With SS already digging a deeper hole why do you suppose they chose now to reduce the amount of withholding by 2% for 2011. SS tax is now 10.4 instead of the 12.4 it has been in recent years. Don't get me wrong, I don't like them taking any more but ot sure seems like the wrong time to reduce the withholding.

Yep, an unsettling precedent in SS and discouraging we don't hear an outcry.

By one measure, federal taxes lowest since 1950

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press – Mon Feb 7, 3:39 pm ET
WASHINGTON

– Taxes too high?
Actually, as a share of the nation's economy, Uncle Sam's take this year will be the lowest since 1950, when the Korean War was just getting under way.

And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike...

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110207/ap_on_re_us/us_lower_tax_bills

Occam wrote:




Since the "poor" don't pay taxes in the first place, why what could they mean by "tax breaks"?

What's next, claiming Obama and Democrats liked the Bush tax cuts all along?

We spend $18 Billion a year on federal jobs training programs, and we have no idea if it has any effect. There are an astounding 47 different federal job training programs we are paying for. Do more people who get this training get jobs than those who don't? No one knows, in fact in most cases no one has bothered to even study the results. Who cares? It's just free money, right?

www.digtriad.com/news/elections/article....160719&catid=117

newsok.com/oklahomas-sen.-tom-coburn-cri...rams/article/3539485

Big Federal Government is not the answer to everything!

While earning ~$25k a year I was paying 25% in taxes (state, federal, SS) then take out the $50 a week for health insurance and see what many live on.

www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/16/chri...icans-fiscal-issues/

NJ governor speaks

Give this a quick gander:

money.cnn.com/2011/03/01/news/economy/ga...uplication/index.htm

It's not going to save a trillion, but saving "tens of billions" without losing any services has got to be a good place to start. Reading stuff like this is I reject the notion that we don't pay enough taxes. If congress has so much money to spend that they can waste it like this, then we are definitely paying enough taxes:

jdeere5220 wrote:


I am all for improvements in efficiency, of course; and establishing non-partisan monitoring programs to measure effectiveness of various programs. But let's say they manage to save $80B through improved efficiencies. That isn't even 10% of the deficit and does nothing about the more dangerous debt problem which is entitlement programs.

The problem is some people are not paying enough taxes. How about going back to the 90% rate for the high incomes. That should light your fire.