A "Taxing" Question

You might think that finding fair analysis of the two candidates' tax policies would be easy in the world of the Internet, but it isn't. I went through several sites, and on a couple of occasions, I thought I had what I was looking for, only to see that the analysts favored one candidate over the other (and this went both ways). Now, having a favorite candidate is fine, and is certainly not against the law, but I just wanted a "no spin" analysis. If I wanted "spin," I'd watch the two candidates or their surrogates, which indeed will leave you with your head "spinning." Ah, maybe that's why its called "spin?"

What prompted my search was an interview I saw today with John McCain. I did NOT see the entire interview, but what I did see and hear was Senator McCain saying that he wants to cut corporate taxes from 35% to 25%, "and I actually believe they should be lower than 25%," he added. Republicans have long advocated tax cutting as a solution to just about anything, and I seriously believe it won't be long before they claim to have found a cure for the common cold...cutting taxes! Their basic claim is, if you cut taxes for businesses and wealthy individuals, those entities will invest the savings and this will create jobs. Personally, I think there is a certain amount of truth to this, but the problem has often been that the jobs created have not provided a "living wage"or had any or enough benefits, except for the rich, of course.@@@

Now, we all love to hear that we might have our taxes cut, regardless of which candidate is telling us such. The question is, how far can we go on tax cuts? The basic Republican philosophy has been the prevailing philosophy since 1981 when Ronald Reagan took office. Even Reagan raised taxes, often under the guise of "revenue enhancements." ("A tax by any other name would smell so sweet.") When Bill Clinton proposed raising "taxes," not revenue enhancements, on wealthy Americans, Republicans told us that the end was near, this was it, that the economy, then coming out of a recession left by George Bush, Senior,*** would go to hell in a hand basket. After a while, however, the economy didn't collapse, it surged, and the second half of the 1990s, especially, saw tremendous growth. The rich always survive, and you needn't concern yourself with their welfare. (A word history is below)

@@@ See : http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/06/you-wont-need-time-machine.html

*** This is not really meant as a shot at George Bush, Senior, but I just wanted to make a point. Bush was bashed by his party for agreeing to hike taxes to try to help cut the ballooning deficits of those times, and he deserves credit for having gone against his own party. His courage may well have cost him a second term, as his famous "Read my lips...no new taxes" line from his 1988 Republican Convention speech, was used with great effect against him.

Word History:
Fare-This word goes back to Indo European "por," which meant "passage, going." In the Germanic branch of Indo European, the root word was "fer," and meant "go, travel." In Old English, it was "faer/faru," (noun) meaning "journey," and it seems also "road" (the place one travels). The Old English verb "faran," meant "to go on a journey, to travel." As time passed, the word became obsolete in these meanings, except in compounds like "seafaring," and "wayfarer." Today, if you're a golfer, you go to the "fare way," a place where you "drive the ball, or the ball travels." If you get on a bus, you pay a "fare," as the idea of travel developed into a term for the amount you pay to travel. In Old English, too, there also developed the notion of "fare" meaning how a person was doing, health wise, literally "how well are you traveling or getting around," and we still have that meaning today, as well as in the compound "welfare." Further, this notion of "faring well," seems to have also provided the meaning relating to food, as in, "Our 'fare' gives you a choice of meat and side dishes." And don't forget "farewell," when someone is leaving (literally wishing them a good, safe trip). In German, the meaning is still used as the basic word for travel or drive, and you may remember the Volkswagen commercial with "Fahr Vergnuegen," (short "a" sound, like in father) meaning "driving pleasure." Some examples from other Germanic languages: German also uses the verb form, "fahren," to mean travel by vehicle or drive ( driver is a "Fahrer"), Dutch has "varen," and Danish and Norwegian have "fare," Swedish and Icelandic have "fara." By the way, "fare" is also related to "ferry," a boat used to "travel."