Debt Ceiling, Taxes, Stimulus

[LivingAlmostLarge]

So i'm all for the reform of the Tax system and investing in US infrastructure. But I haven't been for cutting corporate and personal taxes that Trump is suggesting. But I'm not economist so sure we should try it.

But are there any fiscal conservatives who are concerned about this plan? Do you think this cutting of corporate taxes/personal taxes and stimulus create jobs and we won't raise the federal debt? Is there any reason to be concerned?

I know a few on here have mentioned being pissed that budget but it seems to be the budget should become in debt if you are cutting inflow and investing more in outflow.

Plus Trump has suggested that renegotiating Trade deals will help pay down debt but I don't quite understand how. What happens if countries don't want to trade with us anymore?

I'm just wondering I haven't been concerned because I like social programs but a lot of fiscal conservative have argued against raising the debt. It seems like these programs should raise the debt?

[Singuy]

Cutting personal taxes on the middle class(not the working class since they barely pay any taxes anyways) may lead to job creation(more money, more consumerism since Americans are allergic to saving money). Heavily cutting taxes for the top 1% may lead to nothing except a bigger deficit. There's an argument that trickle down economics doesn't work very well. If any corporation wants to survive hoping to sell only to the top 5%..well then you only have 5% of people buying your stuff..the bottom 95% is what really drive sales.

Jobs are based on volume of sales. Just because I have more in my pockets as a business owner doesn't mean I'm going to hire anyone new if my sales remained the same.

Cutting corporate taxes will probably lead to less job creation (incentive for accumulating expenses to offset corporate taxes are gone, so you have the select few pocketing corporate profit vs reinvesting into the company). Most growth companies pay very little corporate taxes already just so their can grow their company.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

This argument has been made since the 1980s. I'm not sure it wouldn't work. But it'll be interesting to see how much corporate taxes drop if it's cut from 35% to 10%. If corporations do pay that much or if they don't as you suggest.

[Singuy]

This argument has been made since the 1980s. I'm not sure it wouldn't work. But it'll be interesting to see how much corporate taxes drop if it's cut from 35% to 10%. If corporations do pay that much or if they don't as you suggest.

20% of the top corporations pay 0 corporate taxes so it doesn't matter what the tax rate is..it's just politics. To a lot of corporations, 1% corporate tax is 1% too high. Might as well not give the government your money if you can put back into your company.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/13/pf/taxes/gao-corporate-taxes/

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Maybe but I thought it was to incentivize companies to not offshore their sites as well. Make it cheaper to do business here.

[Fishindude77]

Cutting taxes at any level; corporate, personal, etc. is a move in the right direction and good for Americans and the American economy. This country does not have a deficit because they don't take in enough taxes, we have a deficit because we have a horrible spending problem.

When a business starts going into the red, you cut budgets and tell your people they will get less $$ to work with next year, so they trim fat, get rid of unneeded people and projects, operate more efficiently. This is exactly what our feds need to do.

[Singuy]

Maybe but I thought it was to incentivize companies to not offshore their sites as well. Make it cheaper to do business here.

Payroll is usually the most EXPENSIVE part of any corporation. You will have to either increase regulations by forcing a HUGE exit tax(like 60% of the corporation's profit large) or else those jobs are gone no matter what. The paid per hours is one thing, but then you don't have to worry about insurance, payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, workers comp, worker hours protection, lawsuits and employee safety regulations. Then you add on top of that higher bargaining power (no unions, more people are willing to work, no need to worry about employee satisfaction), globalization is truly a wet dream for profiteers.

Do you think the sweat shops of Bangladesh have a robust HR department and multi-dimensional management system?

[Singuy]

Unless that 35% or 10% corporate tax is a mandatory tax...raising it or lowering it wouldn't do a thing. It's already cheap to do business here because you can always think of that corporate tax as 0% or somewhere close to 0% (since the amount you pay in taxes is CONTROLLED by corporation, NOT the government. They can raise it to 100% and no one is going to care.

[disneysteve]

Maybe but I thought it was to incentivize companies to not offshore their sites as well. Make it cheaper to do business here.

