Outside of the recent November elections, I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed to be a conservative Republican than right now. Perhaps I still — after all these years in politics — don’t understand how things work in Washington. How can a bill that’s supposed to help lower spending actually increase spending and debt? That is what our “leaders” voted for: more of the same.
First of all, one might be wondering: what is this “fiscal cliff” that everyone is talking about? Well, first recall that the financial situation of the United States of America is nothing short of pathetic. Since Barack Obama has come into office, the national debt and the budget deficits have skyrocketed. That’s a simple fact. Another fact (more of a side note) is that none of this liberal, left-wing spending helped turn the economy around. It’s bad policy that the American people keep going for because it represents government “giving” them something.
So, because of this financial mess, a bill was passed in 2011 known as the Budget Control Act. Did it act to control the budget? Of course not. First of all, we haven’t had an actual budget in years. The Democrats will not propose one. Secondly, the act simply stated that the U.S. must get its fiscal house in order or else automatic cuts and tax increases will go into effect.
Those cuts and tax increases are exactly what America was facing on January 1. So legislators went to work, and what they came up with was an ultimate cave in for conservative principles. The bill that was passed this week DOES NOT cut spending. In fact, it calls for MORE spending in addition to raising taxes on just about everyone. And yes, this is what was passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives.
As reported by Fox News, “taxes for most Americans will still go up this year despite declarations from President Obama and others touting Tuesday night’s fiscal crisis deal as a victory for middle-class workers.”
At the same time, tax relief that was included in the package comes at a cost — contributing, along with new spending, nearly $4 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years, adding to the nation’s more than $16 trillion debt.
But there will be federal tax hikes in 2013. That’s because the legislation pushed through the Senate and House on Jan. 1 does nothing to prevent a temporary cut in the Social Security payroll tax from expiring. That means, under the agreement brokered by the White House and Senate Republicans, 77 percent of American households will be forced to fork over higher federal taxes in 2013.
Households making between $40,000 and $50,000 will face an average tax increase of $579 in 2013, according to the Tax Policy Center’s analysis. Households making between $50,000 and $75,000 will face an average tax increase of $822.
Oh but it doesn’t stop there! In addition to raising tax AND adding more spending, this bill that is supposed to help CUT spending is full of wasteful pork projects!
Here are just some of the projects included in the bill as reported by ABC News:
$430 million for Hollywood through “special expensing rules” to encourage TV and film production in the United States. Producers can expense up to $15 million of costs for their projects.
$331 million for railroads by allowing short-line and regional operators to claim a tax credit up to 50 percent of the cost to maintain tracks that they own or lease.
$222 million for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through returned excise taxes collected by the federal government on rum produced in the islands and imported to the mainland.
$70 million for NASCAR by extending a “7-year cost recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities.”
$59 million for algae growers through tax credits to encourage production of “cellulosic biofuel” at up to $1.01 per gallon.
$4 million for electric motorcycle makers by expanding an existing green-energy tax credit for buyers of plug-in vehicles to include electric motorbikes.
It’s so pathetic, and the so-called conservatives in Washington skip along, singing la-dee-da and voted for it. Not all voted for it, but still… the House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans, and this is what passed!
They went along with Obama’s pitch that the deal must be balanced with spending cuts and tax increases. Just that statement alone should have made true conservatives walk away. This mess is a SPENDING problem. Taxing the rich more than they already pay (which is HUGE) will not make a dent in America’s fiscal problem. Why? Two reasons… 1) We got into this mess because spending is too high, and 2) the spending is continuing to go up. It’s pretty simple.
In my opinion, there is no way John Boehner should remain as speaker of the House. Get someone new in there. In fact, the whole leadership should be swept out in both chambers. This entire bill was cooked up beginning with Mitch McConnell on the Senate side. The retreat from conservative principles started there. And… I don’t believe for one minute that some in Boehner’s leadership who voted no actually did so on principle. I think the votes were counted; they knew their cave-in would pass; so some voted no just to look good to conservatives, so there wouldn’t be all-out rebellion. Pathetic.
We can do better than this. Now, taxes are going up on those who create jobs. Hmmm… How many jobs do you think will be created now? Spending continues to rise. And… the bill only (once again) delayed the real action for two months. We have to go through this all over again. That’s just painful. Right when our jaws will have time to heal, we’ll be punched in them again.
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