"For instance, "European governments offer public childcare. In the U.S., we have child tax credits." European governments openly "subsidize favored industries." We provide "special tax deductions and exemptions" for Washington's favored industries."

Sorry, but me keeping more of my own hard earned money is not 'Welfare'. Same goes for industry. To make the argument that a tax break is 'welfare', you have to start by assuming that all of our earnings belong to the government and they are being 'compassionate' by letting us keep some of it. I'm referring here strictly to tax breaks, not subsidies or any other form of unearned income. That would truly be 'welfare'.

I'm all for no breaks for anyone or anything. No deductions, no credits and a single flat tax rate.

Anyone who is not on the government dole would be too.

I'm with JTG. Let's cut the deductions and breaks for everybody and every business and corporation. If's the tax is too onerous for one guy or business, it's too onerous for the next.

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt..... And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression." ---Thomas Jefferson

As Colson points out, it's too late. We are ALREADY loaded with debt and adding more even faster. See the frightful numbers rolling in real time here:

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

In addition to $15.5Trillion dollars in interest bearing debt, we have $117 TRILLION in unfunded obligations for Medicare, Social Security, Drugs.

Divide the total debt $133 T($15.5 Trillion plus $17.7 Trillion) by 311 million Americans and you get $428,000 personally owed by every man, woman and child. BUT...but, since only half of these people pay taxes, that leaves each taxpayer owing $856,000. USDebtClock.org calculates the liability PER TAXPAYER at $1.2 million each. Yes, EACH.

Many Americans want to live at the expense of someone else. We have an age bubble coming as the baby boomers age into retirement and the only growing population is with lower income demographics. Will those young people be willing to surrender more than half their incomes to keep the seniors comfy?

It would be ugly if we started dealing with this issue TODAY... but since we're not, our delay will make the day of reckoning even more ugly. OK, it will be bloody.

It will be ugly if we try to slowly wean the people off of the government's largess, true. It will also be ugly if we do it "cold turkey." Hmmmm. Ugly either way...I say we go cold turkey!

Not coincidentally, each year thousands of our very own precious babies are sacrificed to the god of convenience--it is not convenient to the mother at the time. Each child is a miracle of God, but in our godless society that fact is quickly discounted or flatly denied. But to comment on the above horrible mess our country is in, our leaders in gov't are deliberately keeping birth control down so that we are numerically unable to meet the individual tax burden on this country.

suprised to hear this from Colson-"back door welfare" and "corporate welfare" are hogwash-since when is keeping more of what you earn welfare??I also love "how are we going to pay for that tax cut"-uh,maybe when the geniuses in Washington figure out HOW TO WRITE A BUDGET we might actually have some type of fiscal policy.I got a hot one for the Feds-spend only what we take in-amazing.Reminds me of a sermon I heard a few weeks ago concerning drugs and alcohol,the pastor says"millions of dollars spent on research as to the cause of alcoholism-I can save them the money,I know what causes alcoholism,ITS ALCOHOL......"Kinda like debt-I don't need any research to tell me what causes our debt-ITS SPENDING there Chuck and until somebody grows a set and speaks out and pisses off the 48% who pay no taxes, we'll continue to hurtle towards the same cliff as Greece,except they are falling down the Parthenon steps-we'll be driving off the Grand Canyon

And who can guess why Obama wants to INCREASE spending?

...anyone?...

That's right!!!

To get past the point where Greece is now!

And why???

So government can take over EVERYTHING!

Marxists are funny like that.

Think it can't happen here, with the protections of our Constitution?

Just look at how Obama keeps stepping over those protections every chance he gets.

IT IS HAPPENING NOW!!!!!!!

When I work I get money. That is fair trade. When you write, you sell your product for money.

Now tell me just exactly how any government does anything to deserve a single penny of your money or mine!

Many excellent comments so far.

Ever wonder what all the czars and bureaucrats Obama and his handlers have put in place are doing?

They're laying down plans and regulations that will 'save' a fallen America torn by rioting and suceding states. The power of its iron fist will be 'justified' by the good intention of keeping the states united, and it will be as brutish and unconstitutional as the precedent set by Abraham Lincoln.

Woe be to a soft, dumbed down, distracted America that's largely become unskilled in hand-craft, agriculture, and survival. Add in a long-dwindling sense of honor, work ethic, and comfort with parasitically living off the fruit of other's labor, and you have the ingredients for chaos and fracture.

A time of great suffering is coming.

The Great Depression was a walk in the park compared to what's impending. We were not many decades removed from our pioneering days then. A man's word was his bond. Families were more intact. There was much more respect for justified authority. Dark times.

Colson got it wrong and Walter P got it right. There is a vast difference between letting someone keep more of their own money and giving someone someone else's money.

Of course, I'm all for letting everybody keep a whole lot more of their own money and shrinking government accordingly. I suspect we'll get there eventually, but, as others have noted, it'll be a rocky road no matter how it happens.

The thing all you guys advocating for "letting people keep their own money" don't get is that the current system of tax breaks isn't applied across all taxpayers. So the guy who buys the Chevy Volt gets to "keep his own money" via the special tax credit for buying electric cars, but the guy who buys the Ford Focus doesn't get to "keep his own money" because .gov has decided that petrol engined cars are bad. The guy who starts a business making solar panels gets to "keep his own money" as a result of the tax credits for solar energy, but the guy operating the gas fired electric plant that powers your home doesn't get to "keep his own money" because .gov has decided that fossil fuels are bad.

I suspect we all agree that government spending and taxes both needs to be a whole lot lower. These sorts of preferential credits are in fact government spending because they require the taxpayer that doesn't tow the line and participate in the right activities to shoulder a greater tax burden to pay for those segments of society that do take advantage of these special programs.

There is most certainly welfare in the tax code. It's the so-called "Earned Income Credit" - a means the IRS uses to reward people who don't earn enough according to government standards. If you owe little or no income tax (before withholding), you may actually get a check from the US Treasury under this program. The IRS even runs radio ads encouraging low-income people to file returns so they can get these handouts.

You have to write NO on the EIC line to avoid this unconstitutional giveaway; if you leave it blank the IRS will calculate it for you. I suggest writing NO there even if you know you don't qualify - perhaps the IRS won't waste time and money checking.

"It will be ugly if we try to slowly wean the people off of the government's largess, true. It will also be ugly if we do it "cold turkey." Hmmmm. Ugly either way...I say we go cold turkey!"

I agree, Cap'n. I don't want to go to my grave wondering how it'll all turn out. Besides, I shoot better than my children do.

not me p3-my 13 yr old can lay a slice of baloney over a full clip pattern from my glock at 25 yds and my 8 yr old is holding her own with a .22- and if I go down the wife is quick with the 20 gauge-big suprise for anybody coming into my crib

Perfect. The nail on the head.