Payroll is usually the most EXPENSIVE part of any corporation. You will have to either increase regulations by forcing a HUGE exit tax(like 60% of the corporation's profit large) or else those jobs are gone no matter what. The paid per hours is one thing, but then you don't have to worry about insurance, payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, workers comp, worker hours protection, lawsuits and employee safety regulations. Then you add on top of that higher bargaining power (no unions, more people are willing to work, no need to worry about employee satisfaction), globalization is truly a wet dream for profiteers.

Do you think the sweat shops of Bangladesh have a robust HR department and multi-dimensional management system?

I agree completely with Singuy. Cutting corporate taxes will do absolutely nothing to encourage businesses to not send jobs overseas. You would need to significantly lower the costs of doing business in this country and I guarantee that none of the people screaming about jobs going overseas actually wants to see what would need to happen to keep the jobs here.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Cutting taxes at any level; corporate, personal, etc. is a move in the right direction and good for Americans and the American economy. This country does not have a deficit because they don't take in enough taxes, we have a deficit because we have a horrible spending problem.

When a business starts going into the red, you cut budgets and tell your people they will get less $$ to work with next year, so they trim fat, get rid of unneeded people and projects, operate more efficiently. This is exactly what our feds need to do.

Okay but how will we cut spending when we're about to invest a LOT of money in infrastructure and building a wall on top of it? I'm all for investing in infrastructure but can see that taking in less taxes is only going to exacerbate the problem right? We can't cut taxes without cutting spending. So what should be cut?

Medicare? SS? Military? Entitlements I doubt alone will fund the infrastructure spending.

[Singuy]

This is why I am advocating for these people who lost their jobs due to globalization need to wake up and smell the roses. Those jobs are NEVER going to come back. The days of working in your local steel plant without a college degree and retire in 40 years is long gone. You just can't compete with 3rd world countries and their loose regulations.

It's really the fault of the people here really. They demanded more safety, more protection, better job incentives, more voice via unions, a better pension, and a higher pay....welp..your first world problems finally caught up to you..cause people in third world countries just want clean water and a roof that doesn't leak....much easier for corporations to satisfy.

[disneysteve]

We can't cut taxes without cutting spending.

Sure we can. The national debt over the next 4 years will skyrocket. That's my prediction.

This is why I am advocating for these people who lost their jobs due to globalization need to wake up and smell the roses. Those jobs are NEVER going to come back.

Bingo!

It's really the fault of the people here really. They demanded more safety, more protection, better job incentives, more voice via unions, a better pension, and a higher pay

Not only that, but Americans expect a steady stream of cheap goods at their local WalMart and Dollar Store and Target. And they want to have lunch off of the $1 menu at McDonald's but also want the high school kid preparing that lunch to be earning a minimum of $15/hour. Guess what. That just isn't possible.

We live in a global society. That isn't going to change no matter who occupies the Oval Office.

[Singuy]

Okay but how will we cut spending when we're about to invest a LOT of money in infrastructure and building a wall on top of it? I'm all for investing in infrastructure but can see that taking in less taxes is only going to exacerbate the problem right? We can't cut taxes without cutting spending. So what should be cut?

Medicare? SS? Military? Entitlements I doubt alone will fund the infrastructure spending.

Entitlements accounts for more than half of the national budget. Cutting healthcare cost will probably give us the most bang for the buck. But since the healthcare industry is private..meaning having profiteers to determine how much they should charge us for our life...this is probably the hardest to decrease.

Trump may cut foreign aid which is 2% of the budget..probably can dump some of that to infrastructure. Hey may cut the space program or budget for climate change as well. Perhaps the military may get a small cut if we are going to withdraw troops from our ally countries...

What we need is a bigger GDP growth but many have argued that no matter what you do, GDP growth for a first world country will be mediocre for the rest of time. Reasons:

1. You are already the first world..no much room for growth vs the second world or third.
2. We don't expect any major advancement in inventions that are game changers. Steam engine, telephone, combustion engine, electricity, the airplane, and the internet were all game changers.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Right now apparently a populist wave is sweeping a lot of westernized countries.

I agree jobs are not coming back probably but fishing is talking that we don't have an income problem we have a spending problem. So how to cut SS and Medicare? Two of the biggest entitlements.

[Fishindude77]

What could be cut to reduce spending? Ever done any federal work? I have and the amount of unnecessary spending and waste is ridiculous. A 5% reduction across the board could easily be accomplished via some smart management and we taxpayers would never feel it.