[2cher]

Americans use 142 billions gallons of gas per year right?

So if we raise the tax on gas $3.00 This would generate 426 billion additional revenue per year.

[basil_hayden]

Sieze banksters profits before they disburse them as bonuses and pay off the debt that way; stay out of my wallet for a change. I didn't spend the national debt and there's no way I'm paying it off either. I've paid my bills - with interest; go see the people who haven't paid theirs.

[timmac]

Americans use 142 billions gallons of gas per year right?

So if we raise the tax on gas $3.00 This would generate 426 billion additional revenue per year.

Hello Wake up, who are you to come on hear and quote this, raise tax gas $3.00, once this is done all the money will have to go to the millions and millions that will be laid off from extremely high gas prices, Wake up...

[eastbay]

How about seize the banks.

I like the idea of a heavy gasoline tax as a way to wean people off fuel wasteful personal vehicles and into gas sippers. As gas gets scarcer it'll certainly be taxed more, but it would be easier to implement gas taxes while prices are relatively low. Like now.

Sieze banksters profits before they disburse them as bonuses and pay off the debt that way; stay out of my wallet for a change. I didn't spend the national debt and there's no way I'm paying it off either. I've paid my bills - with interest; go see the people who haven't paid theirs.

[timmac]

I like the idea of a heavy gasoline tax as a way to wean people off fuel

On the surface that sounds ok when you are trying to get folks to conserve but the back side of this it will add thousands more unemployed, states and government suffering from less other taxes, another round of big 3 problems, etc, etc...

I prefer that we just Fed BK are way out of this mess and start fresh and lower taxes..

[jdmartin]

I'm with Timmac - sounds good in theory but it'll never work. That would make gas $6, and if you think the economy is in the shitter now, imagine what it would look like with $6 gasoline (I'm talking US here).

[misterno]

$6/gallon ıs stıll way cheap

here ın Turkey we pay $12/gallon and mınımum wage ıs $1/hr

nobody complaıns or rıots

you have to adjust when the tıme comes

[hillsidedigger]

Add another dollar per gallon for state budgets.

Then there's fuel oil which could be more heavily taxed and tariffs could be increased on imported oil and oil products.

I think the entire federal and state budgets could well be financed with fuel taxes so eliminating the need for most other types of taxes, particularly income tax.

Imagine, no more tax returns or IRS.

The infrastructure is already in place to collect fuel taxes and so the process would be quite simple and very fair.

Don't forget electricity which could also be heavily taxed.

Such a system would lead to innovation in the development of alternatives to electricity and oil use. The main, most easily developed, alternative would be doing without or at least doing with less.

Public debt is a greater threat to the economy than about anything.

[Roy]

Imagine, no more tax returns or IRS

A dream come true.

Which I don't think will ever happen as long as the corpgov is still in charge: raising money to pay interest to central bankers and making handouts to multinational corporations.

Instead of a gas tax, they will implement a VAT. I don't know if you all saw anything about this, but the IMF is currently doing an audit of the United States' finances. Also, for countries that are 'at risk', or deeply indebted, like us. We'll pay interest on our debt as long as the rep/dem status quo continues.

To whom? The ones who own EVERYTHING. [look around yourself, and think about how many of those cars, houses, and businesses you see are owned by banks versus owned by a person]. I'd venture to say roughly 80% of everything in sight is owned by some bank/financial institution. That created the money basically out of thin air, and then charges on interest on money they created themselves. Hell of a racket, but it sucks for the debtors. Americans, as individuals, and as members of the 'public'.

I think the gas tax would be a great idea. I wish the sovereigns would just tell these shyster international bankers to go piss up a rope, default, and start spending all the interest payments on transitioning economies for the real future we face, not some fantasy of endless growth which still seems to be the dominant meme in DC and other first world capitals.

time to get outside now and get some chores done...

The United States’ national debt will soon reach 100 percent of gross domestic product, the International Monetary Fund predicts in a new report.

