If you're an American politician, there's no quicker way to see your Gallup numbers plunge than suggest maybe – just maybe – the federal government should increase its revenue, i.e. raise taxes.
The way many of you just violently reacted upon reading that just proved my point.
Anyone familiar with the GOP's most repeated talking points can probably see why this is the case. The country is in the midst of a recession, after all, and raising taxes would hinder all the "job creators" (i.e., the mega-wealthy) that Republicans like to claim the country needs now more than ever.
Of course, the "job creators" have had a decade of Bush tax cuts and a few trillion-dollar government bailouts from both Republican and Democratic administrations to motivate them to start "job-creating" already, and results have been less than impressive. Maybe it's time for a new approach?
Before any tea baggers or Ayn Rand fans in the audience start bellyaching about the unfair tax burden imposed on the "productive classes" in this country, know that the United States has among the lowest tax rates of any developed nation in the world. This, coupled with our relatively low cost of living (compared to Europe and Japan, anyway) and relatively high average wages means that the typical American is more than able to foot the extra bill, and the well-off "job creators" even more so.
At this point, I should probably clarify what I think this extra tax money should go toward. The answer: not the things our current tax dollars pay for, that's for sure.
I honestly think a big part of the anti-government, anti-tax sentiment we see in the country today has to do with the fact that most citizens don't get anything back from their tax dollars. Canada and the United States have virtually the same tax rates, yet you don't see Canadians up in arms over their civil dues.
Of course, Canadians' taxes go toward affordable health coverage and reliable public transportation, while American citizens are forced to foot the bill for a ponderous Cold War-era military and the invasions of countries most flag-waving "patriots" can't locate on a map, so perhaps those anti-tax people are justified in being pissed, at least a little bit.
Anyway, new tax revenue should go toward the things the government's current budgetary priorities have totally neglected: universal health care, public transportation and rebuilding our infrastructure. (More college grants would be nice too, wink wink.) The thing is, compared to building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and maintaining the world's largest active nuclear stockpile, paving roads and paying for grandma's pills are really inexpensive. With a modest tax increase – especially on all those "job creators" that can most afford it – the standard of living in this country could be raised immeasurably, and some "job-creating" might even come of it as well. Republican hypocrites could even keep their bloated, unnecessary defense budget while they talk out of the side of their mouths about cutting government costs, to boot.
Though I've characterized raising taxes as an extremely unpopular move among the public, an increasing amount of people are beginning to get behind the idea. During the infuriating debacle that was the Republican-manufactured debt ceiling crisis, a poll revealed that the majority of Americans support raising taxes on the rich. Warren Buffet – the third-richest man in the world – has even publicly got behind the idea.
With growing public support among an increasingly irate and disenchanted public, it might just be a matter of when – and not if – the government will raise taxes. It's about time.
Email: edward.benoit@ubspectrum.com
