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Useless chart. 100k isn't the "rich". And you didn't post all countries.
I didn't say $100k was rich, and I don't need to post all countries to prove or disprove whether some country is a global tax haven. I'm sure tax rates in Somalia are low, but you're not going to see people pull up stakes in the U.S. and redeploy their capital in a country without rule of law.
While taxing the rich is not the solution alone I believe it's a small part of it. Proressive taxes do generate a lot of money.
But I also agree, that cutting the spending is the first thing that should be done.
thing is, that with a huge budget deficit you really have to move towards a balance from more than one direction. You can't just cut all the spending, because the spending is usually spent on something that is needed, and you can't just shock-raise the taxes, because then people get nothing but poorer, creating new problems.
Thing is, like my name suggests I am from Sweden. Our government taxes the crap out of us, just look at post #312 and compare our contries, yet I'm willing to bet the swedish majority isn't as concerned in paying our bills as the American majority.
And when it comes to taxes it's really all about what the taxes are spent on. That is part of the problem in America, people hate paying taxes, because they feel that the government is just taking money out of their pockets, which is sad really, because the government is supposed to be for the people.
When I pay my taxes I'm buying my well-being, I'm buying good services that I get in return without questions of insurances, or tuition fees at universities or whatever, and sometimes when the government have taken too much they send a couple of thousand back.
So my responce; cut the spending, AND make the taxes higher, some other things;
*take the troops back,
*make all government employees re-apply for their jobs,
*reorganize the departments of government
*stop subventioning sugar(if you still do that), put a tax on it instead this will also make the relative price on unhealthy foods higher in comparison to healthier choices,
*put a high tax on gas, this will stimulate less fuel waste as well.
The two points above are about using the needed tax-incomes to stimulate sound behavior in the same process, and of course they're just examples of the many similar taxes that can be used in this dual-purpose model. Taxcuts can similarly be used to stimulate positive things;
*Legislate a relative taxcut for hourcutting rather than people-cutting when companies downsize to keep employment up, to keep a workforce capable has large benefits for a national economy when going through bad times.
Last edited by SwedishViking; 12-20-2011 at 12:18 PM..
No, that is a creative conclusion of the whole argument on your part. Tax rates as an excuse are for the incompetent, the crooks and the politicians (a subset of the crooks). As for me, I never noticed "tax cuts", I wouldn't notice repeal of tax cuts for my income bracket. What about you?
I do my own taxes, so yes, I'm aware of what I pay and I'm very aware of the tax laws. I'm also quite aware of corporate taxes.
It's amusing to see how few on this board understand income taxes.
Why not just tax things that have no impact on goods and services?
People aren't yet ready for that idea. You post about it, and people don't respond, because they don't understand the underlying concept behind it.
And of course, there's no way in hell that the existing elite would ever allow you to seperate productive activity from land rents, within the tax code. Too many of them made their wealth, and continue to grow it, in this monopolistic fashion.
Plus it would devalue land prices, but not existing mortgage costs. You'd see regular people going underwater with greater severity. Certain groups of society who refuse to take their losses on bad real estate investments would be up in arms at the suggestion.
a. Tax revenue is at its lowest level, as a share of GDP, since 1950.
b. The U.S. has much lower tax revenues, as a share of GDP, than other developed countries.
c. Today's top marginal tax rates are historically low.
d. Taxes on investment income is historically low.
e. Taxation of large estate has almost disappeared
f. The share of taxes paid by the "top 400 taxpayers" has continually dropped since 1992.
g. The U.S. corporate tax revenue as a share of GDP has steadily declined since WWII.
h. The U.S. raises fewer taxes from business, as a % of GDP, than other countries.
i. Tax deductions have doubled, in real terms , since 1980
So yeah, if you're going to say that my argument is "flawed", you need to bring something a little stronger to back it up with.
These are mostly useless facts (and some are questionable).
There is no need to raise taxes on anybody. We need to cut spending.
I do my own taxes, so yes, I'm aware of what I pay and I'm very aware of the tax laws. I'm also quite aware of corporate taxes.
It's amusing to see how few on this board understand income taxes.
I'm not interested in knowing whether you do your own taxes or not, or whether you know better than everybody else. Save it for another thread.
What I told you: I didn't notice the tax cuts. I won't notice the tax rates going back to Clinton years.
What I asked you: Did/would you?
Not sure how anyone can still defend the present tax system for the top earners when it has failed.
This mentality that by keeping taxes low for the top earners and giving them huge tax loopholes so that they can pay ZERO tax so that they can increase employment is obviously a "sham". .
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