Federal Budget Discussions (2010)

The link below has a summary of a recent electronic town hall meeting:

http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/national-town-meeting-results/

I attended the meeting. I was surprised to see that cutting 15% from the defense department and other agencies and raising SS taxes were not enough to balance the budget. A combination of spending cuts and tax raises were required to balance the federal budget. Many people at my table and nationwide supported a carbon tax, even after I argued that such a tax should not be passed until it was accompanied by a corporate tax credit to upgrade utility/energy facilities. (Without a credit, it is very likely that utilities will impose the costs of making their facilities environmentally-friendly on consumers.)

I learned that I wanted to limit the mortgage tax deduction/credit. As is, the mortgage tax deduction benefits rich people or people who spend more for houses. In short, it is a tax cut for the rich and upper-middle class that leads to inflated housing prices. Overall, I had a good time at the meeting.