The sharp rise in U.S. debt started in 2006 and by 2015, the IMF suggests, debt could reach more than 100 percent of GDP.

At the end of first quarter of 2010, the gross debt was 87.3 percent of GDP, of which about 56 percent was held by the public, and about 44 percent was intragovernmental, U.S. officials have said.


The IMF predicts that the U.S. would need to reduce its structural deficit by the equivalent of 12 percent of GDP, a much larger portion than any other country analyzed except Japan.

Greece, in the midst of a financial crisis, needs to reduce its structural deficit by just 9 percent of GDP, according to the IMF's analysis.

The IMF also encouraged rich countries including the U.K. to eliminate value- added-tax loopholes to help cut their budget deficits, the Financial Times reported.

The IMF said the United Kingdom could raise an amount equivalent to 3.3 percent of GDP, or a third of its estimated deficit, by removing exemptions and improving collection of the sales tax, according to Bloomberg. As the global economy recovers, governments’ fiscal balances are on average continuing to deteriorate, the IMF said.

Meanwhile, the IMF also waded into the debate over healthcare reform, questioning the CBO's analysis that healthcare reform would reduce the U.S. deficit, according to thehill.com.

"There are some risks to the CBO estimates, however, including that the substantial decrease in Medicare payment rates to healthcare providers may prove difficult to implement," the report reads.

President Barack Obama has established a fiscal commission to make recommendations on addressing the nation's fiscal woes.
end article-

http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/imf-us-debt-gdp/2010/05/17/id/359219?s=al&promo_code=9E57-1

AND

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/fsap.htm

The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP)
March 24, 2010
The recent global crisis has shown that the health of a country's financial sector has far reaching implications for its economy. The IMF's Financial Sector Assessment Program is a voluntary, comprehensive and in-depth analysis of a country's financial sector. Established in 1999, in the aftermath of the Asian crisis, the assessments are conducted by joint Bank-Fund teams in developing and emerging market countries and by the Fund alone in advanced economies. Assessments are assisted by experts from cooperating agencies, such as national central banks and financial supervisors. To date, more than three-quarters of the member countries have undergone assessments, many of them more than once.

Assess financial stability and development
The focus of FSAP assessments is twofold: to gauge the stability of the financial sector and to assess its potential contribution to growth and development.
To assess the stability of the financial sector, FSAP teams examine the soundness of the banking and other financial sectors; conduct stress tests; rate the quality of bank, insurance, and financial market supervision against accepted international standards; and evaluate the ability of supervisors, policymakers, and financial safety nets to respond effectively in case of systemic stress. While FSAPs do not evaluate the health of individual financial institutions and cannot predict or prevent financial crises, they identify the main vulnerabilities that could trigger one.
To assess the development aspects of the financial sector, FSAPs examine the quality of the legal framework and of financial infrastructure, such as the payments and settlements system; identify obstacles to the competitiveness and efficiency of the sector; and examine its contribution to economic growth and development. Issues related to access to banking services and the development of domestic capital markets are particularly important in low-income countries.
Many systemically important countries have participated, including most G-20 members. As of early 2010, assessments for China, Indonesia, and the United States were under way.

[vaseline2008]

The role of banks in our society is no longer a place to save money, rather an institution to loan out money and create debt. This is proven true by the Fed.

It is not in the best interest of any bank to get rid of debt. Without debt, they would not exist. Debt creates and an obligation to the debtor, this gives power to the one holding debt. Why would anyone want to give up power?

[Roy]

Exactly. This is where sovereigns (if they really represented 'us' I think they would) should tell the bankers and their endless debt/interest schemes to piss off.

But they won't. Because they receive generous campaign donations from said institutions.

Corpgov. Power to the highest bidder. And us free-range serfs will continue to pay our 'obligation' of interest to these institutions. Stop paying them and see what happens to yourself. Ultimately it will be incarceration, or death by gunshot if you resist too much.

Ever wonder why, an American who gives up his citizenship, is still required to pay federal income taxes for 10 additional years?

