Posted By Paul C., Palmetto Bay, FL : October 7, 2007 11:07 am

You have the right idea, but your numbers are only the tip of the iceburg that the ship of state is grounded on. The war alone is 2 Billion$ a week. The defict is 300-400 Billion$. The national debt was around 1 trillion when Carter left office. Bush added 3 more by himself. GW is not a conservative. A conservative conserves for the future. GW squanders it in the present for a short term bonanza given the the top 1% in his trickle down pyramid scheme. Those grossly wealthy old white men care nothing for the people that work for a living. King George 1 called them OFU's, one fodder unit. Like father like son.

If you would have just said, "read my lips," then we really would have been convinced.

Let's see… we've stripped over $40 million from the National Science Foundation to pay for immigration and the war; we've got NASA telling us we're so far behind that China is going to beat us back to the moon; we owe the Chinese so much we have to make special import deals for them, and we're in to Saudia Arabia for able 6%-7% of our GDP; we've got increasing unemployment and more jobs going overseas; and they want Congress to keep taxes low. This is illogical.

xtina – good points about consumption tax. Europeans do it for a reason. Sure, Belgians pay over $100 for a pair of jeans, but they don't complain about it 'cause they get free education AND health care.

What happened since, you say? Well, he kept *income* taxes where they were but virtually every other imaginable tax and fee went up in the meantime. Hunting fees. Park fees. The property tax burden went up faster than even the rest of the country because the Local Government Aid that goes from the state to the cities to help pay for education got cut in order to balance the budget. Transportation in MN has been falling apart. I'll wait for the official 35W bridge report before I decide whether money had anything to do with preventing the collapse. However, traffic and road conditions have consistently gotten worse for a long time now.

And to top it all of – when we had a big budget deficit 2-3 years ago, it only got balanced after a government shutdown by the Governors agreement to create a new tobacco "fee". Calling it a tobacco tax would have been illegal due to the earlier tobacco lawsuit settlement with the state so our AG had to waste time and money fighting the tobacco companies in court to explain that it's a FEE and not a TAX. Ridiculous!

There's only one or two candidates who are talking about the "no-income tax" idea, but it makes such sense. Under this idea, we would abolish the IRS and people would not pay income tax. Sales taxes on goods and services would rise slightly, but then those who have income but don't file a tax return would be contributing to the fed. revenue. There are many people in cash businesses who avoid paying taxes, and drug dealers, and people dealing in other illegal activities would be paying taxes on what they buy, since they don't pay taxes on what they make.

It's such a simple idea; I don't know all the details, but I believe Bill Richardson is a big proponent of this no-income-tax plan.

I can't speak for all the candidates, but Romney earned his dough with hard work and his brillant mind. Yet, he still found time to raise 5 honorable sons and a cultivate one successful marriage. He still found time to give 20 hours/week and >10% of all his income to charity.

There is no candidate more capable and worthy to govern this nation. Period.

Ron Paul wants to eliminate the IRS. That is what I call cutting taxes!

Same old same old.

Sign me,

Completely disgusted

"Wait, it's Romney! If anyone could really pull that off, it's him. He is King of eliminating waste and duplication in business."

Let him do it for America.

The problem with such promises is that you cannot anticipate what may happen in the future. If we get into a major war how can we fund it without new taxes? How can we fund this new monetary committment to protect us from terrorists without some kind of sacrifice from the American People? How can we just stand by and allow our transportation infrastructure crumble under the wheels of our cars without some kind of way of paying for it? Ah yes, the Republican solution to all of this – borrow and spend! Borrow from China, spend it today, and mortgage the future our this nation to foreign interests.

Otherwise we're in for more of the usual blah blah blah and the Washington politicians (Democrats AND Republicans) keep sticking it to the middle class.