If the Democrats...

If the democrats paid their taxes, maybe we wouldn't have a budget deficit"
A joke from Travis, but I gotta wonder. This was, of course, in response to the last few days of Obama appointees being ousted (or at least questioned) for their missing some payments of taxes. Travis was particularly chuckling when he realized that a woman (Killefer) was the first to be excused from her appointment (ok, so she withdrew, but really...). So much for the democratic party being a supporter of women, eh? And, then to end up taking Daschel down with her- so as not to put President Obama between a rock (his nomination choice) and a hard place (his promise to not do Washing Politics as Usual). He's still in a pinch over his appointment of somebody (and I can't remember who) that is known as a lobbyist- he said he categorically would not consider those people for positions.

A friend brought it to a more personal level- do we "fudge" on our taxes? I know I don't have a personal driver and car- for work let alone personal use, so I don't have to worry about that. But what about the people I've had babysit- am I responsible? I looked around and it seems if you pay less than $1500 a year, you don't have to worry about it. But, if you exceed that, you run into a quandary. If the sitter is considered an "employee" then, yes, you are responsible for a "nanny tax". If she is an "independent contractor" then the sitter is responsible for the taxes. Confusing, yes. Annoying, DEFINITELY.

But, at least I can honestly say I don't owe $140,000 in taxes for the years 2005-2007. Although, if we made enough money to need to owe that much in tax, that would be rather nice... maybe.

Still, it brings me back to Travis' original "joking" comment. How many of our senators and congressmen (democratic or republican) have dodged taxes? How many of our businessmen? And, if everybody paid what we were suppose to, would be we in so much debt? Well, with the democrats proposing a "bailout" plan of nearly ONE TRILLION dollars, yeah, I don't even think that paying taxes in arrears would cover that cost. One senator from Tennessee (Republican) said that this bill is only a small part of what the Capitol is looking at in terms of spending. There's the defense budget, the government budget (and I think that one is also proposed to be 3 Trillion dollars?), and so on.

Wasn't going IN to DEBT the cause of all our troubles right now? Does it give anybody else pause to think that our government is throwing debt money hand-over-fist after "bad" debt? And, truly, will this "stimulus" package make any difference in a year or two? I'm thinking NO!, and I plan to write my senators and ask them to support a MUCH SMALLER stimulus package- and really look hard at throwing money on projects that will last YEARS, not just ones that happen to be "shovel ready" (as Governor Schwarzenegger said).

*sigh* I'll finish my rant now after I add that I claim to be neither Republican or Democrat. I haven't much liked what the Republicans have done, but I'm becoming VERY disenchanted with all the spending the Democrats are throwing around like so much ticker tape...