If a Democrat is elected, your taxes will go up

"If a Democrat is elected, my taxes will go up."  This is the refrain we hear time and time again, every four years when there is a Presidential election.  I've already heard callers on the radio parrot it several times already this cycle.

I hear it so often that I think it is not much use assuring people even in the lower to middle classes that their taxes will not go up.  It might be worth pointing out, but we must accept that there is a large portion of the public that will never believe the Democrats will not raise their taxes.

There is a better way.

Although I think even this issue will not sink us this year, it's about time we found a way to re-frame this issue to make people understand better how taxes work and how they themselves might actually BENEFIT from higher taxes.  Taxes are only a small aspect of the total equation.  So here's one suggestion:

The proper response to the charge that "Democrats will raise your taxes" should be, "Well your taxes might be higher, but your EXPENSES will be lower."

Your tax rate is only one aspect of your total wealth.  There are other things you must spend your money on, such as utility bills, food, gas, transportation, etc.--all of which are affected by our public policy.  Another example is health care:  Americans spend many times more than necessary on the overinflated health care costs.  If we had a single-payer system, our taxes would indeed go up, but our health care COSTS would go down.

And then there is personal income.  In a strong economy, most people bring in more income and thus are wealthier overall.

Remember what happened under Bill Clinton.  Taxes were raised on gas and on the upper 2% of income earners.  But did we suffer?  No--and the people that suffered LEAST were those in the higher income brackets who made out like bandits on their investments in the '90's.  Most people did well--certaily better under Clinton than under Bush and his trickle-down economy.

I think it's important to remind people that taxes are only a small part of the equation.  Reassure them that their taxes will probably not increase at all--but then remind them that the most important thing is a healthy economy with a balanced budget in which we can all thrive.

Taxes might be higher under Democratic rule, but so will our standard of living.