by OLD1953 » Thu May 13, 2010 12:44 am
Something came to mind while reading today's news, shortly we'll be in the middle of a "war on deficits". Timing of this will depend on a number of things, including the primaries and tea party successes. Implementation will be interesting, especially given the number of untouchable items in the budget currently.
My own take on this is that it will happen in about two years from right now. (NO, I do not believe the year 2012 has any mystic meaning.)
Just at a guess, I expect to see the SS withholding go up by a half percent to a percent, and benefits capped or even reduced due to "COLA mistakes". Top tax rates will roll back to the Reagan rates of 50% or perhaps even to the earlier rates of 70% or 90%. It's easy enough to avoid a lot of that and people will, but it will increase revenues.
Besides the SS notacut cuts, I expect to see the extensions of unemployment stopped. The ethanol program will probably hit the chopping block as well, along with a number of other "happy days" deals. And it's going to be very hairy around tax time, deductions are going to be scrutinized as they haven't been in 40 years.
The military won't take much of a hit, given that we are still fighting wars, but they'll be capped at the least.
And I've no doubt at all that companies that are paying no tax in the US will suddenly find the AMT reinstated for corporations.
Given the repeated number of dire warnings the Fed has had over the deficit, I'd expect that to take priority sometime during this short time frame, and this will be the result.
And it could start as early as this November, though I think it will more likely start in late 2011 or early 2012.
Something came to mind while reading today's news, shortly we'll be in the middle of a "war on deficits". Timing of this will depend on a number of things, including the primaries and tea party successes. Implementation will be interesting, especially given the number of untouchable items in the budget currently.
My own take on this is that it will happen in about two years from right now. (NO, I do not believe the year 2012 has any mystic meaning.)
Just at a guess, I expect to see the SS withholding go up by a half percent to a percent, and benefits capped or even reduced due to "COLA mistakes". Top tax rates will roll back to the Reagan rates of 50% or perhaps even to the earlier rates of 70% or 90%. It's easy enough to avoid a lot of that and people will, but it will increase revenues.
Besides the SS notacut cuts, I expect to see the extensions of unemployment stopped. The ethanol program will probably hit the chopping block as well, along with a number of other "happy days" deals. And it's going to be very hairy around tax time, deductions are going to be scrutinized as they haven't been in 40 years.
The military won't take much of a hit, given that we are still fighting wars, but they'll be capped at the least.
And I've no doubt at all that companies that are paying no tax in the US will suddenly find the AMT reinstated for corporations.
Given the repeated number of dire warnings the Fed has had over the deficit, I'd expect that to take priority sometime during this short time frame, and this will be the result.
And it could start as early as this November, though I think it will more likely start in late 2011 or early 2012.