Voluntary taxation is an idea that’s kind of existed at the fringe of libertarianism. Ayn Rand was in favor of it, as was Murray Rothbard, but I don’t know that it advanced much beyond the “neat idea” stage. But I think it’s something worth visiting and seriously discussing. Government’s shown a fondness for sponsoring gambling these days…perhaps we might consider substituting state-sponsored gambling for our existing taxes? Not that I’m actually making a case for it, just spit-balling ideas.

I’m all in favor of cutting back on the taxes, both percentage-wise and net-wise. I just don’t get too bent out of shape about the government’s net getting bigger while the percentages remain the same. The spending pisses me off more.

A voluntary taxation system is an interesting idea that I’ve never heard of. Could be worth looking into.

As far as your other comments, I’d saying “making more money” is good, government taking more and spending it all, bad. Whatever happened to the word income meaning “profits and gains?” Ugh.

That said, I’m all for cutting back on the amount of money government takes, as well as limiting the services they provide (which is actually more important) and regulation they impose. Heck, I’d love for people to start discussing the idea of a voluntary taxation system. That never seems to get brought up.

I think your mindsets are the direct opposite of what Doug is trying to get at. Yes, supply side economics works wonders for revenue. No one disputes that.

But the question is: Why are we celebrating that the government is taking more money from us than at any other time in the history of this nation??!

IMO, conservatives and economic liberals need to turn their viewpoints around about this. This is a negative, not a positive.

Spending on the other hand…

Isn’t that one of the points that we supply siders try to make: that when taxes are cut, revenue to the government increases rather than decreases? I think your anger is misplaced in this case. Don’t be angry at the Bush administration for increasing revenue; be angry at the Bush administration for the spending.