As you know, it's a post-election frenzy in Washington, partisanship is back and threatening to tear apart our tax system. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it's close. The Democrats want to extend the Bush era tax cuts for the poor and middle class, but not the wealthy. The Republicans want to extend the tax cuts for everyone and they are threatening to shut down the Senate to make their point. And neither party seems to grasp the idea that tax cuts mean less revenue for the treasury at time when we have record levels of national debt. What really bothers me is the idea put forth by Republicans that we should keep the tax cuts for everyone because that would be fair. Of course, our tax system strives to be fair by not treating everyone the same. We have a graduated tax system in this country, meaning the rich pay more taxes than the poor, this is by design and and it represents an effort at fairness. Having a graduated income tax vs. a flat tax is an idea that was debated - and settled - generations ago. It's a done deal. We don't strive to tax everyone the same in American and to suggest that we should is a gross misrepresentation of our system. I think the Republicans really just want to avoid the fact that under their plan some people benefit more than others. Take a look at this graphic from an economist and draw your own conclusions about how fair the Republican plan would be:
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