A few days ago, House speaker John Boehner announced that nothing was off the table in upcoming budget deficit talks in Washington…except tax increases.<\/p>\n
He then announced<\/a> that Republicans would push to cut “trillions” from Federal spending.<\/p>\n “We’re not talking about billions here. We should be talking about cuts in trillions,” Boehner said. “These should be actual cuts, real reforms to these programs and not broad deficit targets that punt the tough questions to the future.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A week earlier, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo was in the North Country to talk about the massive clean-up that will be needed following the recent floods.<\/p>\n “These hard-hit communities need their roads and businesses open and a return to normalcy as quickly as possible,” he said.<\/p>\n Cuomo promised to find the money to help rebuild bridges and roads and other infrastructure, efforts that will certainly cost tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n But when asked repeatedly by reporters how Albany would pay to help rebuild, he refused to offer any specifics.<\/p>\n On the contrary.\u00a0 Cuomo, like Boehner, has taken state tax increases off the table.<\/p>\n He’s also pushing a 2% property tax cap<\/a> that would limit the ability of local governments and school districts to raise their own revenues.<\/p>\n Both politicians are pushing policies that are deeply popular with the American people.\u00a0 We hate paying taxes.<\/p>\n But during last week’s floods, I didn’t find a single person with water lapping at their door who didn’t expect some help from the government.<\/p>\n On the contrary, it was widely accepted as a given that local, state and federal agencies should step in to help rebuild infrastructure and rescue private homeowners and businesses.<\/p>\n If anything, people were impatient that government wasn’t moving faster and doing more.<\/p>\n Similarly, polls show that the vast majority of Americans reject flatly the notion of deep cuts to the costliest Federal programs, ranging from Medicare to the US military.<\/p>\n But if we want to maintain government as a significant force in our lives — one that can respond in emergencies, help senior citizens and reduce poverty — we have to confront the dirty little secret in our society.<\/p>\n That secret is that many of us are probably undertaxed.\u00a0 We want a vast array of services, from modern highways and efficient border security to state police and healthcare — but we don’t want to pay for it.<\/p>\n