# Fuck it, just raise my taxes, OK **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 30, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484 "2010-11-30T23:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/41 "2010-12-01T18:32:43Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > If you want to pay more money, why don’t you? Nobody stops you from making a donation. You’re stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/42 "2010-12-01T18:33:57Z")
I’ve heard that before. How _did_ Bush keep the wars “off the books”? ETA: Heard that the two wars weren’t counted in the budget, that is. Not that \*\*smiling bandit \*\*is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/43 "2010-12-01T18:35:29Z")
If I had $100 trillion in my possession, I would be more than thrilled to donate $99,999,950,000,000 to the government. That might actually make a difference. An extra $1000? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/44 "2010-12-01T19:06:57Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > It’s funny when I see threads like this and people still think there’s any difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. I think **Cammacdon** is the closest to getting it - your whole country is firmly entrenched in a system that doesn’t work, you’re going to go down _hard_, and you’re going to take the rest of the world except possibly China with you (certainly Canada). > > But you keep arguing over whether it’s the blue deck chairs or the red deck chairs that make any difference on the Titanic - it’s a good distraction. Nah, China, too. We owe them a fair amount of dough and I’m certain they’re relying on it. When we crash, we ain’t gonna pay no stinkin bills to China or anyone else. They’re getting dragged into the mosh pit and a good thing too. I’m personally hoping for global economic collapse. This party’s gone on long enough, we need some rest. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/45 "2010-12-01T19:11:01Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > If I had $100 trillion in my possession, I would be more than thrilled to donate $99,999,950,000,000 to the government. That might actually make a difference. An extra $1000? Not so much. Sure it would. Just convince your friends to do the same thing. If liberals think there’s such a problem that you want higher taxes, go do it. Or is all that individual action for when you’re having _fun_? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/46 "2010-12-01T19:20:48Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Compromise? Compromise? Demanding that the sunsetting tax cut for the rich be extended as is or else is what the Republicans call a compromise? > > Fuck this. Let the entire Bush tax cut sink below the horizon. I’m middle class, and I will be perfectly happy to do my part to reduce the deficit. Frankly, I’m amazed that my taxes did not go up when we went to war. > > The deficit will not be mended simply by cutting spending; it requires a tax increase as well. Let’s all chip in and do our part. I agree but what you’re asking Americans to sacrifice and, as every elected official knows, that’s now become a political third rail. You don’t even do this during a time of war. Jimmy Carter was the last president who asked Americans to sacrifice and we all know what happened to him. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/47 "2010-12-01T19:20:51Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > I have to wonder … how many folks who will now lose their extended unemployment benefits actually voted for the Republican/Tea Party candidate last month? Did they not realize what they were going to get … the shaft? I agree. People should only vote for politicians who will give them free money and stuff. That’s the surest way to bring up the economy and balance the budget. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/48 "2010-12-01T19:23:23Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Sure it would. Just convince your friends to do the same thing. If liberals think there’s such a problem that you want higher taxes, go do it. Or is all that individual action for when you’re having _fun_? OK, I’ll donate extra money if you agree to stop using the interstate system. I mean, why should I subsidize your use of my extra tax dollars? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/49 "2010-12-01T19:31:34Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Sure it would. Just convince your friends to do the same thing. If liberals think there’s such a problem that you want higher taxes, go do it. Or is all that individual action for when you’re having _fun_? I know you’re not stupid, so you’re just being disingenuous. 1. All the people I know contributing all their disposable income together wouldn’t even register on the yearly deficit unless you used a microscope. Everyone who is able has to chip in; this gets the maximum effect with a minimum of pain per person. 2. Nobody would voluntarily pay more for gas than the listed price, so why on earth would you think anyone would voluntarily pay more for taxes than the price the government decides on? If a store owner decides he wants to sell me a sofa for $10, I’d be a fool to insist on paying more. Even if I, alone, had an attack of pure altruism and offered to pay cost plus 10% for that single sofa, he’d still go out of business within a week unless he raised his prices across the board. Me telling him he should raise his prices is sound advice and is wholly irrelevant to whether or not I personally pay more than I have to. