The above is an example, as neither proposed the only realistic way of of paying down the national debt, raising taxes across the board. It doesn't matter ultimately how much you state your economy will grow, it doesn't matter how much you say you will tax the rich.
The rich aren't wealthy enough to pay down the national debt alone without sending the economy into a deathspiral by reducing them to lower than beggar status hindering all future development, and increasing the size of the economy doesn't mean jack sh*t if you are unwilling to raise taxes to take advantage of it, and since neither side would become popular or electable by raising taxes, neither side will.
No.
Raising taxes does not solve the problem, has not solved the problem, and never
will solve the problem.
The problem always has and always will be
government spending.
When Reagan cut taxes, government revenue increased. When W. Bush cut taxes, revenue increased. When Trump cut taxes, revenue increased. When you raise taxes, you slow down the economy, and curtail future income. There's a theoretical point where further cutting taxes after that will
not increase government revenue, but we've never actually reached it.
The only way that we will pay down the national debt, is by forcing actual fiscal discipline. The only way that
that will happen, is a change in the culture, because there's just not enough people who care about the national debt to make it happen right now.
Legally speaking, one thing
must happen, and a second thing
probably needs to happen in order to get spending under control.
1. Baseline budgeting
must be done away with. If you're not familiar with this insane practice, it's where each government department already
assumes a % increase to their budget each year. But that's not referred to as growth, if you increase their budget
past that, it's considered an increase, and if you slow the rate of growth, that's called a budget cut,
even if their budget is still actually growing.
2. Balanced budget amendment. If the Federal Government is not in a formal congressionally-declared war, there will be
no deficit spending whatsoever. This should be backed with a measure where if congress fails to pass a balanced budget for two years running, all members of congress are immediately booted from office, and ineligible for re-election in that year.
To think that raising taxes will actually help get the national budget under control shows an unfortunate ignorance of history, and human behavior.
