Too Much of a “Good” Thing?

If that first dessert tasted good, why not have another – with whipped cream this time. Now we’re faced with the biggest deficit in the history of this country, probably in the whole history of mankind, and what are House Republicans planning? A huge tax increase. What else?

The World Trade Organization says that U.S. export subsidies are illegally subsidizing American businesses and to avert a trade war with the European Union, we have to get rid of them. Fair enough.

The Senate says, OK, we’ll cut those subsidies benefiting businesses and make up the the harm it may do to those businesses by cutting their taxes. But then we’ll make up the loss to the budget that those tax cuts would cause by closing existing business loopholes. Makes sense, given the deficit.

But not according to the Republican-Taliban party ruling the House of Representatives.

House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) hopes to complete a bill this week or next that would reduce the Treasury's revenue by around $100 billion over 10 years, but lobbyists say the true cost could be considerably more than the $130 billion version Thomas drafted this summer.

And this coming one week after

The Congressional Budget Office reported that corporate tax receipts in the fiscal year that ended last month had fallen by 11.1 percent, to $132 billion. Measured against the size of the economy, corporate taxes fell to the lowest level since 1983, and the second lowest level since 1936. After tax loopholes and deductions were included, the effective corporate tax rate in 2002 was 24.6 percent, according to a study
released last month by the non partisan Congressional Research Service.

Yeah, that second dessert tasted really good. But tomorrow morning you have to step on the scale and face reality.