A no-brainer

To me, it's a no-brainer. But to Repubs who revere Ronald Reagen (and all his devotees), it's a non-starter.

I'm talking about raising taxes.

A USA Today analysis reveals that today Americans are paying the lowest percent of their incomes in taxes since 1958.

If we simply paid at the rate we all did in the 1970s, there would be an increase in revenue of $500 billion per year -- far more than anyone's wild dreams of saving by cutting spending.

In fact, a different report a couple of weeks ago showed that the amount of revenue increase from letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire would exceed the spending cuts the Repubs are trying to push through.

So it seems that how much you hate the taxes you're asked to pay is pretty relative. People always want to pay less tax. The outcry against taxes was no worse in the 1970's than it is now; in fact, it was probably less, even though everyone paid more.

The answer is very simple. Let the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy expire. Close loopholes. And we'll be just fine.

Ralph