Herman Cain: "Liberals Hate Tax Facts"
Asserts the conservative Republican businessman in Georgia, who is the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza. He zeroes in on the debate over whether or not to extend the Bush administration's tax cuts, which expire in January: "Congress is not voting on tax cuts, but rather, whether or not they should allow tax increases to take effect January 1, 2011. The Democrats have tried to convince the American people that the Republicans want to pass 'tax cuts for the rich.' But, in reality, conservatives want to provide a bit of economic certainty by maintaining the current tax rates for all."
He continues his commentary: "The Democrats in Congress resist the facts and the truth. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) wants to introduce two different pieces of legislation – one that would include maintaining the current tax rates for the middle class and another for the highest-income filers, many of whom include small business owners. He and his liberal colleagues are insistent upon making this class warfare legislation instead of economic growth legislation. Most people can see through this. We see that letting the current tax rates expire would simply cause taxes to skyrocket for everybody, especially the small businesses responsible for most of the new jobs created. And that’s no stimulus!"
BOOKERISTA OF THE YEAR: Thomas Sowell: "Can Republicans Talk?"
The conservative economist in California discusses the tax debate: "What makes predicting the outcome of this battle very iffy is that Republicans won a big majority in the House of Representatives in the recent election, but the tax cuts are scheduled to expire before the new members of Congress are sworn in -- and the Democrats have a big majority in both Houses of Congress in the lame duck session, where this issue will be decided. Theoretically, the Democrats could win, hands down, since they have the votes. But Congressional Democrats are well aware of how they lost big in the recent election, and some Democrats don't want to gamble their own jobs in the next election by going the class warfare route."
Dr. Sowell argues that this debate goes back 80 years: "What does that record say? It says, loud and clear, that cuts in tax rates do not mean cuts in tax revenues. In all four of these administrations [Presidents Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush], of both parties, so-called 'tax cuts for the rich' led to increased tax revenues -- with people earning high incomes paying not only a larger sum total of tax revenues, but even a higher proportion of all tax revenues. Most important of all, these tax rate reductions spurred economic activity, which we definitely need today. These are the facts. But facts do not 'speak for themselves.' In terms of facts, the Republicans have the stronger case. But that doesn't matter, unless they make the case, which they show little sign of doing."
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Tax Cuts: Bookerista Perspectives
