Tax Cuts Mean Tax Increases

+++ "JUST THE TOTAL SPENDING, MA'AM" by Carla Howell +++

Which lie is told more often: "The check's in the mail" or "I'm
cutting taxes?"

Sometimes the check really is in the mail. But when a politician says
he or she is cutting taxes, there's about a 99% chance that taxes are
going up.

If you're a beneficiary of "targeted tax cuts", your taxes are still
going up.

Why?

The alleged "tax cut" is often a tax INCREASE when you unravel all its
dirty details. Politicians love to make tax bills complicated and
confusing so that you won't notice if, in the end, your bill is going
up or down.

It's usually going up.

Even if they charge you less for a particular tax the first year, they
may schedule its rate to increase over time.

If the economy grows, you will likely pay more for the tax because an
expanded economy usually means more tax revenues for the government.

And if none of that works - or even if it does - politicians will
often simply restore the higher tax rate as soon as they can get away
with it. Perhaps after the next election.

Within a few years, whatever cut you got will usually be swallowed up
by tax increases.

And while you're getting an alleged "tax cut," politicians are busy
raising OTHER TAXES that you must pay.

Your overall tax bill is almost always INCREASING. By a lot.

The best way to tell whether your taxes are going up or down is to
look at TOTAL SPENDING. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that
the federal budget - with George Bush's "tax cut" - will grow from
$2.4 trillion in 2004 to $3.6 trillion in 2014. Actual spending could
end up much higher.

Politicians may claim your taxes won't go up because they're paying
for spending increases with bonds or by tapping one of their notorious
reserve funds.

Don't buy it. They will soon be citing higher debt payments as an
excuse to raise your taxes. Or they will claim they need to be
"fiscally responsible" by restoring reserve funds to their prior
levels.

So next time a politician (or the media) tries to tell you that
they're giving you a tax cut, ask for, "Just the Total Spending,
Ma'am."

Caveat: The "budget" does not necessarily reflect Total Spending. A
variety of tricks are used to complicate and minimize the size of the
"budget". You need to find out what the total spending is, including
what's "off-budget."