[protomyth]

> the modern GOP actually wants a regressive system where the rich pay almost nothing and there is no deductible because the poor need to pay their "fair share"

None of the information I've seen posted for alternate tax systems by conservatives / GOP have ever had anything like that. That is something I hear a lot from papers that lean left, but is not the reality of any of the plans. Even the sales tax-based plans take great pains to make it easy on lower income folks. I just see it as more bad math.

I don't believe politicians will change the tax system because it is a powerful tool to impose their will and gain campaign contributions. Its a basic self-interest thing which explains the majority of politics.

[glesica]

But have any Republican elected officials actually put these policies into action? I mean, let's take Scott Walker. What has he done in Wisconsin? Seems like a lot of giveaways to the wealthy and not much else. This despite having a pretty solid mandate as mandates go these days (given that he survived a recall).

There are lots of reasonable-sounding proposals on various topics on both sides of the aisle (mostly from think tanks). The important thing is what happens when a party actually gets into government.

[ZoeZoeBee]

To your point, what has the Obama administration done when it comes to these issues while it has had power, especially considering the pretty strong mandate he had with control of both houses and a super majority in the Senate. The important thing is what happens when a party actually gets into government....

[infinite8s]

He used up most of his mandate pushing through health care reform.

[ZoeZoeBee]

If you call a bill with all of the benefits up front and the costs hidden over years of implementation, bundled with the final takeover of student loans to help finance this, "reform". Then I wish he world have actually spent the capital you speak of on something that was less insurance company hand-out and wealth redistribution plan than it is healthcare reform

[protomyth]

I often wonder if a much simpler bill that proposed a national catastrophic insurance program where the Feds pay 100% over $50,000 for a health incident would have been cheaper and tipped the actuarial tables to push insurance rates down?

[th0waway]

couple that with reform in health-care billing and practice of medicine and I think we would have had a winner.

[th0waway]

a bill that couldn't be read before it was passed... yeah, stellar work there

[rayiner]

Unemployment ticking under the national average, real budget reforms, and dismantling public unions. There are a lot of blue states that could use a Scott Walker.

[guelo]

> Unemployment ticking under the national average

Wisconsin's unemployment has been lower than the national average since before Walker took office.

> dismantling public unions

Except police and fire unions because it was more a political attack on the left's power base than a principled stand.

[rayiner]

That's a fair point. But it's worth noting that Wisconsin's overall drop in unemployment rate since 2011 has slightly outpaced the drop in unemployment rate nationwide, which isn't a mean feat considering that neighboring Illinois has trailed the nation in the recovery.

As for the public unions--I'd like to see someone take on the police and fire unions too, but that probably has to wait for another day. Walker's motivations for those measures are irrelevant. Pension and healthcare liabilities are going to take state and municipal finances off a cliff. There's pretty much no hope of averting disaster, but states that don't deal with their public union problem will catabolize more of their GSP base before the inevitable crash happens.

[tptacek]

If that's what it was, why did he publicly back expanding Act 10 to hit police and fire unions on the eve of his Presidential campaign announcement? You think WI isn't a swing state, and he won't need every cop in the state to GOTV for him?

Something else I hate about political arguments on HN: they put me in a position where I might actually have to speak up in defense of Scott Walker. Blech.

[protomyth]

Can you detail Gov. Walker's "What has he done in Wisconsin? Seems like a lot of giveaways to the wealthy and not much else."? I am not familiar with those parts of his policies?

As to the rest, I pointed out in another comment that the tax system is too nice a tool for politicians to alter.