Republican "Cuts Only" Is an Unpopular, Out of Touch, Arrogant and Corrupt Over Reach, NOT the Will of 'We the People'

From the insight of wonderful local talent, STrib cartoonist Steve Sack:

This seems to be a parallel to the Republican intransigence at the state level, where there seems to be an equivalent disregard for the consequences of the shutdown of the state of Minnesota on the right. 

Since they only really care about 0.03%, the 7,700 who are more likely to put money in the Republican Party pockets, we seem to have not so much an ethical crisis of pay to play, as pay to give a damn.

We are being treated to the inevitable Republican over reach.  AGAIN.  The one that ignores the will of the people, while claiming to be populist.  There have been nearly two dozen polls showing the overwhelming desire for a budget that increases revenue, not all-cuts.  Those polls show the overwhelming support for Dayton's proposal to tax the indulged, tax-protected upper 2%, who would not be adversely impacted.

That is not job killing, regardless of how often the right repeats their false characterization.  It is not class warfare; class warfare is favoring unfairly the wealthy few and special interests over everyone else.

EVERYONE else.

From Bruce Bartlett's blog, by way of  Jason Easly at PolitcusUSA.com (disclaimer - both Pen and I have written for politicususa.com a couple of years ago).

January 2011 - 60 Minutes / Vanity Fair Poll  - 61% would raise taxes on the rich rather than cut defense,  social security or medicare
                      - CBS News / New York Times - 66% would raise taxes rather than cut social security or Medicare;

February 2011 - CBS News - 49% believe that reducing the deficit will require cuts in programs which affect them; 41% do not; 37% believe that reducing the deficit will require higher taxes on them; 59% do not.

March 2011 - NBC News/ Wall Street Journal - 81% support surtax on millionaires to reduce the deficit; 68% support repeal of the Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000
                     - NBC News / Washington Post - 64% support higher taxes to reduce deficit rather than cuts-only solutions

April 2011 - Tulchin Research Poll - Californians overwhelmingly support raising taxes on the rich to solve the state's budget crisis.
                  - Gallop Poll - 67% believe that corporations do not pay their fair share, 59% believe the rich do not pay their fair share
                   - McClatchey / Marist Poll - 2 to 1, voters support higher taxes on the rich, including 45% of self-identified Tea Partiers!
                   - Public Religion Research Institute - 2-1 margin, people believe the rich should pay more taxes than the poor or middle class; 62% believe that growing wealth inequality is a serious concern.
                   - Washington Post / ABC News - 2-1 margin people favor higher taxes AND spending cuts over cuts alone solution to the deficit; 72% favor raising taxes on the wealthy, the single most popular deficit reduction solution
                   - New York Times / CBS - 72% favor raising taxes on the rich for deficit reduction; 66% believe that tax increases will be necessary to solve the deficit problem, only 19% believed cuts only proposals were an adequate solution.
                   - USC / Los Angeles Times - 2 -1 favor raising taxes, not cuts alone, to solve the CA budget crisis
                    - Gallop Poll - 20% favor cuts only to solve the deficit; 76% favor higher taxes as part of the solution

May 2011 - Quinnipiac Poll - 69% favor raising taxes on those earning more than $250,000, with 28 percent disagreeing.
                  - Ipsos / Reuters Poll - 3/5ths of people support higher taxes to reduce the deficit
                  - Bloomberg Poll -  2/3rds believe higher taxes are necessary to reduce the deficit.
                  - Lake Research Poll - 44% of Colorado residents support higher taxes on the rich to shore up Social Security finances, while 25% do not

June 2011 - Pew Poll  - strong support for tax increases to reduce the deficit; 67% favor raising the wage cap for Social Security Taxes;66% favor raising the income tax on those earning > $250,000; 62% want to limit corporate tax deductions; a plurality would limit mortgage interest deductions.
                 - Washington Post / ABC News Poll - 61% believe higher taxes are necessary to reduce the deficit.

Here is Bruce Bartlett's bio, for those not familiar with him - and for those who claim that only liberal sources support taxation of the rich:

Bruce Bartlett is a columnist for The Fiscal Times, an online newspaper covering the economy, business and personal finance; and for Tax Notes, a weekly magazine for tax policymakers and practitioners. He was previously a columnist for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate. His writing often focuses on the intersection between politics and economics and attempts to inform politicians about economics and economists about the current nature of politics.

Bartlett’s work is informed by many years in government, including service on the staffs of Congressmen Ron Paul and Jack Kemp and Senator Roger Jepsen; as staff director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress; senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House; and deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department during the George H.W. Bush administration.

Bruce is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006). His latest book is The New American Economy: The Failure of Reaganomics and a New Way Forward (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Public Policy Polling went further in polling the swing states of Ohio, Missouri, Minnesota and Montana, which showed that not only was there overwhelming support for taxing the wealthy, but that there was also
overwhelming support for keeping the current versions of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. 

AND - TAKE NOTE REPUBLICANS! - creating JOBS was more important than solving the deficit.  Whether at the state level or the national level, quit screwing around, and raise those upper income taxes, and quit trying to choke us on your backward culture wars.  Before you try that stupid mantra that tax cuts to the wealthy create jobs - PUT UP OR SHUT UP!  PROVE IT.

The Evidence is NOT on your side (again):

Per Michael Linden, Center for American Progress, commenting on the above Bureau of Labor Statistics and Tax Policy Center numbers:

In the past 60 years, job growth has actually been greater in years when the top income tax rate was much higher than it is now.
For instance, in years when the top marginal rate was more than 90 percent, the average annual growth in total payroll employment was 2 percent. In years when the top marginal rate was 35 percent or less—which it is now—employment grew by an average of just 0.4 percent.
And there’s no cherry-picking here. Pick any threshold. When the marginal tax rate was 50 percent or above, annual employment growth averaged 2.3 percent, and when the rate was under 50, growth was half that.
In fact, if you ranked each year since 1950 by overall job growth, the top five years would all boast marginal tax rates at 70 percent or higher. The top 10 years would share marginal tax rates at 50 percent or higher. The two worst years, on the other hand, were 2008 and 2009, when the top marginal tax rate was 35 percent. In the 13 years that the top marginal tax rate has been at its current level or lower, only one year even cracks the top 20 in overall job creation.