From #CNN: #Kamala #Harris to release economic plan today.
Comment ... It talks a lot about tax cuts for the poor and middle class. No mention in the article about how to pay for it. As a one-time municipal budget guy, this always gnaws at me -- both parties cut taxes for their constituencies, but no one wants to pay for it.
The federal government is the only level that can run a debt. We by law had to balance our budgets, which meant tough choices.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/16/politics/harris-middle-class-tax-cuts-economic-policy/index.html
@WordsmithFL
The phrasing "how to pay for it" is problematic for me because the only things more rare than discussion of how to balance the budget after reducing middle and lower income taxes is "how to pay for" the stunning myriad of tax dodges built into the system for the wealthy and corporations
@BrentSullivan Absolutely. And I saw that at our municipal level. It was after my time, but a Republican-majority city council gave tax breaks to local businesses without replacing the revenue. They chose instead to take out a loan, secured by the general fund, to invest in a shady county pool. When the pool went bust, they almost lost $60 million. They had to borrow from capital funds to keep afloat. In the end, they lost about $10 million.
@BrentSullivan It's a long story ... They sued the county, got some of their money back, used an emergency fund we created in the 1980s to cover the rest. Our city was quite affluent.
I exposed a lot of what they'd done. I was no longer staff, so I could speak publicly at meetings. I did a presentation showing the coverup. The city attorney advised the council not to answer my questions, which was unprecedented. He basically acknowledged I was right.
@WordsmithFL
Thank you for your service!
@WordsmithFL
And then they raised property and/or sales taxes, I bet😖
Speaking of budget rhetoric and realities....
I also hate when they say something like, "we have to treat the budget like a family does. Families don't borrow more than they earn"
Worse than absolute BS, borrowing more than you earn is a key to building wealth. Most people's first home costs more than they earn in a year.
Spending more than you earn on current consumption is a mistake, but investing in your future isn't