Posted on 07/18/2011 12:38:25 PM PDT by gwjack
Any “deficit reduction plan” that relies on “off year” cuts isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. That’s why “pledges” to reduce spending in exchange for tax increases always fail to the Dem’s benefit.
my solution:
Make Taxes Voluntary
seriously
“off year” = “OUT year.”
Agreed. And 10% of all earned income for everyone, even the so-called “poor”. That way everyone will care about how our tax dollars are spent!!
Medicare and Medicaid
Saves $2.64 trillion from the two health care programs over 10 years.
Creates a combined $550 annual deductible for Medicare’s Part A (hospitalization) and Part B (physician services).
Caps out-of-pocket spending at $7,500 annually.
Prevents “Medigap” policies from covering first $500 of expenditures and limits coverage to 50 percent of next $5,000.
Gradually raises Medicare eligibility age to 67 by 2027, then to 69 by 2080.
Increases premiums for Medicare Part B by 2 percent a year for five years for all recipients.
Requires wealthier recipients to pay full premium costs for Medicare Part B and Part D (prescription drugs).
Repeals 2010 health care law provisions that would add millions more people to Medicaid.
Gives states more flexibility to manage programs.
Social Security
Would save $17 billion over 10 years and keep the retirement program solvent for 75 years.
Changes formula to give less benefits to wealthier taxpayers.
Gradually raises early and normal retirement ages; a person born in 2010 would have an early retirement age of 64 and normal retirement age of 69.
Changes the method by which cost-of-living increases are computed, resulting in lower increases.
Reforms Social Security disability program.
Tax breaks
Ends all benefits, subsidies and tax breaks for those with adjusted gross income more than $1 million.
Caps the home mortgage tax deduction to $500,000 in home value.
Ends the home mortgage tax deduction for second homes and equity lines of credit.
Puts a five-year limit on claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Ends the Additional Child Tax Credit for people without a valid Social Security number.
Makes employer contributions to health insurance premiums taxable above $7,500 for singles coverage and $15,000 for family coverage.
Collects more taxes from U.S. citizens working in other countries.
Eliminates numerous energy-related tax breaks, including ones for ethanol, clean coal, alternative vehicles, marginal wells and energy efficiency.
Eliminates numerous economic development tax breaks, including New Markets, Empowerment Zones and the Indian lands tax break in Oklahoma.
Freezes federal employee salaries and bonuses for three years, freezes locality pay for five years.
Reduces federal workforce by 15 percent, or 300,000 people.
Reduces federal contract employee slots by 15 percent.
Reduces civilian agency travel budgets by 75 percent.
Caps sick time and leave for federal employees and restricts how much can be carried over.
Agriculture
Ends all direct payments to farmers (those that aren’t based on crops grown and commodity prices).
Ends all countercyclical payments (those based on market prices for certain crops).
Reduces conservation programs by 60 percent
Reduces food stamp spending by $10 billion a year and puts new requirements on eligibility.
Department of Defense
Reduces the U.S. Army’s active duty personnel authorization to pre-2007 level of 482,400.
Freezes salaries of civilian workers and cuts workforce by 5 percent.
Cuts personnel in Europe and Asia by one-third.
Requires military retirees to pay more for private health care coverage and limits TRICARE Prime to active duty soldiers and dependents.
Delays or cancels some weapons systems, including Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle.
Closes elementary schools on domestic military bases.
Transportation
Cuts $97 billion over 10 years from the Federal Highway Administration for low-priority projects.
gives them cover and someone else to blame while kicking the can down the road.
Government can, it's the politicians in government that can't!
I looked, but I didn’t find the part about defunding Obamacare.
There is nothing in there about setting the debt ceiling.
Zer0 and his clowns rocketed spending by Trillions. ANY debt ceiling raise helps lock in that profligate spending.
The ceiling must be held steady, so that we can start undoing the recent damage. They could pass a debt ceiling bill that sets it at the current $14.3 trillion, just to make a statement - stake out the high ground.
