John Hinderaker at Power Line posted a story yesterday about an aspect of the President’s budget speech that I missed.  He cites an artice at wordpress.com which states:

“Called a “debt failsafe trigger,” Obama’s scheme would automatically raise taxes if politicians spend too much. According to the talking points distributed by the White House, the automatic tax increase would take effect “if, by 2014, the projected ratio of debt-to-GDP is not stabilized and declining toward the end of the decade.”

“Let’s ponder what this means. If politicians in Washington spend too much and cause more red ink, which happens on a routine basis, Obama wants a provision that automatically would raise taxes on the American people.”

The taxpayers need to make sure Washington gets the message that the problem is the spending–not the taxes.

Walter Mondale posted an article at the Washington Post yesterday entitled, “As in 1984, we need the courage to raise taxes.”  I do not support raising taxes.  I do however support changing the tax code.  According to Smart Money, in 2009 an estimated 47% of U. S. households did not pay any federal income tax.  When I hear that number, I assume that those are low income households, but that is not necessarily correct.  The article points out that a family of four (two adults and two children under 18) with an income of $50,250 a year claiming the standard deduction and four exemptions in 2010 had a tax bill of $2,800.  When you add in the child tax credit ($2000) and the make work credit ($800), they owe nothing.  There are many parts of America where a family can live quite comfortably on $ 50,250 a year.  Everyone should have some interest in what the tax rates are and what the government spends.  When half the people don’t pay taxes, they have no reason to care.

We can get out of debt without raising taxes, but it will take fiscal restraint on the part of Washington and a closer look at our social spending and the impact on society of that spending.  The Great Society of the 1960’s has not ended poverty–it has simply made everyone in the country a little poorer. 

The above chart comes from usgovernmentspending.com.  We need to think about the impact welfare spending has had on the American family.  We need to rewrite the rules so that generations of families do not remain on welfare and families are strengthened through the system–not destroyed.

The American people have been taxed enough.  It is time to elect people who will deal with the runaway spending that has become part of the culture of Washington.