Well, there it is... the new tax bill is in place. I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I'd be willing to pay higher taxes and I meant it. Tack on a few points for 20 years and use it to pay down the deficit and I'd be all for it. Most of the increases don't directly affect my take home pay in any significant way right now, but the reasons for the higher taxes on people who make more than I do just don't sit well with me. The government can't pay for everything it is trying to do for us so they need more money. Why is it that the government is allowed to pass legislation with out having the money to pay for it? I can't do that. I can't decide that I'm going to hire more people or pay everyone more money in the hopes that I'll have the sales to cover the cost. First you increase sales and with the added revenue you grow the business. None of us can buy larger homes and hope that we can work more hours to pay the added mortgage and utility bills. First we get the raise or the second job, then we increase our expenses. There were no spending cuts in the Bill that was just passed. None. Zero. That's not right. Basically, taxes went up in certain areas and all the money has already been spent. There is no surplus. There is no debt reduction. Where is the benefit to those being taxed or to any of us by doing this? The national debt is still growing by billions every day. This hurts all of us when we borrow money for homes, to pay for school, to run a line of credit to buy inventory, put things on our credit cards, etc. The new tax bill generates $600+ billion in new revenue (over 10 years)... Horray! It doesn't do a thing to stop the downward cycle of dependance that we have on others to take care of us. Booo! That's the bottom line, isn't it? We all want to stand on our own 2 feet and be accountable... don't we?... well, shouldn't we?
By the way, remember a few months back when I posted the image of the national debt? Well it's gone up over $300 billion since I posted that image. It's time we all take our heads out of the... sand.
