From: sdavis@laforge.ksc.nasa.gov (Steve Davis)
Subject: Re: Hold on to your wallet!
Organization: NASA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 16:46:29 GMT

David Scharfe writes
> While your willingness to pay more taxes in order to help the
> country is laudable, you already DO pay more taxes than you
> co-workers supporting families (they have more exemptions).

  True, but the cost of supporting a family is an order of magnitude higher  
than the resulting tax exemptions.  I don't want the government to encourage  
bigger families, but it doesn't seem like a small increase in the exemption gap  
would do much harm.  (Hold it... am I actually having to argue in favor of my  
taxes being raised?  What's the world coming to???  :-)

> It could be argued that you are exactly the type of person
> who could be "encouraged" through tax measures to _invest_ 
> that excess income :^) in corporations rather than allow it 
> to be siphoned into the morass of the federal government.

  I agree entirely.  But what kind of tax measures are we talking about,  
relative to the ones currently in place?  Would my taxes go down as a result of  
my investments, or would people in a similar financial situation see their  
taxes increase?  Either way, the economy would benefit; but the deficit would  
only decrease in the latter case.

  I guess we're talking about a weighted increase in "investment" by people  
like me; I can either invest in the economy directly, or I can pay more to  
Uncle Sam.  That seems workable.  Of course, the theory here is not much  
different from Reagan's trickle-down policies, but the center of reference is  
placed more carefully.

> Personally, I think you should keep your money and invest it.
> The less money the government has, the better.  Someone (you
> perhaps?)
            [...wasn't me.  Interesting correlation, though.]

>            pointed out to me that for every new dollar the gov't 
> gets, they spend more than a dollar.  Given this track record, 
> it seems that your sacrifice would simply increase the deficit :^(

  Exactly.  That's why we need to change the government, in some way.  Bush  
campaigned in 1988 on the promise that he would veto tax increases, maintain  
military strength, not cut social security, and at the same time reduce the  
deficit.  Aside from the fact that his numbers just don't add up, he made these  
promises with the knowledge that Congress would probably remain Democratic, at  
least through 1990.

  If Clinton is elected, it will be with a mandate to make the government tax  
and spend more responsibly, even if it means deeper military cuts and higher  
taxes.  I don't know if he has what it takes to do that or not, but given the  
alternative I'm willing to take a chance.

  I have this nifty little program called USDebtWatch that runs in a small  
window on my desktop.  It calculates the total estimated national debt every  
second; I don't know where the formula it uses came from.  It also divides this  
number by the current estimated U.S. population, based on the 1990 census  
formula, to give you "your share" of the debt.  Right now, it's registering  
almost $16,000, much more than the price I paid for a new car last year.  And I  
suspect my share would be somewhat higher if it were calculated using a  
progressive tax formula.

  I don't like taxes any more than anyone else, but something has to be done  
about the debt.  (Balancing the budget would be great, but it would do nothing  
to _reduce_ the debt.)  I think it's a little naive to think we can service the  
debt without at least a small tax increase.

> No offense intended, Steve.  I honestly commend your attitude,

        ^ None taken.                      ^ Thanks.

> by my cynicism prohibits me from believing that having the
> Feds steal any more of your money would help...

  With current government in power, you're probably right.  With a Clinton  
presidency, things would be different.  With a Republican Congress, things  
would be different as well; vote for Bush if you think that will happen.

  As for me, please allow me to continue to bask in my youthful naivete; it  
should keep me working productively for another five years or so.  ;-)  Oh,  
well... lunch break is over.

Regards,

Steve
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| Steve Davis                      | sdavis@laforge.ksc.nasa.gov |
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