So when is it a good time?

by folkbum

I've asked this question before, and never gotten a satisfactory answer. But since one of the MacGuyvers insisted over the weekend that a tax increase is "the last thing we need right now" (in the same edition of the paper that showed skyrocketing income among Wisconsin's wealthiest), I figure I should ask again:

When should we raise taxes?

Let's review: Per capita tax collections, here in Wisconsin and across the land, are lower than they've been in generations. But government--even things conservatives want, like roads and wars and abortion auditors--costs money. So we have to have taxes. Even Reagan's tax rates were higher than today's, and Reagan signed eight different tax increases into law.

So, when does it happen? When would it be okay to raise taxes, and on whom, and maybe even how much? I would like to know this. At the very least, promise me that Healy or Wigderson or some other McIvorati will write an op-ed when it's okay to raise taxes again, so we all see the green flag.