You are just wrong about taxes being punished and you are also wrong about the “plenty” of millionaires without higher education. There aren’t…that many. Education…IS…the gateway to allowing people to pull their bootstraps up.

You asked my cliffnotes. Here goes. I don’t think we should tax people into obscurity, but I strongly object to our state being near to last in everything…I strong object to our staying paying for little in comparison to other states, and I strongly object to the philosophy that if you take us down to the bare bones (as you seem to advocate) that people will be better off, that people will make it or make do, and that our economy will benefit.

You posted the Laffer curve above. Laffer’s curve ain’t perfect. Its theory and it has failed many empirical tests. Even so, lets pretend he was right. What you all are advocating is getting closer to the zero tax point…I would argue that we are closer to that than we are to the other side. We certainly are on the drought side in comparison to other states…and because of it, we have little revenue.

But Laffer’s experiment on the back of a napkin (as the story goes) is a model and one that includes two variable…taxing and revenue…the world is much more complicated than that. Without govt spending on such things as education, transportation, public health, public safety and public welfare…without a reasonable amount, an economy slides into the toilet. His model doesn’t have that in the equation. You all have to know I am right about this because you advocate for govt. spending in public safety now dont ya? And well…you advocate it for wars? Right? So how can we not spend a paltry sum in comparison, work to the middle of Laffer’s curve, and use govt effectively…as it can be done…to bring economic development and improve the lives of its citizens.

No one wants to pay taxes…its called the free rider problem. It is why most charities…and even charter and private schools…turn to public dollars. Its because if we left everything to the market…we’d all be doomed..and the real inequalities in our world, would come to roost in a way that none of us could ever conceive. Its why there is revolution all over this earth.

At the base level, how can any of you say that a child born into poverty doesn’t deserve the help or at least educational opportuntiy to be where you are? If you say no to that, you are callous, if you say no to that, you are greedy, if you say no to that or answer with theory that someone, somewhere will do it with charity, you are a fool. And last, if you believe like I once did, that “no one helped me”…then you are dillusional. Because if you are successful, if you grew up in a good family, if you had neighbors that looked out for you, if you got student loans, someone helped you…and you were lucky…not smarter than everyone else…or harder working.

Simplistic claims about tax decreases using Reagan as an example are problematic. Even if one assumes the tax decreases were largely the cause of some economic growth, these decreases were from a marginal rate of 74% to 24%. This does not mean every tax decrease causes economic growth or an increase in government revenue. In fact, there are many counter-examples to such a claim and even looking at the left side of the Laffer curve, which is largely a propaganda tool rather than a actual economic model, makes this case.

If there is one well agreed on generalization, it’s human behavior when influenced by reward or punishment. Taxes act as a punishment to the rational human being. If an individual works hard to produce something of value and the government takes it or a portion of it away, the person will no longer work hard because there is no longer an incentive – unless they’ve got a gun to their head.

Bringing this down to the real world, why would a businessman make a major purchase if he will be penalized further on the purchase? The smart business person is going to go out of state or delay his/her purchase.

And do you think that will NOT affect the current economy?

I do have to agree on one thing and that is that if you think this budget is bad, wait until the next two years.

We have been living way above and beyond our means and the only bubble that did NOT burst is the government one. It’s time to bring spending back under control and that means making the cuts.

If we don’t do it now and get this under control we are going to be even worse off and prolong this recession even further.

And then what will your argument be when there is NO money left and everything else gets shut down? All the other agencies and services will shut down and those people dependent on them will go looking for the Arizona Education Association who crashed the entire system.

Studies have shown that education is unnecessary and unimportant, as demonstrated by George W. Bush. We should stop funding it altogether.

That would balance the budget.

By the way, kral, Gila Courier is gearing up its Giffonating. You may want to sharpen up your blogger sword and head over.

According to Wiktionary, “Decimate” = “To take the 10th part of anything.”

A reasonable individual would agree that 10% is not draconian, hyper or dramatic

2011 and 2012 budgets are 10 times WORSE than 2010. If anyone thinks for a second that decimating education in an election year won’t haunt us, get out of politics. (By decimating, I refer to what will have to happen this time next year. This years cuts were not decimating.)

If we were smart, we’d be giving in a VOTER decision for the tax while pressing hard, long term reform that will prevent the Nappy’s of the future. Alas, we aren’t smart and would rather call each other RINO’s.

Look at us, we idolize Regan yet he raised taxes, granted amnesty, and told us the 11th commandment was not to speak ill will of fellow R’s. Love how we pick and choose our idols.

Are you able to spend so much time as a liberal making posts because you are a public employee? I always go back to when I learned how hard a lot of them worked when I saw a couple of city of phoenix workers sleeping on the side of the road at 10 in the morning.

The Heritage Foundation also has a good historical presentation here.

The Laffer Curve DOES find the middle ground on taxes.

#2 Just econ 101 its a dumb idea

#3 Brewer has revealed that she is a leftist.

#4 If it were true that government spending were efficient and required for economic growth, then logically, the entire economy should be socialized in order to maximize economic returns and prosperity.
Since we KNOW this is false, the opposite is in fact true, i.e. that in order to maximize economic returns and prosperity, you must DETAX and DEREGULATE. Anyone who behaves contrary to that is either
a) wontonly ignorant or stupid
b) a leftie
c) corrupt, as they or their associates personally stand to benefit from the government spenting
There is no d).