Tax

[A18]

...

[A18]

Federal sales tax w/ rebate to make it progressive.

[Nym90]

End all taxes and the great majority of user fees, except the income tax. Raise that whatever amount would be required to make up the difference.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

option 1. If I were in charge though I'd probably do a more direct "Robin Hood" approach though, I'd seize assets of evil corporations like Wal-Mart and directly give what they've looted back to the people.

[Nym90]

End all taxes and the great majority of user fees, except the income tax. Raise that whatever amount would be required to make up the difference.

I say end all taxes except Sales Tax.  That way the Government isn't forcing all it's taxing policies down your throat, but you choose to pay taxes by purchasing items...I feel that the Government has no right to take people's income.

Do the people have a right to benefit from services from the government? Is it fair that people get to make more money due to the existence of the public schools, police, military, roads, etc?

If so, why doesn't the government have the right to make people pay for these things rather than giving them away for free?

[Nym90]

End all taxes and the great majority of user fees, except the income tax. Raise that whatever amount would be required to make up the difference.

I say end all taxes except Sales Tax.  That way the Government isn't forcing all it's taxing policies down your throat, but you choose to pay taxes by purchasing items...I feel that the Government has no right to take people's income.

Except that only the wealthy would get to choose. The poor have to spend almost all of their money in order to survive, so they have no choice at all. The wealthier you are, the more of a choice you have.

Also, the drastic increase in the sales tax that would be necessary would be devastating to the economy. All prices nationwide would instantly go artifically up dramatically. Is that really good for the economy, to create an incentive for people to save their money and not spend it? Think about it....

[Nym90]

Yes, but under my plan, most people would pay less, not more, since most poor and middle class citizens pay a lot more in other taxes besides income tax than they do in income tax. By the time you tally up user fees, payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, etc., most people pay more in all of those than they do in income tax.

Even there, many wealthy people pay a lot in property tax, so they'd be helped by its elimination. Also, capital gains tax, estate tax, inheritance tax...all gone.

Eliminating the sales tax would result in a nationwide 6% reduction in prices (or whatever the sales tax is in your state...here it's 6%). That would be very good for the economy.

Under my plan, prices would be lower and the majority of Americans would have more money, not less.

[TeePee4Prez]

Individual rates in a 6/9/12/15/n+3... up till 42%.  That way no one will be paying more than 50% in income taxes.  The 39 and 42 rates will only be reserved for the extremely wealthy.  Eliminate state sales taxes like Nym said to grow the economy.  Lowering maximum capital gains does not help the economy, I don't know hwo thought of that idea.  In fact it provides more of an incentive to sell your stock.  I will say though, as an accounting major, that corporate "double taxation" should be eliminated as should many loopholes.  I would create a new concet called a "retained earnings" tax which would be flat at 15% because no two companies are the same size and employ many different people.  however, any dividends and respective capital gains, stock options, etc. would be taxed at the individual's marginal rate.  

[ilikeverin]

Eliminating the sales tax would result in a nationwide 6% reduction in prices (or whatever the sales tax is in your state...here it's 6%).

Random Fact #2,835,958,559,843:

It's 6.5% here... but we don't have to pay sales tax on clothing

[English]

I'm in favour of a flat rate of income tax with a rebate for the low paid. That's probably the fairest means possible of generating income for things like education.
Personally I don't think sales tax is fair at all. It's basically a tax on consumption, which disuades people from spending money. In the long run it harms the economy.

[zachman]

I voted to divide the tax burden by state population. Ha- NH has even less tax to pay!!! I don't agree with any of these ideas, I'd suggest Nym's plan, and a high-yield federal CD plan similar to Treasury bonds, but investors can't remove money until the note matures. That would take care of taxes a bit.

[David S]

option 1. If I were in charge though I'd probably do a more direct "Robin Hood" approach though, I'd seize assets of evil corporations like Wal-Mart and directly give what they've looted back to the people.

Einstein once mused that as punishment for his lack of respect for authority, fate made him an authority. Along those lines one can only hope that fate one day makes Better Red filthy rich!!  

[John Dibble]

With our current level of spending, I'm not sure any of those would work well. Cut spending before cutting taxes.

[A18]

option 1. If I were in charge though I'd probably do a more direct "Robin Hood" approach though, I'd seize assets of evil corporations like Wal-Mart and directly give what they've looted back to the people.

Einstein once mused that as punishment for his lack of respect for authority, fate made him an authority. Along those lines one can only hope that fate one day makes Better Red filthy rich!!  

Yeah, that'll get back at him.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Eliminating the sales tax would result in a nationwide 6% reduction in prices (or whatever the sales tax is in your state...here it's 6%).

