US budget deficit jumps to record $1.7 trillion this year

[SouthBayDem]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s budget deficit surged to an all-time high of $1.7 trillion for the first six months of this budget year, nearly double the previous record, as another round of economic-support checks added billions of dollars to spending last month.

In its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit for the first half of the budget year — from October through March — was up from a shortfall of $743.5 billion in the same period a year ago.

The deficit has been driven higher by trillions of dollars in support Congress has passed in successive economic rescue packages since the pandemic struck in early March 2020. The latest round came in a $1.9 trillion measure that President Joe Biden pushed through Congress last month.

Biden’s package included individual support payments of up to $1,400 and the administration rushed to make those payments as soon as the president signed the measure into law. The Treasury Department statement showed that the payments in March totaled $339 billion.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-72cfb190291ce19c33938e6183391453

[roamer65]

1. Time for higher corporate taxes and higher income taxes on the wealthy.

[DanieRains]

4. Wealth Accumulation Tax

They grow wealth not earn income.

The 1% got $5 trillion richer last year.

We paid the taxes.

[roamer65]

7. THIS.

[oldsoftie]

9. Europe tried wealth taxes. They didnt work. Wont work here either.

You just make accountants & real estate experts MORE wealthy. Because they're the ones who will get paid to hide the assets
Not to mention, there simply arent enough super rich people to make an impact on our revenue. Unless you hit them with a huge tax, and that will fail as well

[DanieRains]

10. Unless You Start Jailing Tax Cheaters

Which we should do.

Give one day in jail for every thousand you hide.

Deal?

[oldsoftie]

11. Good luck with that. People already go to jail for tax problems. But not many.

The problem is the IRS has a hard time catching the biggest number of cheats; the stated income earners. As I've said many times before & will continue to say, the only way to tax all the income that should be taxed is with a sales tax. On another OP the story says the IRS says about 1 trillion goes untaxed I believe. From the people I know, I'd say that number is WAY low. And they dont get W2s or 1099s so there's little trail as to what these people REALLY make. And that goes for a ton of very wealthy people. I deal with them every day.

[AZProgressive]

12. If they don't work why was a billionaire crying over Warren's candidacy?

[oldsoftie]

13. Look to Europe. Everywhere they've tried it has pretty much been a failure.

Its too easy to avoid regarding "real" assets. Not to mention a large portion of the "wealth" is tied up in stock ownership; which is a paper asset that changes value daily.

[AZProgressive]

14. I'm not sure why then that Wall Street billionaire was crying over Warren

I know Andre Igoudala was supportive though.

Andre Iguodala on AOC's and Warren's wealth tax proposals: 'I'm all for it'

NBA all-star Andre Iguodala is a multi-millionaire, but he has no objections to increasing taxes on the wealthy. In a recent episode of “Influencers with Andy Serwer,” Iguodala got behind proposals from from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to institute a wealth tax.

“If we can find ways to stop abusing the earth with pollution and overeating and obesity and diseases and cancer, and if you have to take a chunk of my wealth, I'm all for it,” said Iguodala, a longtime forward for the Golden State Warriors who was acquired earlier this month by the Memphis Grizzlies.

Currently, the top income tax rate is 37%, which applies to individuals making over $500,000 or married couples making over $600,000. Historically, top earners have faced higher taxes, paying a top marginal rate of 91% under President Dwight Eisenhower and 70% under President John F. Kennedy.

“I've looked at the historical tax rates, and I think it was like 70%, 80%, the federal tax was at one point, which seems pretty high. But we're in interesting times,” Iguodala said.

https://www.yahoo.com/now/andre-iguodala-responds-to-bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-and-ao-cs-tax-proposals-if-you-have-to-take-a-chunk-of-my-wealth-im-all-for-it-143609915.html

I decided to look up Europe wealth tax and it was interesting to see this as one of the first results.

NPR

UC Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman, whose research helped put wealth inequality back on the American policy agenda, played a part in designing Warren's wealth tax. He says it was designed explicitly with European failures in mind.

He argues the Warren plan is "very different than any wealth tax that has existed anywhere in the world." Unlike in the European Union, it's impossible to freely move to another country or state to escape national taxes. Existing U.S. law also taxes citizens wherever they are, so even if they do sail to a tax haven in the Caribbean, they're still on the hook. On top of that, Warren's plan includes an "exit tax," which would confiscate 40 percent of all a person's wealth over $50 million if they renounce their citizenship.

Warren's tax is also only limited to the super rich, whereas in Europe the threshold was low enough to also hit the sort-of rich. This higher threshold helps it avoid problems like someone having a family business that makes them look rich on paper but, in fact, they're short on the cash needed to pay the tax.

Also important, Zucman argues, the higher threshold means only a small group will be affected. And smaller groups have a harder time fighting for exemptions, which hurt European efforts. Some countries, for example, exempted artwork and antiques on the grounds they were hard to value. It's true, but it creates a huge loophole: Buy lots of art! Economists hate incentives like these because they distort markets. Warren's proposal calls for no exemptions.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/02/26/698057356/if-a-wealth-tax-is-such-a-good-idea-why-did-europe-kill-theirs

[oldsoftie]

16. Even if it DID work, its limited to a small number of people.

In real effect, it will raise little money when it comes to funding govt programs. Its simply a feel-good thing to hit the mega rich with SOMETHING & allow whoever votes for it to campaign on it. And a lot of it would likely fail a court test; such as the 40% confiscation.
The fact that most of this wealth is in stock ownership also creates a problem when it comes time to pay. The person would have to sell a large block of stock to pay the super tax. That would be a downward manipulation on the stock price; negatively affecting the "average" stock owner like you & me. Shorting would take place in advance of an anticipated upcoming tax sale; even further depressing a price.

Its fun to kick these things around and discuss them, but in reality even todays Democrat majority is never going to pass such a bill. Nobody ever wants to really go after the HUGE amount of untaxed income that gets missed every year

[SWBTATTReg]

2. good ol' trump and his cronies looted the US treasury w/ their tax cuts and probably pocketed

quite a bit too during the process. Maybe that's why rump is relatively quiet in FL?

[PSPS]

3. There's at least $23 trillion in un-taxed earnings hiding in offshore accounts.

[DanieRains]

5. I Don't Think It Is That Much

Link?

[DanieRains]

6. I Read That Forbes Article From 2012 And Posted It

Everyone else says 2 to 5 trillion.

Still a lot.

[newdayneeded]

17. 30 trillion

I posted a link here several weeks ago. as I said then, nobody could really know that number. but if even 10 trillion was brought back into the US economy and taxed at 10%, a lot of our spending/funding problems would go away over night.

I also stated I think this one of the worst anti-american actions to take. These people made this money on the backs of US workers, and then shelter that money from our economy!

[oldsoftie]

8. Nobody wants to REALISTICALLY deal with the tax revenue or spending problems.

So it will continue to go up.

[Vinca]

15. I've never been able to wrap my head around the GOP attempt to be the fiscally responsible

party as they slash taxes and spend money. The government should operate the same way the household budget operates. X number of dollars come in and they're used to pay the bills first. If any of us managed money the way the government does we'd never have a roof over our heads. Raise taxes to meet the expenses. And get it from the sources that have the money, not the poor slob working 3 jobs for minimum wage to survive.

[ripcord]

18. Until people can do their taxes with junior high math our system is a failure

We should have tax rates set on income level, no deductions, no write offs just pay the tax you owe.