Income Inequality and Tax Policy

[DaShi]

There about 500 billionaires in the US.
If we took 1 billion from each we would have 500 billion. Fed deficit for 2013 was about 680 billion. Not enough to cover the deficit for even 1 year.

Yup, so it's better to squeeze 5 billion out of people who can barely afford to eat. Deficit reduction!

[pchang]

One thing does not require the other. But clearly, tax increases alone will not do the job.

[MrFun]

One thing does not require the other. But clearly, tax increases alone will not do the job.

Back to my point about cutting such things as corporate welfare/subsidies ....

[PLATO]

One thing does not require the other. But clearly, tax increases alone will not do the job.

Exactly...just as cutting corporate welfare won't do the job. We need smart sustainable choices on both taxes and spending.

[MrFun]

Exactly...just as cutting corporate welfare won't do the job. We need smart sustainable choices on both taxes and spending.

Agreed. Cutting corporate welfare is not the only solution; we need a multi-faceted approach.

What about cuts in certain areas, alongside a rise in tax rate for the wealthy and corporations?

[pchang]

Yes. We just need to get the combined total to around 700 billion or so.