"Boehner Offers Tax Increase on Incomes over $1 M"

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/12/16/Cliff-Talks-Halted-As-Obama-Focuses-on-School-Shooting.aspx#page1

"Boehner Offers Tax Increase on Incomes over $1 M"


Ok, the good news is Repubs are willing to raise taxes ....bad news....this in the grand scheme of things does not really matter.  The central problem is with spending - and while increasing taxes might help soften the blow here a bit, Uncle Sam's borrowing is STILL the culprit.  The latest projections I have seen from the CBO suggest we are basically dealing with yet ANOTHER year of a Trillion Dollar Deficit.   The CBO aka the Congressional Budget Office serves as the official Federal "Score Keeper" so to speak on budgeting etc.  When lawmakers want to know the cost of a program or law, they send it  to the CBO and they come up with a cost number.   This however, can be "played", as was the case with Obamacare.  The CBO asssess the cost, BUT, basing this on the assumptions Congress gives them; these "assumptions" are HARDLY beyond critique or criticism and can be just downright wrong.  In the case of Obamacare, for example, issues like the "Doctor Fix" were not included.  The so-called "Doc fix" dealt with the reimbursement level doctors would receive for seeing patients on Medicare or a similar Federal Health Care program, So, this "cost" NEVER figured into the supposed "official" CBO  "score" or figure of what The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was costing tax-payers.  When did doctor reimbursements STOP counting as a cost of health care - I am confused.  (note the sarcasm)  Alas, this is slightly off topic, so the tangent stops here.  However, the point is, the  CBO number is pretty considered "official" - or at least serves as the official "projected" cost.

Returning back to the matter at hand, Obama is doing all he can to "win" the tax battle while paying no commensurate or proportional attention on the "spending" side of this.  This is a bit ironic as the spending IS the central problem.  When we are running a Trillion Dollar deficit EVERY year, well, there is no way to fix that with just revenue.   Just to state the problem in more concrete terms, most recent figures suggest the top 25% income earners already pay upwards of 80% of ALL Federal Income Tax.  Yes, not 40%, not 60%, not 75%, but 80% plus of ALL Fed income.  We could have all the 250K plus earners pay 100% of ALL Fed taxes and this still wouldn't touch the problem if the spending levels stayed close to about $3.2 Trillion annually - very ballpark.  To put in specific terms, about 35 cents of EVERY dollar the Govt. spends is borrowed - and we are SPENDING a lot!!!

The HUGE mess is on the spending side.  The problem in part is, Obama and Dems are attacking, lets say 30% of the problem, as if it's 90%.  The tax issue is the hill they are seemingly ready to "die on" while pretty much ignoring or avoiding the expenditure  side, as if this was cancer or something.  And, well, in a sense....it is at the moment.  Most polls suggest Americans see some problem with spending but are NOT actually supportive of any specific cut.  The propaganda machine is working on the wrong problem.  Obama is trying to "sell" taxes; he should REALLY be "selling" cuts, but he is generally and inexplicably MIA on this.