Arguments Against Fiscal Cliff

Fiscal cliff, a seemingly disturbing new term for American’s to digest about our growing deficit problems is stirring up panic and stress for our country’s economy. A lot of American’s are worried about the future of our country and how we can deal with our increasingly scary issue of debt. Even before the United States was founded in 1776, we have had a debt to be paid. It has grown in towering amounts since then and now is an issue we may never get out of. The debt crisis is a result of the US government not being able to pay its bills and the taxpayers not being willing to pay higher tax rates. This has led to a dependency on borrowing foreign countries money. This is a clear failure of control and management of our country’s leaders.
The term, fiscal cliff, is a shorter way of explaining a plan that is in order to help the US get out of our ballooning debt. It consists of two parts: tax and expenditure procedures, which in turn will tighten fiscal policies by $502 billion by 2013. The largest part of these cuts is the two-percent cut in payroll taxes that fund the social security pensions, worth $120 billion per year as well as corporate tax breaks that benefit renewable energy companies that are set to expire in December of 2012. The other half, known as the sequester, is also put into action by January 1st, 2013. Military spending would be cut $54.7 billion as well as cuts seen in education, housing, social security, and Medicare. This plan also overhauls tax codes, which means the taxes across the board will go up. The Bush Tax cuts, which were enacted in 2001 and 2003 were reinstated for two years in 2010. Democrats currently support the idea that taxes on the richest percentage of American’s should be increased as opposed to Republicans whose interest lies in extending these tax cuts for another year. The Bush Tax cuts would equate to $300 billion if extended in
However, this is not easily achieved unless marginal tax rates are also raised which can cause a slow down in the economy since it would affect the middle-class. Higher taxes aren’t appealing to the American people however, it is a sure fire way to begin dealing with this debt crisis though the economy may be slow to start. While these tax cuts may help with the deficit, they cannot by themselves help to east the debt. There must be spending cuts in federal spending and