How about:
2 percent national sales tax
0 income tax
2 percent should pay the rent and keep the lights on, but everything else the government wants to do must be paid by the people, voluntarily sending dollars to specific programs/departments. Picture ad campaigns and telethons. Millions would also set up auto deductions directly to those things they think should be paid for.
Clinton and Obama seem particularly adept at fundraising, so they could turn their talents to whatever programs catch their fancy, and I won’t have to pay a nickel. Sweet!
Too sensible. Too much Liberty! Never gonna happen.
I agree. The whole problem with government trying to implement a plan is that I don’t trust the government in the first place. The only real solution is to greatly reduce taxes and let people keep their own money.
Absolutely correct. Politicians power comes from money. Today, they have to much power, which means they have to much money. If people stopped sending in their tax money, the politicians would be out of business.
Absolute crap indeed. Coburn kicking the can down the road plan.
“Any “deficit reduction plan” that relies on “off year” cuts isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. That’s why “pledges” to reduce spending in exchange for tax increases always fail to the Dem’s benefit.”
You are correct that any spending promises made now can be erased later, but your point is not valid wrt how his cuts work. If passed, they WOULD cut spending dramatically. If we had a GOP Congress and President, this and more is what we need to do in the budget.
When it comes to entitlements, a lot of the spending is on ‘autopilot’ and changing the rules of the game determines the spending path. That is MOST of what Coburn is doing.
We need to change social security and medicare rules NOW in order to bend down the rate of spending, even in 5-10-15 years. Things like raising age limits, adding means testing, fixing eligibility, all of these things can and will be lasting budget spending cuts, if enacted.
you can add the transportation and a lot of the subsidies. Killing a subsidy now might be undone later, but once its is done, it is harder to bring back than simple feeding it status quo.
On other matters, it is quite clear that Obama has a massive budget over 10 years and we need to rebaseline it towards sanity. Obama and others didnt dig this hole in a day or a year and it will take years to dig ourselves out of it.
“ANY debt ceiling raise helps lock in that profligate spending.”
Not true. Budget authorizations do that. The debt ceiling is just an authoriy to borrw based on spending commitments already made in budget process. If you want to stop Obama’s spending, fight for the most spending cuts we can do NOW. there is NO plan out there that eliminates the deficit in one day. Thus, not adding the debt ceiling just causes a fiscal train wreck, shutdown/default. It doesnt fix the budget.
By cutting the budget by $9 trillion over 10 years, Coburn is showing what a sane, reasonable and sustainable Govt funding level requires. This is about 25% less than what Obama proposes.
There won't be any significant cuts. Politically, it's just too damn hard. We will spend ourselves into bankruptcy until we are forced into austerity measures like the Greeks. There's no desire to cut on the left, and no will to do it on the right.
Really? How? By what mechanism will future Congresses and Presidents be bound to this agreement? A "Pledge?"
If we had a GOP Congress and President, this and more is what we need to do in the budget.
We had that for 6 years, and it didn't happen. Pubs can't be trusted any more than Dems when nobody's looking. Winning both Houses and the Presidency is no guarantee the "Pledge" (Hah!) will be upheld. To the contrary, it appears from bitter experience.
Taxes will be raised today, spending cuts are always in the future, then they never happen in the end. I'm tired of our side getting snookered every time, and this will be another example if it passes.
adding means testing
Does that wound like a good idea to you? Spread that SS wealth around a little?
Oh, that's nice.
I used to say here on FR that all the people who cheer on the military would throw the same military under the bus if it came to brass tax - meaning "their" Social Security and Medicare vs. our veterans.
I was right.
All the rhetoric about "support our troops" rings hollow. If you served in 3 wars, like I did - it means nothing when politics rears it's ugly head. The GOP is not really touching SS or Medicare at all for current recipients - the proposed "cuts" are laughable. But, the cuts to TRICARE and military vets are real.
Funny how that all turned out.
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