Freespool: I know you know the answert to that. When Bush inherited the Clinton surplus he told us we need a rebate on our taxes because we were paying too much which was why we had a surplus.

Of course,the huge Bush tax cut and two wars got rid of the surplus. So perhaps we should slow spending and end the rebate. Taxes on upper income earners were at one of the lowest leves in history when Bush cut them further. Returning to the pre Bush rates would still leave us at one of the lowest tax rates in modern times, add in a bit of fiscal restraint and we would soon wipe out deficits.

Take a look at historical tax rates. Note that in 1962 the incremantal rate on upper income levels was 70% or more.


Now the guys who buy our politicians whine about rates of 36% while we run huge deficits.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/federalindividualratehistory-20080107.pdf