# Modest Proposal For US Congressional Budget **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 23, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192 "2007-03-23T15:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192/21 "2007-03-27T19:06:56Z")
Those are some interesting ideas, **grayhairedmomma** Do you have a newsletter I can subscri… err, nevermind. I don’t think taxing the folks who voted Bush is practical, it would serve to discourage voting in general. Garnishing their wages is a good start, but I think the better rule is that politician wages are tied to the deficit / surplus. If they move the budget more towards surplus, they get a raise. If they move to higher deficits, suddenly they are working for free. How fast do you suppose the budget would get balanced? As for the gasoline tax taking a bite out of your budget, when prices were higher anyway, you still found a way to pay for it. And maybe next time you will choose a more gas efficient vehicle, imagine that. Do you carpool? Ok, I have a better idea. Since a gasoline tax is so unpopular here, we could take some of the extra oil from over there to pay for a war over there. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192/22 "2007-03-27T19:08:48Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] When a congressman comes back home and people yell at him, “Get rid of this tax! We’re working class people and you’re saddling us with huge taxes that we have to pay to get to work while millionaires continue to benefit from huge tax cuts!” what is the congressman supposed to say? [/QUOTE] Easy… they say this: “What’s the matter with you? Don’t you support the troops?” ---
**Author:** ![grayhairedmomma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@grayhairedmomma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grayhairedmomma)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192/23 "2007-03-27T21:36:52Z")
[QUOTE=The Controvert] As for the gasoline tax taking a bite out of your budget, when prices were higher anyway, you still found a way to pay for it. And maybe next time you will choose a more gas efficient vehicle, imagine that. Do you carpool? [/QUOTE] When I bought the car (used) 2 yrs ago my commute was, and will be until the end of May, a total of about 20 miles roundtrip. Yes, I will be carpooling at the end of the summer, but until then I will need to drive apprx 150 miles per day. However, the cost of my commute even when I do carpool (meaning using the commuter bus & transit systems) would be increased by the cost of this gas tax. So either way, I’d be taxed. Of course I “found” a way to pay for the increase in gas prices. Usually by taking it out of some other part of my budget. Do you think there are millions of people just sitting on money they don’t have a use for? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192/24 "2007-03-27T22:37:31Z")
Just because it’s hard to pay off credit cards doesn’t mean one shouldn’t do it. Just because it’s hard for the people to pay for govt spending doesn’t mean they should not be taxed. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192/25 "2007-03-27T23:08:47Z")
[QUOTE=The Controvert] Easy… they say this: “What’s the matter with you? Don’t you support the troops?” [/QUOTE] Well, I must say, that slogan makes as much sense as “In order to support the troops, you have to support the war.” If your congressman told you that, would you fall in line and be a supporter of the war in Iraq? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192/26 "2007-03-27T23:28:10Z")
[QUOTE=The Controvert] Just because it’s hard to pay off credit cards doesn’t mean one shouldn’t do it. Just because it’s hard for the people to pay for govt spending doesn’t mean they should not be taxed. [/QUOTE] Um, we **are** taxed. What’s under discussion here is an extra _insane, punitive_ tax. The goal is not to make money; the goal is to punish the citizenry for, um, not having assassinated all their government leaders yet? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modest-proposal-for-us-congressional-budget/397192.md?page=1)