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View Full Version : GOP is making my sad in my pants.



SeattleOUstudent
4/28/2006, 03:59 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12521259/

Jerry Taylor pointed out that as proposed, the rebate would go only to people who paid federal income tax last year, meaning it would be no help at all to the millions of low-income Americans who pay no income taxes but arguably suffer the most in times of rising fuel prices. About 100 million taxpayers would qualify for the rebate, which would be limited to filers with incomes under $150,000 for couples or about $100,000 for singles. It would cost more than $10 billion.

Not only that, but the same tax rebate would go to the Wall Street trader who takes the subway to work every day and to the rural Wisconsin farmer who uses thousands of gallons of fuel in his business, Taylor noted.



$100 tax credit? Are they serious?

critical_phil
4/28/2006, 04:05 PM
which would be limited to filers with incomes under $150,000 for couples

:(


brUCE!!11!!1

OklahomaTuba
4/28/2006, 04:12 PM
Even I think thats a pretty ****ing stupid idea.

Just cut the gas tax.

dolemitesooner
4/28/2006, 04:13 PM
SWEET

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:13 PM
John Berthoud, president of the National Taxpayers Union, which like Cato generally supports lower taxes and a more limited government, described the GOP proposal as "almost 100 percent political pandering."


[A]lmost??

OklahomaTuba
4/28/2006, 04:13 PM
Shut up, Dolemite.

RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!
4/28/2006, 04:14 PM
Even I think thats a pretty ****ing stupid idea.

Just cut the gas tax.Of course!

85Sooner
4/28/2006, 04:14 PM
Even I think thats a pretty ****ing stupid idea.

Just cut the gas tax.


ding ding ding ding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

etouffee
4/28/2006, 04:17 PM
the rebate would go only to people who paid federal income tax last year, meaning it would be no help at all to the millions of low-income Americans who pay no income taxes Isn't the very definition of a "rebate" dependent upon you having actually paid something in the first place? Otherwise, it's not a rebate, it's just giving people free money. Is that what you're arguing for here--- the government giving people who don't pay taxes free money? And if so, don't they already do that through countless welfare programs? I'm not sure I really see your point.

IronSooner
4/28/2006, 04:18 PM
That plan is such pure genius I don't even understand it.

OklahomaTuba
4/28/2006, 04:18 PM
In other news: Prices of canned tuna have dropped big time!

Mjcpr
4/28/2006, 04:19 PM
In other news: Prices of canned tuna have dropped big time!

Pure gold.

:D

crawfish
4/28/2006, 04:19 PM
It sucks that rebates only go to the people that pay for 'em in the first place.

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:20 PM
Just cut the gas tax.

And then we cut retirement benefits for veterans even more, or what?

yermom
4/28/2006, 04:22 PM
Isn't the very definition of a "rebate" dependent upon you having actually paid something in the first place? Otherwise, it's not a rebate, it's just giving people free money. Is that what you're arguing for here--- the government giving people who don't pay taxes free money? And if so, don't they already do that through countless welfare programs? I'm not sure I really see your point.

anyone that has bought gas has paid taxes on it

etouffee
4/28/2006, 04:23 PM
And then we cut retirement benefits for veterans even more, or what?
There's PLENTY of other crap (http://porkbusters.org/) the feds could cut before they got to the important expenditures like vets benefits.

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:23 PM
Isn't the very definition of a "rebate" dependent upon you having actually paid something in the first place? Otherwise, it's not a rebate, it's just giving people free money. Is that what you're arguing for here--- the government giving people who don't pay taxes free money? And if so, don't they already do that through countless welfare programs? I'm not sure I really see your point.

The point is, WTF do gas prices have to do with income taxes? This idea is like Wal-Mart having a sale on TV's because milk prices have gone up.

OklahomaTuba
4/28/2006, 04:23 PM
And then we cut retirement benefits for veterans even more, or what?

No, I am thinking we throw the elderly out on the street, or stop feeding the homeless.

Maybe we could just kill hundreds of dolphins and sell them to starkist?

yermom
4/28/2006, 04:27 PM
Even I think thats a pretty ****ing stupid idea.

Just cut the gas tax.

then it wouldn't just be some token amount that really means nothing in reality

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:27 PM
There's PLENTY of other crap (http://porkbusters.org/) the feds could cut before they got to the important expenditures like vets benefits.

And yet veterans' have already been cut once. We have to deal with the government we have, not the government we want.

RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!
4/28/2006, 04:28 PM
There's PLENTY of other crap (http://porkbusters.org/) the feds could cut before they got to the important expenditures like vets benefits.Beautifully said. I'm sad he even made such a suggestion...maybe he was joking?

etouffee
4/28/2006, 04:28 PM
The point is, WTF do gas prices have to do with income taxes? I dont recall anyone suggesting that gas prices were in any way related to income taxes. That doesn't mean, however, that an income tax rebate wouldn't help taxpayers offset some of their gas expenses. It most certainly would. It wouldn't help everyone, but it would help the taxpayers. It's still a collossally dumb idea though.

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:30 PM
then it wouldn't just be some token amount that really means nothing in reality

At least the gas tax is actually related to gas prices. Why get incomes taxes involved? Giving an income tax rebate is pointless and stupid. Cutting gas taxes would merely be pointless.

OklahomaTuba
4/28/2006, 04:32 PM
And yet veterans' have already been cut once. We have to deal with the government we have, not the government we want.

Facts are a beautiful thing. You should try them sometime.


We have increased funding for our veterans more in four years than the previous administration did in eight years."— President Bush, Aug. 16, 2004

Spending on veterans has increased faster under President Bush than at any time since the Vietnam War. Like homeland security, it is strongly supported by Democrats as well as Republicans.

Among the reasons for the increase: The veterans health care system is adding hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who came from the National Guard and Reserves are eligible for two years of health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. That system was opened up several years ago to veterans with higher incomes whose illnesses or injuries did not stem from their military service. Greater numbers of veterans from prior conflicts have signed up for disability and pension benefits.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-02-federal-spending-inside_x.htm

etouffee
4/28/2006, 04:33 PM
At least the gas tax is actually related to gas prices. Why get incomes taxes involved? Giving an income tax rebate is pointless and stupid.While we seem to agree that it's a dumb idea, I don't understand your insistence on a relationship between the source of the rebate and the expense it seeks to help alleviate. Why is such a connection necessary?

RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!
4/28/2006, 04:33 PM
In other news: Prices of canned dolphin have dropped big time!Fixed

GottaHavePride
4/28/2006, 04:34 PM
Or we could take all that money and put it to use developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars and leave the gas tax where it is. We're still better off than most of the world as far as gas prices.

OUstudent4life
4/28/2006, 04:36 PM
Not only that, but the same tax rebate would go to the Wall Street trader who takes the subway to work every day and to the rural Wisconsin farmer who uses thousands of gallons of fuel in his business, Taylor noted.

That's the part that most Americans aren't thinking about. Food prices are going to go crazygonuts if fuel prices stay high. My friend's dad is a farmer; he watches fuel prices more closely than most people/politicians/media sources, and is already taking a major, major hit. :(

Of course, this is why we also need a MAJOR push for alternative fuels RIGHT NOW...while we still have the energy to research (smaller levels) and build any infrastructure (massive levels) for whatever the future fuel might be.

And of course, we'd like to continue to be able to afford food :D. Soylent purple, anyone?

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:41 PM
Beautifully said. I'm sad he even made such a suggestion...maybe he was joking?

Was I joking? No. Even the government can't just print up new money to solve a revenue shortfall. A $100 rebate is completely meaningless to individuals, but added together will make a big dent in the budget. A higher deficit is worse than people bitching and moaning about gas prices. Sure there's a lot of pork that can be cut from budget, but do you honestly think that's going to happen? Let's see, cut veteran's benefits or pander to rich old people with a drug benefit...tough choice.

OklahomaTuba
4/28/2006, 04:43 PM
Hey, I was kidding about throwing the elderly out on the street.

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:46 PM
I don't understand your insistence on a relationship between the source of the rebate and the expense it seeks to help alleviate. Why is such a connection necessary?

Because even people that don't pay income tax do pay for gasoline. What is the point of only giving assistance to tax payers and not the people who need it the most? And not all tax payers are effected equally by high gas prices. I pay about $30/month for gas, and I'd get the same rebate as somebody who pays $30/week. If you cut the gas tax (which I also think is a dumb idea, just not as dumb) the amount of relief you get is proportional to the amount of gas you buy. What a ****ing concept.

mdklatt
4/28/2006, 04:52 PM
Facts are a beautiful thing. You should try them sometime.


Since budget cuts are not retroactive, it's not surprising that they haven't effected spending since 2001.


http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Bush_cuts_vet_benefits_041503.htm


Over the next 10 years, the Republican changes would cut $24.7 billion from veterans’ medical care, disability compensation and other benefits. Just when they send our young men and women into military action in Iraq, the Republicans back home chop their current and future benefits. This includes, by the way, payments to their families, should they be killed in action.