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/50 "2010-12-01T19:36:00Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I know you’re not stupid, so you’re just being disingenuous. > > 1. All the people I know contributing all their disposable income together wouldn’t even register on the yearly deficit unless you used a microscope. Everyone who is able has to chip in; this gets the maximum effect with a minimum of pain per person. So get organized. If you want to pay down the debt, get some people and do it. > [@](#): > > 1. Nobody would voluntarily pay more for gas than the listed price, so why on earth would you think anyone would voluntarily pay more for taxes than the price the government decides on? If a store owner decides he wants to sell me a sofa for $10, I’d be a fool to insist on paying more. Even if I, alone, had an attack of pure altruism and offered to pay cost plus 10% for that single sofa, he’d still go out of business within a week unless he raised his prices across the board. Me telling him he should raise his prices is sound advice and is wholly irrelevant to whether or not I personally pay more than I have to. So the government (under the wise, august aegis of Obamanomics) cracnks up huge debts, and then raises taxes for all the things most people don’t appear to want. And you wonder why I’m telling lefties to pony up and leave me out of it? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/51 "2010-12-01T19:44:25Z")
OK, **smiling bandit** , if raising any taxes at all is anathema, how specifically do you think we should close the budget deficit? Don’t say “cut spending”, tell us what you think should be cut and by how much. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/52 "2010-12-01T19:48:05Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > And you wonder why I’m telling lefties to pony up and leave me out of it? Too late, dumbass. You’re an American. You’re _not_ out of it. You’re in this shit just like everyone else. We’re trying to fix it, and you’re bitching that the antidote has to be delivered with a scary pointy needle. Buck the fuck up and take your goddamn medicine, and maybe next time some idiot decides to spend all our money waging a stupid fucking war you’ll be there voting his ass out of office. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/53 "2010-12-01T19:51:30Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > The deficit will not be mended simply by cutting spending; it requires a tax increase as well. Let’s all chip in and do our part. I agree that we all need to chip in. Unfortunately at the moment there is the crazy idea that the only tax increases that need to happen are allowing the Bush cuts to sunset. Doing that alone isn’t everyone chipping in and doing their part. However, now may not be the right time for across the board tax hikes. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/54 "2010-12-01T20:02:59Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > So the government (under the wise, august aegis of Obamanomics) cracnks up huge debts, and then raises taxes for all the things most people don’t appear to want. I’m sorry…you appear to have misspelled Bushonomics. Or…what? You somehow believe that we had some sort of surplus prior to January 2009? That Obama somehow managed to completely spend up and throw away? Oh…wait…that was Bush, spending up the Clinton surplus. Conservative “knowledge” of recent history is hilarious… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/55 "2010-12-01T20:04:16Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > I have to wonder … how many folks who will now lose their extended unemployment benefits actually voted for the Republican/Tea Party candidate last month? Did they not realize what they were going to get … the shaft? A guy I know who threw an absolute FIT about the idea of universal health care even though he is unemployed and mooching off his mom, is now throwing a fit because his daughter ended up in the emergency room twice and his mom is cutting him loose. He actually has the gall to try to make her feel guilty about his hospital bills. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/56 "2010-12-01T20:06:15Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Conservative “knowledge” of recent history is hilarious… Killing dusky folk/enemies to the American way of life - legitimate reason to increase deficits. Domestic expenditure to maintain/improve the American way of life - illegitimate reason to increase deficits. It’s not tough to work out, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/57 "2010-12-01T20:06:46Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > So get organized. If you want to pay down the debt, get some people and do it. How 'bout we get organized through our elected representatives and get everybody to do it? > [@](#): > > So the government (under the wise, august aegis of Obamanomics) cracnks up huge debts, and then raises taxes for all the things most people don’t appear to want. Yes, because there was no debt at all before he took office. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/58 "2010-12-01T20:08:21Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Yes, because there was no debt at all before he took office. What?! You’ve already forgotten the Bush surplus? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/59 "2010-12-01T20:13:54Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > So get organized. If you want to pay down the debt, get some people and do it. Yeah. Maybe we can host a spaghetti dinner or something, huh? That is, if a seven year old cancer patient doesn’t need the cash too badly. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484/60 "2010-12-01T21:51:13Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I agree but what you’re asking Americans to sacrifice and, as every elected official knows, that’s now become a political third rail. You don’t even do this during a time of war. Jimmy Carter was the last president who asked Americans to sacrifice and we all know what happened to him. A classic case of Americans learning the wrong lessons from history, even about themselves! Jimmy Carter lost because a) there were US hostages in Iran & he didn’t get them home; b) he signed away “our” Panama Canal. Not because of “sacrifice,” nor because of “malaise.” Sacrifice is conservative, dagnabbit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-it-just-raise-my-taxes-ok/562484.md?page=4)