I can't help not talking about it....

I've tried to not talk about politics at all in my blog for the most part but the thing about taxes and funding the health care system is just bugging the crap out of me. So here is my current understanding of what the "plan" is.

1. Everyone is going to get health insurance, whether its by private companies or the government (I'm guessing there has to be criteria to be eligible like being a citizen or having a work permit etc. but if its everyone and their mother then we're in deep doo doo).
   
2. The sucker has to be paid for in some form or fashion so as not to raise the national debt
3. Historically, the price of health care rises faster than tax income so you know the tax man is coming whether I want to see him or not.
   

So far I've heard about Congress kicking around some ideas like raising taxes for only the most wealthy people (so they make the lion's share of the cash but why should they be forced to spread their wealth that they earned on services that they probably will never use because they can afford it out of pocket?), taxing employee provided health care to provide less expensive plans to employees (yeah and that makes them offer plans with shitty coverage with more out of pocket expenses for me), or finding other fun ways to tax me and the goods that I want to buy.

I personally hope this sucker stalls in Congress, no matter which way you slice it, health care reform is going to be expensive and there won't be a way to pay for it unless you totally tax the hell out of people. I've also read that 47% of people don't even pay taxes or something crazy like that. Can you imagine the amount of tax revenue that we're missing? It's almost staggering! There are a lot of tax breaks built into the system for people to reduce their tax liability and while reducing taxes is fine and dandy, it might be a better idea to lower the over all tax rate and just get rid of any exceptions. I personally benefit greatly from deducting my mortgage interest from my taxes but if they reduce my over all tax rate and eliminate that benefit I don't think I'd mind as much.

So what can really help our good ole government with generating revenue? Well I only have the canned responses that people have been saying for a long time and it will be easier said than done to implement but hey, might as well say it again.

1. Simplify the tax code! There are too many rules and what not to figure out to see if you can slip through something past the IRS, we've made it a multi billion dollar business to provide software and professionals to input data into complex tax returns that no one understands. Make it nice and easy for the average person to do on their own and file. What more do you really need than name, SS, wages, and taxes paid? If you didn't have to do the complex calculations to find what your liability or refund will be you can better predict what you can spend as a government
2. Budget Transparency! Not really all that difficult. There are parts of the budget that can't be seen by the general public (R&D for the military, intelligence services, etc.) that need to be hidden from our foes near and far but other stuff like infrastructure projects, salaries, expected personnel, services sectors should all be able to be picked apart by the general public.
3. Slimmer government! I like that the government provides services and what not but I sometimes it provides too much. Protecting us from our enemies, building our infrastructure, and providing oversight over the various sectors of the economy are all good areas that government should continue. I don't need the "man" telling what I should and shouldn't do. I just need reasonable protection from big business trying to screw me but this country is built on freedom so let me have my freedom to screw up.

OK I think thats enough for now, I could go on and on but I'm getting tired of typing this post. Time to make myself some lunch!