The way to make sure that people have enough money to pay for housing, gas, food, etc is to have the government STOP TAKING THEIR MONEY AWAY FROM THEM.

Senator John McCain offered the broadest look yet at his economic policies in a speech here Tuesday, calling for tax cuts, a freeze of discretionary spending for a year, higher premiums for better-off Medicare recipients and elimination of federal gas taxes this summer to reinvigorate the sagging economy.

Mr. McCain, who made no mention of his previous pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term, outlined a long list of tax cuts he favored in the speech, which was delivered on the deadline for filing taxes. He called once again for making the Bush tax cuts, which he voted against, permanent, and for cutting corporate taxes, phasing out the alternative minimum tax and doubling the value of exemptions for each dependent to $7,000 from $3,500. He also proposed giving people the option of using a simpler, shorter tax form.

One of Mr. McCain’s tax proposals would take effect even before the Republican Convention: he called on Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent a gallon federal gas tax from Memorial Day until Labor Day. Mr. McCain said that doing so would provide “an immediate economic stimulus,” but some environmentalists said that the change might encourage more people to use their cars, while Mr. McCain has made combating global warming central to his campaign.

Given that both leading contenders for the presidency propose to tax the American people into prosperity by letting the Bush tax cuts for every American expire, we have an amazing dichotomy. And given the calls of Democrats to lower the cost of gasoline, the opportunity to bring about a 5% decrease in gas prices without government interfering with the market, every Democrat should be on board with that gas tax proposal -- if they really believe that lowering gas prices is a good thing. After all, gas taxes are highly regressive and hit the working poor hardest.

Posted by: Greg at 10:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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