[Dialogue] Fw: Our USA national priorities - Tax Breaks vs.BudgetCuts

[Janice Ulangca]

Hi Geri,

Skepticism is a good thing!  A couple of points to consider:

These figures have all got to be wrong - seems to me that they can't be exact.  Got to be a few dollars and cents difference!  

The comparisons surely don't provide easy solutions to complex problems.  I don't think they are meant to.  To me it is instructive to compare various kinds of tax breaks to programs that make the difference between life and death to some in our society. 

The source for the estate planning figure is listed as "Row 3 (now re: estate planning): General Explanations of the Administration's Fiscal Year 2012 Revenue Proposals (Department of Treasury, 2011)."  That doesn't tell me a whole lot.  It probably is possible to get a ballpark figure for any given business segment, including the amount of business done by estate planners.  Estate planners would not be hired by folks on minimum wage. 

The article linked to makes the point that the cost to the budget of the programs in the left column, targeted to the most vulnerable, is carefully looked at.  At the same time, the cost to the budget of the tax deductions and tax loopholes is not debated at all.  The article says that both should be on the table while we wrestle with the real need to deal with the deficit.  

Best,
Janice Ulangca
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Geri Tolman 
  To: 'Colleague Dialogue' 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 6:20 PM
  Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Fw: Our USA national priorities - Tax Breaks vs.BudgetCuts


  Am I the only one who is skeptical about these numbers and categories?  
  I haven't done the reading....do they explain how one calculates the "Cost of "estate planning" techniques used by wealthy to avoid taxes"?

  My healthy dose of skepticism is based on personal knowledge of too many people who cheat the welfare system to get food stamps and low income housing benefits.  Not saying there aren't people who legitimately need these services, just that there is way too much fraud and abuse.  

  Lists like these, whether from the left or the right, suggest that there are easy solutions to very complex problems, and raise the emotional hackles which tend to get in the way of generating clear-thinking solutions.

  Respectfully,
  Geri Tolman



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Janice Ulangca
    Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 2:02 PM
    To: Colleague Dialogue
    Subject: [Dialogue] Fw: Our USA national priorities - Tax Breaks vs. BudgetCuts



    Information on what is up for cutting, and what's not, during budget discussions in the U.S. Congress going on this week and next. Info is pasted into this message.  In the attachment, it's neatly arranged in columns - hope you can open it.  A link to sources for these figures is below.
    Janice Ulangca


    -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - -  -  -  -  -  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20110308/8eeb92d6/attachment-0001.html>