Random Fact #2,835,958,559,843:

It's 6.5% here... but we don't have to pay sales tax on clothing

or most food items.

[A18]

Problem with dividing the burden among the states, according to population:

What if one state doesn't quite come up with the funds one year? Does the country as a whole pay it off as part of a national debt, or does the state? What if it hasn't been payed off ten years later--should the citizens of that one state be responsible? Keep in mind that people move from state to state a lot, and it's not really the same thing as moving from country to country.

I think a flat tax would be way better than what we have now, and as Nym90 already pointed out, it would help poor/middle-class people out. However, I still have a problem with the income tax, just in principle. I think it's a complete violation of the fourth amendment (had the 16th not been passed later), and ignores people's privacy rights.

Also, a sales tax could just be added on to whatever each state already has (say, 2%), so it wouldn't cost the feds much. We could abolish the entire IRS. But I think people should get a rebate, especially since the sales tax would probably have to be pretty big at first.

[Dave from Michigan]

what % of a national sales tax would have to be to replace the income tax.  

[Bogart]

End all taxes and the great majority of user fees, except the income tax. Raise that whatever amount would be required to make up the difference.

I say end all taxes except Sales Tax.  That way the Government isn't forcing all it's taxing policies down your throat, but you choose to pay taxes by purchasing items...I feel that the Government has no right to take people's income.

Do the people have a right to benefit from services from the government? Is it fair that people get to make more money due to the existence of the public schools, police, military, roads, etc?

If so, why doesn't the government have the right to make people pay for these things rather than giving them away for free?

Alas, liberals will never understand that the government's raison d'etre IS to benefit and serve us. Nevertheless, I support ditching most taxes aside from a graduated income tax.

[badnarikin04]

Cut 90-95% of spending and pay taxes until Bush's Colossal Defecit is covered, and then we begin putting money back in everyone's pockets. They earned it, they keep it. Taxes are possibly the largest theft strategy in the history of the world.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

what % of a national sales tax would have to be to replace the income tax.  

It depends upon what all gets covered.  It could be as low as 10% if everything were covered including the sale of labor (i.e. an earned wages tax.)  Once you start exempting whole categories of the GDP from being taxed, the rate on what remains would need to be increased.  Assuming a sales tax on just the items traditionally covered by such a tax, you're getting up into the 30% range.  (Assuming the percentage is reported as it traditionially is, as an addition to the quoted price.  If you do it as the proponets of the self-described Fair Tax do, as a percentage of the total amount paid by the buyer for the good or service, then you get numbers in the 23% range.)  The biggest problem with switching to a national sales tax instead of an national income tax, is that if it is done quickly, the shock to our economy would probably be devastating while agradual change that gave people time to adjust to the new system would likely get stuck midway, leaving us with both taxes.

[patrick1]

End all taxes and the great majority of user fees, except the income tax. Raise that whatever amount would be required to make up the difference.

I say end all taxes except Sales Tax.  That way the Government isn't forcing all it's taxing policies down your throat, but you choose to pay taxes by purchasing items...I feel that the Government has no right to take people's income.

Except that only the wealthy would get to choose. The poor have to spend almost all of their money in order to survive, so they have no choice at all. The wealthier you are, the more of a choice you have.

I agree wholeheartedly with you.  I just said in another thread that a sales tax inordinately hurts the poor and middle class.  A gallon of milk costs the same amount for Bill Gates and Joe Blow.

[A18]

Yeah. But somehow I get the feeling Bill Gates is going to buy more than just milk.

If he lives the exact lifestyle of a lower class person, he can pay that level of taxes. Who cares? But if he's going to buy billion dollar houses, that's gonna be a million dollar tax.

[patrick1]

Yeah. But somehow I get the feeling Bill Gates is going to buy more than just milk.

If he lives the exact lifestyle of a lower class person, he can pay that level of taxes. Who cares? But if he's going to buy billion dollar houses, that's gonna be a million dollar tax.

Hello again Phillip.  We have a running argument in a few threads here now.  See my other pots.   On balance, poor and working classes will be punished for buying essentials .  The rich are rewarded when they do not buy the Ferrari. Most poor and middle class families are living paycheck to paycheck.  Their money is already spoken for on items that they need  and will get taxed no matter what.  The rich having vast amount of resources and it doesn't hurt them either way if they cannot get the yacht etc. They are in effect rewarded by not buying the huge house or new yacht.

[A18]

If you don't benefit from the money, you aren't living any differently than a paycheck-to-paycheck family.

How are you rich if you don't spend any of it?

[A18]

An income tax is not a tax on being wealthy. How many times do I have to say this?