My main concern, however, is that I see on these boards and in other media, repeatedly, the claim that increasing tax rates ALWAYS reduces tax receipts, and vice versa. It simply isn’t true.

You are correct. This article is not an economic text. It is a hit piece with half truths and exaggerations.

Like a 52% tax rate? You know it isn’t really, because state taxes are deductible from federal tax. And since this is not an economic text, we don’t have room to mention that this is the MARGINAL rate. Yes, l assure you some people believe that a taxpayer who earns $300.000 will pay $150.000 in taxes instead of the $40,000 or less he actually owes.

Like the CBP you criticize, your entire article is slanted and misleading.

And you are wrong about the pensions, even for those already retired. There’s no way to pay all of the $500 billion in unfunded liabilities.

As to the pension reform bill just passed, CalSTRS and CalPERS, combined, estimate savings of just $78 billion — leaving $422 billion still outstanding.

Link: http://www.pe.com/opinion/editorials-headlines/20120905-state-pension-nudge.ece

Meanwhile, that fool Bernanke is making everything worse by causing more inflation. Tax increases will hit at the federal level on January 1. And the $16 trillion debt keeps increasing.

Ceteris paribus, we’re in for a lot of pain caused by government.

Yes, government money is fungible, but the pension costs will be paid whether or not prop 30 passes, and funds for schools will absolutely be reduced if it doesn’t. So the ‘new’ tax money will NOT go to ‘lucrative pensions’. And the ‘burgeoning’ pension costs have already been reduced by $400 million a year due to workers contributing a larger share toward pensions.