Your prefered method of federal tax revenue

Please state your opinion on how tax revenue should be generated by the federal government. Income tax? How many rungs? Vat? Corporate Tax? Excise Tax, SS tax, Medicare Tax etc.

My thought is a VAT tax placed on all sales of new goods and services. This tax will take the place of SS, Medicare, Income and corporate taxes. and healthcare costs. It is thought that it would need to be at about 33% A prebate equal to 33% of 150% the poverty level family of four = $36,000. So every family of four will get 12 $1000 checks each month regardless of income. While at first glance it may seem regressive with one family making 72,000 paying 24,000 (actualy $12,000 due to the prebate) While someone making $96,000 and still only spending 72,000 each year has a greater portion of his income not taxed. But how many people actually save that delta, they will spend more and pay more in taxes. Now a millionaire spending making $500,000 and only spending $250,000 is more likely but he is still paying $80,000 in taxes and gettingthe same healthcare and retirement benefit as the guy making $36,000. So that is where the progressiveness comes in.

Now Charities will scream bloody murder and so will the housing builders. But why should the 36% of people who rent subsidize the 64% that own homes?

This will have a great effect on our economy. No longer will employers be saddled with healthcare and SS retirement costs (matching contributions) and pay taxes on income. All imports will now be taxed at the same 33% rate as all other goods, no more or no less. No trade reprecussions. Illegal aliens will not get the prebate, so while they are not deported and still suck up medical costs and schooling costs etc, they pay a $12,000 penalty, until they do get deported.

 

I thought a VAT was a tax placed on each step in the production process: Harvested timber is taxed, sawn lumber is taxed, finished lumber is taxed, sales? maybe, a door produced with the lumber is taxed, the installed door is taxed. You seem to think a VAT is a sales tax.

The more I read that, the more confused I get. You aren't being very clear. I'll bet you could write a mystery story. But more and more it sounds like you're talking about a sales tax. Whatever it is you're talking about it isn't what I know as a VAT and whatever it is, it would be very expensive to administer. HUGE bureaucracy eating up revenue.

You ask for my opinion on how tax revenue should be generated. An income tax with maybe 3 or 4 more brackets ending with a 75% bracket at income of about $350,000 maybe. Add an estate tax with brackets, starting with a 10% tax at an estate worth $2 million, another of 30% for value exceeding $8 million, another of 60% at $50, and a final one of 90% at $500 million. Then a corporate tax of 17% with no allowances for carry over losses or other "subsidies". End the tax on S.S. and Medicare. Eliminate the earnings cap on taxation for payroll taxes. And I'm sure there would be other taxes to consider.

 

My preferred method of taxation is to spread the damage. I oppose basic income guarantees. They are ridiculous. I would end the EITC not expand it to everybody.

 

10 per cent income tax for income above poverty level wages to 250 grand, with 50 percent above that, with no deductions. 10 percent national sales tax. An inheritance tax high enough to keep generational wealth from being passed on to people who did not earn it. So everyone starts out equal and have to created their own wealth. This gets rid of the generational elites who end up corrupting our politicians.

No income tax is not theft. It is the cost of living in a modern civilization instead of living as if there was a frontier with free land to be settled.

 

50% at 250k? No deductions? While you pay 10%? Gee you're swell

 

That would end up being a rather large tax increase on the middle class. You want that?

 

I personally think a Sales Tax system to collect Federal money would be the best option. There will be no deductions and all things are taxed except maybe medical and used goods. I see many benefits to this.

1. People would only have to pay taxes when you wanted to. (by something pay taxes or not and don't)
2. The consignment industry and refurbish industry I believe would see a big increase.
3. Everyone who bought things would pay taxes, so people can no longer claim others aren't paying taxes. Doesn't matter if you only earn cash for your work or what....everyone buys new goods daily so all would pay.
4. Even people visiting this country would help in the cost of running it, because they would buy items when here also.

There's my 2 cents.

 

yes it is a sales tax, that takes the place of income, corporate, Social security and Medicare taxes. It will be collected at the consumer level, no more expensive than any other state sales or meal tax to administer. Much less expensive to administer than personal income tax and corporate taxes.

I don't like the idea of taxing income and love the idea of taxing consumption. You only pay the tax when you buy something, want to pay less tax, cook at home instead of going out, want to pay even less, cook from scratch. Want to cut the tax due on your your housing, get a cheaper place, pay less tax. It gives the taxpayer options. That big gas guzzler, yeah you will pay tax on that V8 -3 ton $40,000 monster you will also pay 33% more on the gallon price. You want to save tax money buy a $16,000 Ford Focus and only pay tax on a gallon of gas every 38 miles instead of 15 MPG monster.

Sales taxes are regressive in nature, to get around that the government mails out a check every month equal to the tax due on a family of four making 150% of the poverty level. right now that is $35,000. 33% of the 35,000 is 12 grand or so. The government then sends out a "prebate" to counteract the 33% sales tax for every family regardless of how much money you make. This insure that a family of 4 would not pay any taxes, including SS and medicare taxes.

Social Security will be a defined benefit based on the number of years worked. not the amount of money you made.you make $15 and hour you get the same benefit as a guy who made $50 or $100 per hour. Again this functions as a progressive tax, A guy making $100 per hour will be spending much more thus paying more tax than the $15 per hour guy but he gets the same retirement benefit. Of course by saving for retirement he will have a better lifestyle than the $15 worker, but the money he saves is not taxed either.