Again, that person no longer resides in America and has renounced all 'benefits' of American citizenship, and yet they are required to pay for an additional 10 years; for what?

[Gerben]

Ever wonder why, an American who gives up his citizenship, is still required to pay federal income taxes for 10 additional years?

Again, that person no longer resides in America and has renounced all 'benefits' of American citizenship, and yet they are required to pay for an additional 10 years; for what?

How about: because he profited from low taxes during the last decades. The state had to borrow money to enable that. And he has to help pay off that debt. You cannot walk away from this debt.

[Plantagenet]

Raising gas taxes to pay off the debt will never work....the government will just take the extra tax money and increase their spending even more so they are creating even more debt.

Any plan to reduce the huge government deficits must involve CUTS in government spending.

[mcgowanjm]

Yes. You allude to the Vicious Death Spiral.

As a snake eats it's tail.

The problem with paying down debt now is that
there is ONLY one group able to do this.

And the same group is desperate not to:

The Top 1%.

AAMOF, we can have a Debt Jubilee now and everyone
in the Top 1% become instant ordinary.

Default is just a matter of time. The faster the GOM becomes devoid of life, the faster the collapse.

[TreeFarmer]

Unless we have a rigid, as in a balanced budget amendment in place, all revenue enhancement plans are useless. The lure of additional spending to garner votes has proven to powerful for our federal level politicians.

I almost can't believe I'm writing this but the only thing that will work long term may be a balanced budget amendment and aboloshing compound interest. We may not have to do away with fiat money as aboloshing compound interest will prevent more money from being owed than there is money to pay with.

TF

[mcgowanjm]

Again, we're way past this. I mean, do you see anything like
this anywhere being proposed?

We haven't got time for courts(See Kagan Monsanto), bills, amendments. Our Military is now on the Line.
Are they Impotent as well? Or can they just start wars.

Note how fast DC moves when the Top 1% make 'suggestions'.

Before the corroded Alaska pipeline burst, BP failed to take steps to inspect it for eight years and ignored and or retaliated against employees who suggested that the company do so. BP wanted its employees to keep their mouths shut and their head down because nobody at BP wanted to hear about it. BP ignored those who predicted a major oil spill, and their negligence was -- and still is -- criminal.

We've had all the warnings we're going to get.
It's Body Counts/Reactions to Same from here on out.

[notill]

Here's an idea that'll never fly. Include US Military costs, pertaining to global oil security, in the price at the pump. And no, don't let a Big Oil funded think tank do the calculations.

But, it's easier to charge this off to the national debt to be paid by the kids, like we've been doing for the last thirty years.

[dorlomin]

The IMF said the United Kingdom could raise an amount equivalent to 3.3 percent of GDP, or a third of its estimated deficit, by removing exemptions and improving collection of the sales tax, according to Bloomberg. As the global economy recovers, governments’ fiscal balances are on average continuing to deteriorate, the IMF said.

The UKs VAT exemptions are for food and childrens clothing. So the IMF wants to take money from the poorest in society. No word on the near enough £25 billion in tax avoidance from the top end of society then?

[Plantagenet]

The average government employee in the US has a salary 30-60% higher then a comparable person in the private sector AND has fewer worries about being laid off in recessions AND has a much better pension plan.

Please explain again why we should raise taxes on people in the private sector, who are already suffering from massive unemployment, stagnating wages and no pensions in order to continue paying these far-above market rate salaries and very high pension benefits to people in the government sector?

[Outcast_Searcher]

Here's an idea that'll never fly. Include US Military costs, pertaining to global oil security, in the price at the pump. And no, don't let a Big Oil funded think tank do the calculations.

This is the right idea. To this though, we really should try to add an intelligent estimate of the social costs, such as pollution, as well. IMO, this would put gasoline at around $10.00 a gallon in the US, at current crude prices.

Of course, the odds that this will happen are about as great as of pigs flying. This complete unwillingness to face practical reality is the reason I'm convinced we're screwed in the long run as a species. Of course, we deserve it for being idiots, as a collective species.