The Fiscal Cliff

Over the last two weeks, it seems that no matter what channel you change your television to, or what site you go onto on the internet, the public is being bombarded by talk of the "Fiscal Cliff". What is the Fiscal Cliff? According to The New York Times the Fiscal Cliff is tax cuts that were put into effect under President George W. Bush, to help ease the tax burden on the middle class, and extend more tax cuts to the wealthiest of the Americans. Now, this would seem like it would be an easy task for the current Congress, but it seems it isn't. With partisanship now deeper than ever after the re-election of President Barack Obama, it seems like this will be a long and drawn out fight. The Democrats and some Independents are in favor of eliminating the tax cuts on the wealthiest of American's, while the Republicans are not, and say that they absolutely will not raise taxes on anyone. This is setting up to be a standstill, with the American economy, now chugging along nicely in a recovery, in the balance.

What will happen when, or if, we go over this proverbial cliff? Simply put, we would go back to Clinton era taxes. This means that, along with the top earners of the country, taxes would go up on an average of $2,000 on a middle class family. Taxes across the board would rise, and spending cuts would go into immediate effect on all sections of the Federal Government, including military and so called 'entitlement' programs. This would make a significant hole in the current debt, but at the cost of a temporary halt on the recovery of the economy. The Cliff is the ultimate test of the current Congress, to see if they can work together and play nice, or if they will continue to dig their heels into the sand and refuse to compromise on anything.

The Conservative stance that no taxes will be raised, to me, is foolish. We are at the third lowest tax rate in the history of our country, with the only two other times being when it was first established, and right before the Great Depression. Taxes generate revenue for the country to use, and they are just as necessary as cutting spending. The recovery for the Great Depression, and during the Fifties and Sixties, had our tax rates at an unprecedented 90+%, and in those times, our countries economy boomed. Now, this isn't the whole picture, since, after all, WWII was much shorter than the current War on Terror, and it also produced more machinery that we sold to our allies and some of our enemies at the beginning. The country also became very lean, sending all 'surplus' food and metal to the war front. We cinched our belts and increased taxes so that we could afford this 'war to end all wars'. That's something we have not done for the War on Terror. Instead, we have lowered taxes and cut programs that the public at large needs.

With taxes the third lowest they've ever been, there is no possible way for us to cut enough out of any program to counteract the debt. The programs they are cutting into are ones the public needs. Education has been gouged over and over again, leading to several ISD's in Texas to sue the state for too few and unfair funds, according to this article. There has even been talk of cuts to Medicare and getting rid of Social Security all together, programs that have been raided time and again for funding of the military and the Department of Defense.

So, while the Fiscal Cliff is scary, keep in mind that our taxes are the lowest they have been in half a century, perhaps more. If the current Congress can't get over their losses in November, and continues to halt all progress, then we will go over it. The middle class has always shouldered the majority of the funding to the government. It's how a capitalistic society works. Time and again it's happened, and it seems like it will happen again if Congress can't get it's act together. Should the middle class have to shoulder a tax increase because Republicans refuse to increase taxes on the wealthiest of American's, who have the lowest rates since the Great Depression? I've made this point once before, in another post, but I'll make it again. People who are as rich as Mitt Romney, or Grover Norquist, pay the same tax rate that I-a college student with very limited funds-pay, a measly 15%. My mother pays more taxes than I do, at 28%, and she barely makes over 25,000. This isn't about keeping taxes low, this is about asking the wealthy to pay their share, as they have been called on to do in the past, and should do so now.

So, Congress, do what you were elected to do. A majority of American's want the wealthy to pay more. Listen to your constituents, listen to the people who re-elected President Obama, and increase taxes on the top 1% of Americans.