Treasury Secretary Jack Lew just notified Congress that U.S. Government spending will hit its debt limit by March 16. U.S. tax revenues are now at an all-time high, with personal income taxes significantly higher than a decade ago, the world’s highest corporate tax rates, and zealous efforts by the IRS to collect more revenue.
But it’s not enough. Federal spending remains far above revenues, and the entitlement bubble has just barely begun to implode. In the past decade the U.S. government has savagely prosecuted users of tax havens such as Swiss bank accounts (damaging more than a century of U.S./Swiss relations), and has investigated “anti-government” nonprofits in a discriminatory manner while favoring “pro-government” nonprofits. Increasingly, the government is demanding disclosure of all things while insisting on the keeping of its own secrets.
Traditional tax havens such as academic institutions seem on the verge of an implosion. At least 250 small colleges are said to be on the verge of collapse.
The U.S. government’s heavy hand of taxation and spending continues its reach for more. This while even the “opposition party” has promised it will never, under any circumstances, allow the precious government to be shut down. In practice, this means that Congress will be forced by its own promises to raise the debt ceiling again–and keep searching for more tax revenues.
