[ckluis]

Without a serious discussion on the actual figures its hard to take political discussions seriously.

Tax people instead of corporations to make it easier. On principle it might sound good, but what % does it need to go up and for what % of the population? On principle - only tax software companies, lawyers, and accountants fight a simplified tax code.

[sien]

It's worth looking at the levels of taxation around the world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates

The US has a high theoretical company tax rate but a low practical one because of the myriad of deductions.

Reducing the corporate tax rate rather than abolishing it may make more sense and make less attractive to play tax games and waste effort on that rather than creating value.

[roganp]

These comparisons are hard to make sense of because of the different services provided by these governments. For example, health care is a government benefit in most European countries, paid for by their "higher" tax rates.

[adventured]

The US has the worst of both worlds currently. Relatively high taxes and a wildly inefficient government.

We spend $7 trillion per year in government expenditures, at all levels, and can't even seem to maintain basic infrastructure (we could, but our government is really terrible).

[chasing]

I'd like to hear more about what basic infrastructure is lacking in your part of the US.

[chasing]

Absolutely.

There's not a single dollar figure in this entire opinion piece. Which makes it tough to really weigh her argument except from a sort of moral or "gee, that seems reasonable" standpoint.

I wish political and economic journalists would be as willing to use real numbers and statistics as sports reporters are...