re: #407 Barflytom

Did you bother to look at the chart I linked to ?
Which taxes do you propose raising, and what makes you think you’ll get more revenue from higher marginal rates for example ?

That chart only tells you that federal spending has hovered around 20% of GDP. Obviously the way in which that revenue is collected has changed over time, but that’s no proof of a causal link. It’s much more plausible to say (for example) that, since the 60s, the federal government has shifted the burden of taxation from the very wealthy to the middle class, without changing its spending patterns very much.

European countries have higher state spending as a percentage of GDP - they seem to be able to do that just fine. The whole “animal spirits of entrepreneurship” thing is just bullshit to con the gullible. The vast majority of small business owners would not be affected by a tax increase on incomes over $250K.