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Broke? Just go out and make more!

July 02, 2009

So you've maxed out all of your credit cards, and you find that they aren't letting you just roll the balances into new ones. You buy a new car every year, you have your hair cut at the same place John Edwards goes, you eat at the steakhouse every night, and you can't make your mortgage payments because the credit card companies have cut off your cash advances.

It's off to the credit counselor. He sits you down and lays it on the line: you need to make more money. Maybe knock off convenience stores, or something.

David Brunori is providing just that sort of insightful advice to broke states in his post States Should Raise Income Taxes to Solve their Budget Problems:

The CBPP says that raising income taxes on the wealthiest citizens can help close budget deficits. Indeed, the report says that raising the personal income tax 1 percentage point on households making more than $500,000 would raise a whopping $8 billion nationwide. The CBPP maintains that raising taxes on the really rich is less harmful to the economy than cutting services. The CBPP is right, of course. There's nothing unfair about closing budget deficits by enacting a little tax increase on a guy making $500,000. The people subject to the tax are making more than 99 percent of the population. Call me a big fat liberal, but using that extra tax revenue to support services for the unemployed family needing healthcare and education doesn't bother me one iota.

Because every dollar spent by the states is for unemployed families needing healthcare and education.

Tags: David Brunori.state tax policy.

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