It appears that government cuts alone, no matter the location or depth, are not going to get the job done. When talking about how we can cut into this country’s debt, raising taxes has to be a part of that conversation.

I’m not going to try and sell you on raising taxes. It would suck. You’d have less money than you do now and nothing to show for it.

If taxes are increased, what ultimately happens? You have less, so you prioritize more. Your walking-around money is gone, so you don’t walk around as much anymore. You don’t go to the movies or on vacation. You adjust, you survive. And sooner or later, it becomes the way you’ve always lived.

If that sounds depressing, that’s because it is. But it’s already happened, and you’re still here.

Want an example? Gas prices. Gas was $1.50. Now it’s regularly more than $3. But do you know what‘s happened as gas prices have risen? We’ve whined, and complained, and moaned and ultimately adjusted. We’ve stopped purchasing Hummers. And as we’ve stopped purchasing Hummers, companies stopped making Hummers. There was an increased focus on lowering our dependence on foreign oil and alternative energy sources. Individuals and corporations made adjustments.

The same would happen in the event of a tax hike.

Does that make raising taxes a catch-all? No. But it does make raising taxes a part of a possible solution to a countrywide problem.

And the lower and middle classes shouldn’t be the only one looking at a tax increase.

An increase in the millionaire’s tax needs to be looked at. As CEOs are getting paid thousands in salary and millions in stock options, the government should look into raising the capital gains tax higher than 10 percent to capitalize. When the Bush-era tax cuts are up for renewal next year, the government needs to take a long look at how much they contribute to the national debt. (According to the nonpartisan Center for Budget and Policies Priorities, simply allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire “would stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio for the next decade.”)

I understand that politically, promising to raise taxes is death. No one likes to hear the government needs more of their money, so politicians don’t like to say it.

But in this time of heightened fiscal responsibility, it’d be fiscally irresponsible not to at least consider the possibility that raising taxes across income levels could help America escape its debt. Fiscal responsibility doesn’t reside in only one side of the aisle or only one way of doing things.
In the end, raising taxes hurt. Cuts hurt too.

If we’re trying to lessen (not even eliminate, just lessen) this country’s debt, it will hurt. There is no magic debt dust, no money-making montage the country can go through and be debt-free at the end, no seven steps we can take to get to financial freedom.

No matter what path we decide to take, more cuts or higher taxes, pain lies ahead. But in knowing that the pain eventually will lead to better days, the American people need to look at every excruciating option. No exceptions.

Lazarus Jackson is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at jacks920@msu.edu.