on increasing taxes and reducing spending because that will benefit the united states more in the long run and it will make the united states more economically healthy. Lowering taxes will only increase the debt more, and we'd be worse off in the long run.
ReplyDeleteWe should increase taxes and decrease spending because otherwise we will just get into more debt and dig a hole we can't get out of for the later generations
ReplyDeletei think that lowering taxes would help because then people would buy more products in general and there would still be low taxes on products
ReplyDeleteWe shouldn't increase taxes because it will hurt each individual citizen and make them less willing to spend their money because of the extra taxes they are forced to pay. Also, the debt is going to continue to grow whether we collect more taxes or not so increasing taxes won't reduce the debt by much since it is already so large.
ReplyDeleteI say we increase taxes to get out of this debt that we have had in a long time because it's going to take a really long time to get rid of and its really high as it is anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think we should have lower taxes now and work on different approaches for minimizing the deficit, higher taxes in this recession will create frustration among the tax-paying citizens and even insufficient payments. We should save the higher taxes for a better time in our economy.
ReplyDeleteI believe we should let the government increase the taxes now because saddling us and our kids with a greater than fourteen trillion dollar debt is not good for us and not good for our country.
ReplyDeleteWe should focus on a more conservative spending plan before raising the taxes to combat the deficit and debt. Simply cutting back on some government programs can help cut their outrageous budget to a more manageable level can help a lot.
ReplyDeleteLowering taxes should be more important right now. If we take more money from people, they will not be as willing to spend money. This could slow down the economic recovery. At the same time, however, we need to cut government spending to reduce the debt. Some programs are just wasteful and unnecessary. Taxes are a much more present issue because the Bush tax cuts expire this year. Therefore, the first priority should be taxes, then work on cutting spending.
ReplyDeleteRaise the taxes! it will initially be a tough adjustment, but in time it will solve the issue of national debt and people will have less room to over spend. it's best to change for the future instead of having a short time fix because in the long run, we will develop more of a problem.
ReplyDeleteI think we should lower taxes and lower government spending so that people will have more money who are suffering from the recession. Eventually when unemployment decreases than taxes could be increased again.
ReplyDeleteAlthough many people will probably disagree and I usually don't like debt, I think for the time being we should lower taxes. Though this will increase the deficit, based on the state of unemployment and consumer confidence I think a tax break would boost spending and hopefully create jobs. Once (or if) unemployment returns to post-recession levels, then raising the tax rates highly and massively reducing spending would be warranted. The deficit and debt must be eliminated, but with the economy in such turmoil I don't think now is the right time.
ReplyDeleteI think we should raise taxes because we need to start taking care of our debt. People would be upset because of this but in the future I think we will be thankful. If the taxes do decrease I think we would need to start lowering government spending and have a budget.
ReplyDeleteWe should not increase taxes to help pay back the nations debt. This is because in the current state of the economy, increased taxes would negatively affect everyone which ultimately could result in an even greater national debt. The best solution is to keep taxes low until the economy can stable itself.
ReplyDeleteWe should focus on decreasing government spending instead of increasing taxes. Therefore we won't upset citizens by imposing high taxes but also begin to fight the deficit.
ReplyDeleteI think we should focus on raising taxes, and to some extent, cutting the budget (but I feel tax increases should be emphasized more than this) to eliminate the deficit. With a large, and constantly increasing debt, we create more problems for ourselves in the future trying to eliminate an even greater debt and in that time, give foreign countries, like China, significant power over our policies due to their large investments in our country (caused by the amount of money we borrow from them and the amount we constantly pay them for their products). Stabilizing our economy now will due little good if it results in the crumbling of our country in a few years.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should increase taxes because although it'll be bad right now it'll help our country get out of debt In the log run. If we only do a short term fix like lower taxes, it can create an even bigger problem economically than we have now. Future is more important then what's In the present
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of increasing taxes in an unstable and struggling economy is ludacris, I think that the laugher curve poses an interesting solution to look into and that government should not focus on increasing taxes, when a new tax can be the difference between a small business successfully beginning, or failing within a year.
ReplyDeleteI think we should keep taxes low until the economy really recovers. Peoole are still struggling, and higher taxes will just make it worse. Taxes need to be lowered in order to increase spending and stimulate the economy.
ReplyDeleteIt needs to be a mix, the American people need to accept higher taxes in order to cut our huge deficit but at the same time, government spending needs to be severely reduce spending in order to combat our debt. Presently, the government hasn't improved unemployment much anyways, so we might as well save money and cut spending.
