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Nobody seems to mention the FICA tax. If all income were subject to that, it would not only be a fair tax, but would solve most of the SS issue. Flat tax would put a higher burden on the poor, wh many accuse of not paying their fair share. How about imports? Can we start taxing them?
ROFL did someone seriously just say it's not a tax?
Stop deluding yourself.
WE DID NOT CHOOSE TO ENROLL. WE WERE FORCED TO ENROLL.
If we did not enroll we cannot work officially at all. Show me where we have a choice to live without FICA?
Ok anyway, we also all know we wont get anything from it at all unless you mean inflated devalued usa dollars which wont be worth crap by the time anyone retires.
All workers just bite the bullet and say, just another expense/tax we have to pay into, too bad I cannot do anything about it.
Many workers will gladly opt out of FICA if you let us.
Steve Forbes "Flat Tax" has been around since Reagan, once people do the math they change their minds. We already have a flat tax, the Wage Tax, remove the cap
10% flat tax or 10% sales tax (not both - one or the other). No more than the standard given to one's church. If the federal government can't live off of that - tough.
A bunch of posters keep saying: "No deductions" which makes no sense.
Say I gross $100k;
and I pay out salaries to two at $30k each;
health coverage costs me 10k;
materials cost me $5k;
and office expenses cost me $5k;
which leaves me with $20k for myself.
Then you propose to tax me on the $100k?
That is insane. I don't have $100k.
Of course its insane, but the whole idea of the flat tax is insane as well. It would drastically increase the taxes on the poor and middle class (as I have shown in examples earlier in the thread) in order to provide even more cuts to the wealthy.
A bunch of posters keep saying: "No deductions" which makes no sense.
Say I gross $100k;
and I pay out salaries to two at $30k each;
health coverage costs me 10k;
materials cost me $5k;
and office expenses cost me $5k;
which leaves me with $20k for myself.
Then you propose to tax me on the $100k?
That is insane. I don't have $100k.
When I say "no deductions" I'm not really addressing business and such but individual income. Business owners obviously should calculate their tax after expenses, although well defined, specific expenses. Not the "I took all my employees to Hawaii and wrote it off" expenses.
When I say "no deductions" I'm not really addressing business and such but individual income. Business owners obviously should calculate their tax after expenses, although well defined, specific expenses. Not the "I took all my employees to Hawaii and wrote it off" expenses.
The Hawaii trip would work if it were for training or, business related in some way.
What line items on a schedule C do you object to???
1. Obviously there is a rise in the middle class in China and India. When did I ever say anything that would make you think otherwise?
2. WWII artificially extended the IR in American in such a way that could not have happened without war. War sustained the American economy for decades.
3. Please do not be this naive. Unions were put into place for specific reasons, and the types of employee abuse they were intended to protect against are no longer problems in America. Unions were never intended to allow steel workers to be paid six figure salaries.
4. So you don't disagree with me then? Glad we agree on those points.
1. I think we have an agreement somewhere there, but probably not on the fact that a rise in middle class can be tied to a rise in an economy.
2. War helps in the short term. Policies created before and after are just as significant to sustain an economic growth. War requires massive spending (especially government) and increases consumption. This spike drives that short term growth, not for decades.
When war subsides, the sudden break in spending and especially demand will often create a period of recession. After that, it is the policies that drive the growth. And no, there is no, there is no "artificial" IR, there is the need for manufacturing to grow (an economy leaning towards manufacturing economy isn't necessarily going through an industrial revolution... as an industrialized nation can continue to do the same, but it won't be revolutionary, it will be evolutionary growth, something China and India are heading towards).
3. Those reasons are very much applicable today, but corrupt politicians would have everyone believe otherwise. Ever since unions began to rise, corporate interests have fought against to suppress them, and today the power with them is greater than ever. As you believe, a union worker guarantees six figure earning, something you will have an impossible time convincing me about but if you don't have an issue with the fact that CEOs were paid (on average) about 30-40 times just a couple of decades ago, but now the average pay is 344 times that of an average worker. How did that come about? Unfortunately, with this discussion, however, we're straying away from the topic and the reason I brought middle class issue into this thread. We can discuss the union versus anti-union sentiment elsewhere and will definitely suggest reading this and see if you find yourself in agreement or disagreement. If you have disagreements, I suggest you either create a topic on it (if you want others involved as well), or send me a direct message, so we can talk about flat taxes and how it will ruin the American economy even more (or not).
4. As an abusive employer, sure. Who, in their right mind, won't look for self-defeaters? But like I said, we're actually getting farther from the reasons I brought up middle class and the need to not only bring back to life but to nurture it.
If you're self-employed... correct. But then you pay SECA.
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But like I said, we're actually getting farther from the reasons I brought up middle class and the need to not only bring back to life but to nurture it.
