Before cutting spending or raising taxes, make sure the IRS has the resources to collect the revenue it's already supposed to be collecting.
OK, raising taxes doesn't make sense if they can't collect the taxes already decreed, but what's the holdup with cutting spending?
The problem isn't these few IRS workers being fired, it's the tax code. Many fortune 500 companies paid a negative tax rate. Many conservatives complain about tax "rates" being high, this is disingenuine, because nobody pays their "rates" they deduct. The amount of "taxes collected" is lower here then in any modern country (except Chile and Turkey) we also collect the least in taxes as a percentage, since before the depression. Also part of the problem, is these aren't the most "evil" corporations they're fairly popular (on both sides). It's also about $400 billion per year, you would have to spend alot of money on IRS agents, to make up the difference. Why do that? When you can raise taxes another way, by raising the tax code and eliminating these so-called "loopholes" (which really aren't loophooles at all, because when people usually say this, they refer to a tax deduction that was signed into law after, sometimes years, of debate). The IRS currently cannot comb through all the tax returns from most wealthy individuals, because their million dollar tax lawyers send in 500,000 page tax returns, so more often then not, if your rich, and your tax lawyer says you don't owe, and the government actually owes you money. The IRS will rubberstamp it without so much as glancing at it
Granny says is cause dey's a buncha gridlock do-nothin's... Debt Up $5T Since Senate Last Passed a Budget October 29, 2012 The national debt has risen by $5 trillion in the three-and-a-half years since the Senate last passed a budget on April 29, 2009. On that date, the debt was $11.2 trillion. As of October 29, 2012 it stood at $16.2 trillion.
It was up[ $5T during the Bush administration when they were passing budgets, so I don't think whether they pass a budget has a lot to do with it.
With all due respect, the IRS's problems are the proverbial mouse not the elephant. Medicare is the elephant when it comes to our fiscal nightmare
G-20 to focus on U.S. fiscal cliff... United States fiscal cliff biggest risk for Canada, G20 Nov 5, 2012 Slowly but intensely, the focus of the worlds financial leaders has shifted from Europe to the United States, where a fiscal crisis threatens to push the country back into recession taking the rest of us with it.
