(no subject)
From Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama for President:
Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who paid them, in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there is nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less. And for us to say that that makes you a socialist, I think is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate.
I don't want my taxes raised. I don't want anybody else's taxes raised. But I also want to see our infrastructure fixed. I don't want to have a $12 trillion national debt, and I don't want to see an annual deficit that's over $500 billion heading toward a trillion. So, how do we deal with all of this?
I'm pretty sure I don't agree with Obama's specific plan for taxes. In particular, I'm not a big fan of tax credits and weird deductions, because they can easily distort the economy in subtle and potentially dangerous ways. The mortgage interest deduction, for example, almost certainly contributed to the housing bubble, for example. And the way it is structured, it encourages people to borrow more money against their homes. AND it mostly benefits wealthy people, as people buying an inexpensive house are better off with a standard deduction. These are all things worth examining.
But I am for looking at our entire tax structure, and looking at who is paying how much, and having a discussion of what is and is not fair and appropriate because SOMEONE has to pay to support the government spending.