Taxpayer receipt

[Treestar]

Found this in Reader's Digest, of all places.

http://thirdway.org/subjects/7/publications/335

Ironically, the last two are the ones people seem to make the most of.

[mzmolly]

Excellent information. Thanks Treestar.

[Willinois]

The next step would be to allow people to vote for which priorities they believe should get the most funding. They could number in order of priority or have a certain number of votes to distribute between items. People could send it in with their tax form and it would be used to inform the budget debate.

The other thing I notice is the age gap in the budget. Retirees are getting Social Security, medicare and medicaid, plus interest on the debt, which is money spent in previous years that future generations will be expected to pay. Most of the spending on adults under 50 is in the military where young people go to risk their lives. Combine that with the failure to pass a climate change bill and its obvious that Congress couldn't care less about the future and is mainly concerned with those age groups who vote the most often. Oh, and don't forget that young, healthy people are mandated into the health insurance system to cover the costs of an aging population.
It's fine for people to get those benefits but it's not OK that the generational transfer of wealth is only going in one direction.

[nofurylike]

(02-15-2011 12:44 AM)Willinois Wrote:  It's fine for people to get those benefits but it's not OK that the generational transfer of wealth is only going in one direction.

dear Willinois, i sympathize with your frustration about that, but are you not forgetting that all of what is was built off our, higher, taxes; that we, in our youth, were dealt the same hand, but received less benefits, and so on ... ?

stabilizing a society is for the benefit of those whose future it is. and that is what all of this is about - for earnest Democrats, that is.

[Willinois]

(02-15-2011 03:33 AM)nofurylike Wrote:  

(02-15-2011 12:44 AM)Willinois Wrote:  It's fine for people to get those benefits but it's not OK that the generational transfer of wealth is only going in one direction.

dear Willinois, i sympathize with your frustration about that, but are you not forgetting that all of what is was built off our, higher, taxes; that we, in our youth, were dealt the same hand, but received less benefits, and so on ... ?

Not really. The national debt has been mounting since the 80's Reagan tax cuts. So a big chunk of those benefits weren't paid for. The next generation will have to pay for their own benefits AND the benefits previous generations received but chose not to fund.

[nofurylike]

(02-15-2011 10:29 AM)Willinois Wrote:  Not really. The national debt has been mounting since the 80's Reagan tax cuts. So a big chunk of those benefits weren't paid for. The next generation will have to pay for their own benefits AND the benefits previous generations received but chose not to fund.

it will be the same, per capita, as we paid - no, we had higher tax rates - for more and better benefits than we had.
the other difference may be that the wealthiest may actually have to pay for some of it, too. they didn't pay any of it back then. they had loopholes for everything.

[nofurylike]

(02-14-2011 10:32 AM)Treestar Wrote:  Found this in Reader's Digest, of all places.

http://thirdway.org/subjects/7/publications/335

Ironically, the last two are the ones people seem to make the most of.

thank you for posting this, Treestar!
very interesting list, too!

[Treestar]

It does not cover everything (unless other things are very small). Like the Dept. of Homeland Security, the Post Office.