Medicare will be expanded to all us citizens and legal immigrants, again this is financed by the 33% tax. Typical family here in Mass pays about $12,000 - 15,000 (either directly or through their wage and benefit package) This cost is now absorbed by the federal government and no longer by employers who pass the cost on to consumers now. As in the proposed Social Security funding everyone gets the same benefits regardless of how much tax you pay. Again this makes it more progressive. Illigal immigrants of course don't get a prebate check every month, so they pay a 12,000 a year penalty for being illegal.

You want to save for a house and your willing to eat Ramen and live with 3 roommates and walk to work, your tax bill will be next to nothing, right now an income tax is paid on your work, which is a productive effort and should be rewarded not taxed.

Without have to absorb SS matching, employee healthcare and corporate taxes, US manufactures are now much more competitive in price with cheap imports which are nowtaxed at the same ##%. getting more market share and increasing the amount of jobs and creating more demand for workers there by increasing wages that are now not taxed! and trust fund babies who don't have earned income and now pay very little will pay 33% more on every dollar they spend, taxing the "idle rich"

 

10% flat tax that EVERYONE pays.

People who don't pay taxes should have no say in government.

 

FairTax

 

Of course in our egalitarian society, the fairest tax with be a poll tax (head tax). Take the federal budget, divide by number of people = your fair share.

 

First that would not raise enough money for the government. And your going to tax a guy making $8 an hour. No income taxes should be paid on income under the federal poverty level. SS Medicare, Gas, Excise and a myriad of other taxes he will pay. A person/family making $100,000, paying $10,000 is a inconvenience, but it is not a hardship.

 

how is that egalitarian? how is taxing one person making $10,000 a total of $5000 and a person making $100,000 the same 5,000 and both having a equal opportunities to succeed. I don't think you fully understand what you are saying.

 

Applying your logic a guy making $10,000/year should pay a buck for a loaf of bread and a millionaire $100. Equal means equal.

Interestingly, the constitution, before the 16th Amendment, required exactly that.

 

No, that will be a tax huge tax on the top 5% of the population. only 1 in 20 households make more than $250,000 yearly. I think that is much to regressive on the top and bottom and a boom to the middles class, who would not pay at most 20% of thier income even if they spent all their income and not saved any.

now the poor, family of 4 now making $30,000 husband and wife both making $15 per hour pays only SS and Medicare federal taxes (other than gas, excise, phone etc) you will now be taking $6000 a year from them.

 

no, not at all. At that time government was financed by duties and tariffs etc on goods, the rich used more goods and paid more taxes. They did not pay the same amount of tax as the farmer with 40 acres.

My proposed tax on sales, each would pay 33 cents tax on a $1.00 loaf of bread. But the rich guy would be would be buying the $4.00 a loaf brand and paying $1.33

 

If 10% is not enough to cover government expenses, then government needs to be cut.

 

Three brackets:
Above poverty to 40,000=15%
40,001 to 200,000 =30%
200,001 and above = 60%

No deductions, excluding the following:
medical gets deducted at 80%,
Charitable gets deducted at 50%

And the most important thing,
NO MORE WITHHOLDING.......FOR ANYTHING.
Everyone pays fed, state and local taxes monthly, just like a car payment.

 

I'd rather see job and economic growth first and then welfare reform. When job creation and opportunity suffer so does tax revenue across the board, reverse that trend and tax revenue's increase. Of course there is that pesky debt and it's interest at 7%, that's not going away anytime soon and will no doubt be increased in the next administration, hopefully smartly this time and actually used to spur real infrastructure jobs.

More Private sector jobs, drastic culling of redundancy in government agencies and project cost overruns and see where that puts us at current taxation! At some point you have to do the hard things because continuing to take more from fewer and fewer employed will not solve the problem.

 

Well, you are correct that most of the revenue used to finance the U.S. in the early days of the republic came from duties and tariffs on imported goods. This was a major rub with the South, since the South imported most of the stuff and paid most of the taxes. The nice part about duties and tariffs is that you don't have to pay 'em, just don't buy the stuff.

We need to get back to everyone paying an equal share. We have a bunch of folks who pay nothing . . . worse than that, they actually receive money from the government, parasites.

Do y'all figure the political climate would change if folks on welfare lost their right to vote?

 

That is an entirely different subject, this thread is the method of raising revenue not the amount. I used 33% as that is the current burden of healthcare, retirement and how much the goverment raises in income and corporate taxes as a percentage of GDP.

Please start a different thread on the size of government each poster prefers so that this thread will not be derailed. thanks. .

 

0-3% on the first $70k for individuals, the first $100k for married couples, and raise that up by $20k for each dependent child. But above those levels, the income tax ought to be substantial, so that government can be paid for.

I also would support a national sales tax that excluded the basic necessities of life - unprepared food, medicine and health care, fuel and utilities, housing.

 

First who does not pay federal taxes which are embedded into every thing we buy. Kellogs pays corporate taxes, and passes that on to the end user, You eat corn flakes you pay taxes. You buy gasoline you pay taxes. You have a phone, you pay taxes. The poor do not pay direct income taxes that is it.

Who defends our country- the poor. 1/2 of the military comes from the bottom earning 15% of our country. Maybe they should be a draft and everybody goes to fight these wars for corporations to make billions and all those high paying tech jobs in support of it. .

 

Well, I agree that there should be a draft. I prefer to call it universal military service. I don't know where you got your numbers about the military but they are not accurate.

Like folks who rent don't realize they are paying property tax and vote for property tax increase, the poor don't realize all their "free" benefits have to be paid for. We need more taxes on the poor, they seem to have plenty of money for drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

 

Excellent idea! The 2nd Great Depression in the last 100 years would start almost immediately, LOL. Crazy Ben floated this nonsense, it was thoroughly debunked.....