First they make the noises, launch the trial balloons and see what they can get away with. This time it is House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-WI) in charge of making the noises. LaTi reports:
Obey and several other senior Democrats have proposed a graduated surtax, beginning in 2011, to pay for the war. Their bill would impose a 1% surtax on people earning less than $150,000. The tax hike would be higher for people earning between $150,000 and $250,000 a year, and double that for people with higher incomes. The bill does not give exact figures for what upper surtax rates would be, but says that they would be high enough to cover the previous year's war costs.
It would exempt veterans of combat since Sept. 11, 2001, their families, and the relatives of those killed in action. The president could delay implementation of the tax for a year if he concluded that the economy was too weak.
In addition to Obey, Rep. John B. Larson of Connecticut, chairman of the Democratic Caucus, and the defense appropriations subcommittee chairman, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), have come out in support of the surtax.
In a television interview this week, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also endorsed the idea of increasing taxes on people earning more than $200,000 to pay for sending additional troops.
This proposal doesn't have enough votes to come close to passing, right now. But give it time, the missile has been launched.
White House budget analysts have estimated that it may be as much as $1 million a year for each additional soldier, according to LaTi. President Obama is expected to announce next week that he will be sending somewhere around 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
White House budget analysts have estimated that it may be as much as $1 million a year for each additional soldier, according to LaTi. President Obama is expected to announce next week that he will be sending somewhere around 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
That's a lot of $$$$$$$, so if they don't tax it away, they'll just have to get Bernanke to print the damn money.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving.
We, the PEOPLE, who by the way already pay enough taxes as it is, DID NOT WANT THIS WAR TO BEGIN WITH! Or have you conveniently forgotten the many protests AGAINST the war. You ignored us. You force us into "free-speech zones" far away from the prying eyes of the war-mongers so they won't have to see the anger they have wrought by their policies, not ours. Now you want us to pay for YOUR fuck-up???
ReplyDeleteYOU WANT WAR? YOU PAY FOR IT!
The American public behave like spoiled children with unrealistic expectations.
ReplyDeleteFor example, they think they can keep endlessly consuming the products of other countries but never have to pay for it in kind.
When the war began, they were bursting with patriotism which meant waving flags and displaying Support Our Troops bumper stickers but when the time comes to pay for it, they begin to howl and turn tail clamoring that they never wanted the war.
So much for supporting the troops.