the debate over taxes

AZUZ: That`s why the debate over taxes, who gets taxed and by how much is so important to the U.S. Government`s debate over the upcoming fiscal cliff. It`s a series of tax increases in government`s spending cuts that will automatically happen in January. A lot of experts agree it would be a bad thing for the U.S. Economy, and it can only be avoided if Congress and the president can agree on another way to address the nation`s massive debt. One way to do that is by reducing government spending, but that`s is easier said than done. Tom Foreman has an excellent illustration of "why".

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What you are looking at in this room, is everything the federal government spends money on, and that score board back there shows you the problem. Last year we spent $3.6 trillion on all this stuff, but we only took in $2.3 trillion in taxes or revenue. Now, Democrats tend to like to talk more in these talks about the revenue side of the equation. They say if we can find the way to gin up more taxes, lean on the rich harder, that`s how we can deal with this deficit. But Republicans while agreeing we may need more revenue want to talk a lot more about all this stuff, and whether or not they can cut some things down.