It seems that there are some very basic concepts relating to taxes that many of you are having some difficulty understanding.
First things first... You need to understand that for all his populist posturing, Grover Norquist is actually a rich, greedy asshole. He's not working to keep your taxes low. He's working to deceptively shift the tax burden from wealthy people like himself, to those of us in the middle class. Republicans do this by arguing to lower everyone's tax rate, while at the same time, agreeing to eliminate deductions and tax credits that overwhelmingly benefit the middle class. They're talking now about eliminating the mortgage interest deduction. Who do you think depends more on a mortgage interest deduction? Middle class homeowners, or wealthy people who typically don't even have mortgages?
Here's some truth about who Grover Norquist really is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Norquist
And, remember, EVERY Republican politician signs a "pledge" to this guy, to go to battle for his plan to shift the tax burden from rich guys like him, to hard-working middle class Americans. That they all try to frame it as a gift to us all should be offensive to any thinking person.
Another thing that it's important to understand about taxes, is that we really could make dramatic and meaningful cuts to taxes for working class people, if we could afford it. The reason we cannot afford it, is because we've spent the last 30+ years consistently lowering taxes and providing loopholes to billionaires and giant corporations and industries. So much so, that some incredibly huge corporations like General Electric actually PAY NO FEDERAL TAXES. In 2010, GE earned $14.2 billion! If they only paid 35% (the top tax bracket for U.S. corporations) on the $5.1 billion that they earned in the U.S. for that one year, that would amount to almost $1.8 billion in revenue, just from this one company in this one year! Imagine the middle class tax cuts we could afford if these corporations would just pay their fair share of taxes!
Think about these things the next time you hear Republicans pretend to fight for lower taxes for everyone. They're actually raising your taxes. And, they're doing it to protect the handouts they receive from their indentured servants in the U.S. Government. It's shameful.
