House Democrats on Friday pushed through an $80 billion bill to block the spread of a dreaded tax on middle-income people. The White House and Republicans, protesting tax increases in the bill affecting mainly investment fund managers, maintained that it would never become law.
Negotiators are trying to come up with a compromise that would fix the Alternative Minimum Tax.
The 216-193 vote to "patch" the alternative minimum tax for a year sends the issue to the Senate, where its prospects are at best uncertain. Not one House Republican voted for it.
What is certain is that if Congress and the White House do not reach a compromise by the end of the year, anywhere from 21 million to 25 million middle-income taxpayers will be hit by the AMT, costing them as much as $2,000 in extra taxes.
Confusing? You bet. But it basically boils down to possible additional taxes to everyone, including you and me. Personally, I'd rather the government get a bit more responsible with the money we already give them. You simply cannot tell me that Buck McKeon's district needs $50,000 to investigate the feasibility of a Mule Museum or John Murtha needs $150k to "restore a key historic property".
How about you do this:
Work within the budget that you're given. Stop spending money that American's simply don't have. Some people will say "well $50,000 isn't much in the grand scheme of things", but it's $50,000 that could be used elsewhere. It's $50k that could be put towards the SCHIP program that Democrats are so passionate about. It's $50k that could be used to hire another Federal employee for a year.
I fail to see how the recent request by Congress for an extra $22 billion dollars worth of earmarks and then have the nerve to call it a "small request".
If Congress would get on the ball for making a balanced budget, this country could achieve things that were never thought possible before. We could have a transportation infrastructure that would be second to none. We could have an education system that gets students tuition down to almost nothing. We could do a lot of good things if Congress, Democrats especially, would stop spending money they don't have.
Democrats love to talk about the war in Iraq and it's spending, but yet, they want Universal Health Care at a cost of $60+ billion a year. And that's just to start. You're naive if you think it'll stay at that price. They want a 140% increase in the SCHIP program with the "won't something think of the children" bit, but they don't think of those same children when it comes time for them to pay for the programs they enjoyed while they were children.
Sooner or later if we don't get on the ball about paying down our debt, we're going to be in serious financial trouble. If we hunkered down, I honestly believe we could pay off the Federal debt within 3-5 years. I'm talking massive, to the bone cuts in government programs. Welfare and food stamp fraud jail times triple, non essential programs are cut or taken very far back.
It can be done, it's just a matter of getting the will to do it.
Travis
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