Why collect any taxes at all? If we are just going to wantonly spend, and continue to amass deficits too large to every pay back, why bother? Is there any reason we are collecting taxes other than to dish out some punishment?

This is why I am so adamant that if there is going to be a tax increase, we should wait until *after* we balance the budget. If they won't balance the budget now, why should we believe that they will balance the budget later with more tax revenue? More money doesn't cure fiscal irresponsibility. Europe demonstrates this quite well. They have much higher tax revenue, and they are still running large deficits.