The rotten thing about the whole scene is that, if we remove the professional politicians from the scene and reduce the size of the government, thereby reducing the expense of the government, we reduce the tax burden on the entire country.
The only reason this is even a discussion is because We the People have abdicated our own responsibilities to ourselves and each other by electing professional politicians to "take care of us." I don't know about you guys, but I can take care of myself, thanks.
On a fairly mainstream morning radio show this morning, I heard one of the crew comment that, "People are fed up" with the government. If it's mainstream enough that it goes out over the airwaves to the public, and many of us here are talking about just that... why are we still having this discussion? Are there really no better options?
A few days ago, on a different station (NPR), I heard Dr. Bill Frist (former Tenessee Senator) comment in regard to food aid to Somalia being stolen by the government (what of it there is) there: "The whole idea that governments are not going to be corrupt is naive." (6:11 in the audio
HERE).
Maybe we should look to our own, first, before we start working over others?
I still think a uniform flat-tax of 17.5% - 20% across the board (half to Fed, half to State), regardless of income or income source, is the best solution. Sure, it sucks, especially for anyone who's not had to pay taxes for whatever reason, but I think it's a good way to get EVERYONE in the country aligned with making the country better, rather than advancing the agenda of one party this term, the other the next cancelling this one and advancing their own, and on and on, ad infinitum.
About the only concessions I'd even entertain discussion on would be to servicemembers and non-union police/firefighters.