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The Republicans are saying how America is broke. The Democrats are saying how we need to raise taxes to help the government spend more of our money. Yet the Republicans want us to play less taxes while the Democrats are wanting to tax the rich more. Even with the the Bush cuts, it seems to me that his tax cuts have hurt the economy in the sense that the government has received less tax revenue while our deficit continued to grow at an astronomical rate. Remember the 1.2 trillion Afghan war that was basically financed on money we didn't have?
So what is the solution? Spend less? Spend less on what? Cut programs? Whose programs do we cut? No one seems to agree, and yet we continue to raise our debt ceiling each and every year. When does this insanity end?
I have a solution, and I am 100% sure that no Democrat or Republican would agree with me.
Lets just have no more tax breaks or corporate tax loopholes for anyone anymore. Every tax payer and business/corporation just pay a flat tax regardless of what we make, with no write-offs. Yes no write offs, we can't write off interest on homes, charitable contributions, write off kids, pets, and or relatives who are not even US citizens lol. Americans give more than they can write off in charitable contributions anyway. So how about 10% flat tax on all wage earners? Lets just make the tax code simple. We all give the feds 10% of our earnings and each state about 5%. Take away social security and make every wage earner save 10% of his income in a safe IRA/Private retirement investment account. Herman Cain was making a little sense to me about flat taxes on everyone. But again, maybe he didn't understand how the tax code works. But does anyone these days?
Well, you're misrepresenting Republican and Democrat positions on the issue. Democrats say that they'll compromise, cut programs as long as some taxes are raised. It would extremely difficult to cut enough to balance the budget. Those cuts will mostly impact the poor and middle class. Republicans have mostly signed no tax pledges, so they've agreed to do nothing rather than compromise.
In terms of your solution, haven't shown any data showing that it is valid. A purely flat tax would raise the taxes on most people and that would be the lowest income earners. The more wealthy would see a tax cut. Taxpayers who depend on things like mortgage deductions and student loan interest deductions would be greatly hurt.
Good luck getting anyone to make your social security changes. Bush tried with a Republican congress and senate and that idea died quick. You also can't tell someone who is 60 that they won't get social security and they have to start saving.
Nice ideas, but try to think they through next time and look at the latent vs manifest consequences.
By the way, the solution is to do something sensible. Cut some programs and raise taxes to balance the books. It won't happen as long as those tea bagger morons and the social conservatives dominate the Republican Party.
The Republicans are saying how America is broke. The Democrats are saying how we need to raise taxes to help the government spend more of our money. Yet the Republicans want us to play less taxes while the Democrats are wanting to tax the rich more. Even with the the Bush cuts, it seems to me that his tax cuts have hurt the economy in the sense that the government has received less tax revenue while our deficit continued to grow at an astronomical rate. Remember the 1.2 trillion Afghan war that was basically financed on money we didn't have?
The problem was not that not enough was raised. It was that too much was spent. That includes all the money spent on the wars.
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So what is the solution? Spend less? Spend less on what? Cut programs? Whose programs do we cut? No one seems to agree, and yet we continue to raise our debt ceiling each and every year. When does this insanity end?
Just because the two sides can't agree doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.
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I have a solution, and I am 100% sure that no Democrat or Republican would agree with me.
Lets just have no more tax breaks or corporate tax loopholes for anyone anymore. Every tax payer and business/corporation just pay a flat tax regardless of what we make, with no write-offs. Yes no write offs, we can't write off interest on homes, charitable contributions, write off kids, pets, and or relatives who are not even US citizens lol. Americans give more than they can write off in charitable contributions anyway. So how about 10% flat tax on all wage earners? Lets just make the tax code simple. We all give the feds 10% of our earnings and each state about 5%. Take away social security and make every wage earner save 10% of his income in a safe IRA/Private retirement investment account. Herman Cain was making a little sense to me about flat taxes on everyone. But again, maybe he didn't understand how the tax code works. But does anyone these days?
Something similiar to this has been suggested by many people. It won't happen because appx 50% of the population will argue that they shouldn't pay anything in taxes. Just to note though, not that I wouldn't agree to something to get a simplification. Any corporate tax is just a tax on individuals as it simply passes through as costs.
Well, you're misrepresenting Republican and Democrat positions on the issue. Democrats say that they'll compromise, cut programs as long as some taxes are raised. It would extremely difficult to cut enough to balance the budget. Those cuts will mostly impact the poor and middle class. Republicans have mostly signed no tax pledges, so they've agreed to do nothing rather than compromise.
The Dems say they will agree to cuts later. Cuts that will never come. We've been there which is why that argument will never work.
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In terms of your solution, haven't shown any data showing that it is valid. A purely flat tax would raise the taxes on most people and that would be the lowest income earners. The more wealthy would see a tax cut. Taxpayers who depend on things like mortgage deductions and student loan interest deductions would be greatly hurt.
This is of course why it will never happen in such a simplistic form. I've long advocated a little more complex flat tax. Now I'm just making these numbers up for an example. I do not know what they would be exactly.
Income __________
Tax __________
Amt Paid _________
Amt owed or due _________
We could then make the IRS much smaller. This will of course never happen either as it doesn't allow politicians give away tax cuts for votes.
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Good luck getting anyone to make your social security changes. Bush tried with a Republican congress and senate and that idea died quick. You also can't tell someone who is 60 that they won't get social security and they have to start saving.
What we should do is a mixture. Now this would have to start with younger workers. Those who are 60 are already too invested in the old ponzi scheme.
A percent would go into a pool like now and a percent would go into personal accounts that can't be touched until a certain age.
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By the way, the solution is to do something sensible. Cut some programs and raise taxes to balance the books. It won't happen as long as those tea bagger morons and the social conservatives dominate the Republican Party.
Or as long as people like you only want to demonize others and not see that the problem lies in many areas.
This is of course why it will never happen in such a simplistic form. I've long advocated a little more complex flat tax. Now I'm just making these numbers up for an example. I do not know what they would be exactly.
OP, you have it backwards with how much the state and the fed should take. Right now, the fed takes in a large chunk of cash and redistribute to states. This gives the feds quite a bit of control over how states spend money. It also creates the problem of where productive states like California, New Jersey and New York are providing welfare to unproductive states like New Mexico and West Virginia.
Let the states collect 10% and the fed collect 5% and disable the redistribution (I'm just using your numbers, backwards... they should probably be higher). Give the governors the power and responsibility to make their state a success without the help of welfare from other states.
I mean, seriously, how sad is it that folks in the most productive states only see an ROI of 50% while the folks in the least productive states see an ROI of 200%?
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