ReplyDeleteJoe Damisch
The government should focus on the current situation. Of course our nations debt is staggering, but that does not mean anything to the general public. As you can see with how quickly the house changes each election, people are short sighted, and would be please with tangible, present results. This is important when candidates are considering long term careers in congress. Please the people
ReplyDeleteI do think that the government should reduce the deficit but not by raising taxes we should find a way to get rid of it with what we have right now by reducing spending. This should be our longterm goal as it will pay off in the future and reducing taxes as a short term fix is not going to bring anything promising.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Republican, I was happy with the election results. I think the government should lower taxes and decrease government spending. Additionally, the government should take away man of Obama's plans where the government gets too much involved.
ReplyDeleteFrom my viewpoint I think that they should work towards the future and that path would be to lower taxes, I really don't want to come out of college having to worry about a recession as much as the people who are graduating at the moment. And I think that by lowering taxes that would be the end result
ReplyDeleteI think we should raise taxes for a while to help reduce some of that debt so we have less dept and can make other purchases that will increase jobs and our overall productivity. However, inelastic goods should have more of a tax increase than elastic good because it could decrease our demand to buy the product and wind up hurting the economy rather than stimulating it
ReplyDeleteWe should focus on lower taxes now because we will be in debt no matter what. So if we as tax payers pay less thenwe would have more money for ourselves in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should raise taxes, specifically on goods and services that are luxuries. This way, we can start taking care of the debt without harming those that cant afford to pay extra taxes.
ReplyDeleteWe should increase taxes and reduce spending because it would make us more future focused and not as focused on the past and our defecit. Although it would end up lowering our debt.
ReplyDeleteI think we should try to focus on reducing our spending while keeping our taxes relatively the same. A tax increase would be very unpopular, so that would be a way to decrease debt while keeping citizens relatively happy
ReplyDeleteWe should lower taxes since national debt isn't a big deal anyway, with more money people have the ability to spend more and help vitalize the economy further. Plus the majority of people aren't even educated in politics anyways so they're going to want what "sounds" better to them.
ReplyDeleteI think that the government should cut down on their expenses, so that while the debt would still increase it would be increasing at a slower rate than before. Also, taxes should be decreased because this will help the unemployed and it would take too much effort, money, and time to get out of debt.
ReplyDeleteI think we should keep taxes low so that comsumers feel that they have more money to spend which will improve the economy. In addition we should control govt spending and make sure that everything the govt is spending money on is really what is best for the majority of the population.
ReplyDeleteWe should reduce taxes and stabilize our government. We have been in debt for the majority of the nations existence and staying in debt a while longer won't matter that much. And when our economy is stable than we can start to increase taxes because our economy won't fail at that point. Then our economy will prosper and we will eventually get out of debt.
ReplyDeleteI dont beleive myself to have suffiecient knowledge to answer this question. However i feel that higher taxes are neccasiary, attempting to attack the national debt seems irresponsable since it is impossible to completely erase it. Keeping it at a managable percentage seems more appropiate and the current seems fine. The only complete cure for our economy is to have people stop being human untill then it will always be messed up.
ReplyDeleteTest post. Let's see if this works now.
ReplyDeleteI think that the government should maintain its current strategy. The government should not try to cut deficits right now because tightening the money supply can cause another dip in the recession. It is better to look at cutting the deficit as a long term goal. Raising taxes would allow for more revenue to cut the deficit down, but the economy is not in a position to do so right now.
ReplyDeleteIncreasing taxes will not solve the problem, it seems that whenever taxes are increased people get really angry. And since we are in so much debt I don't think it will make a big difference. So if it doesn't make a big difference, why disappoint so many people? People will have more money so they will spend more... instead of feeling robbed by taxes.
ReplyDeleteRaising taxes is never the solution!!! Middle class America shout not pay for the sins of the rich Wall Street and government execs. Cutting spending and getting the economy going is clearly the answer. Military spending should be managed and we need to stop throwing money at wars, global conflicts and other countries to help them in general. We are the United States of America not the UN.
ReplyDeleteI think we should lower taxes and print more money !!! (and give it to the contries we borrowed money from)
ReplyDeleteWhen ppl have high taxes the cost of living becoms higher , people getting depressed and dont wanna spend any money (bcuz they dont have much) , so its not beneficial and on opposite negative for our economy.