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Old 07-16-2012, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Texas
5,872 posts, read 8,077,758 times
Reputation: 2971

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jester2138 View Post
Currently, the tax brackets for a single person are as follows:

$0 to $8,700-----------------10%
$8,700 to $35,350------------15%
$35,350 to $85,650-----------25%
$85,650 to $178,650----------28%
$178,650 to $388,350---------33%
$388,350+--------------------35%

1) Do you believe that your rate is fair (whichever it may be)?
2) Do you believe that another brackets rate should change? Which one?
3) Assuming the current rate for the top bracket is not fair, what would be a "fair share" and how would we know when it is taxed enough?
1) Fair although I would be fine paying what they were in the 90's.
2) I believe all brackets should return to previous bracket ranges.
3) The top bracket should be in the 38-40% range.

But as I mentioned before, I would be comfortable with brackets in the 25-35% range lowering 3-5% and have the closing of ALL loopholes.
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Old 07-16-2012, 08:43 AM
 
Location: Prepperland
18,924 posts, read 14,111,175 times
Reputation: 16637
Only under socialism is there a "fair share" - (income transfer, entitlements, etc).
Under the republican form (no connection with the Republican party), all taxes are unfair. BUT. A minimal government doesn't require 44% of the GDP. Probably about 0.03% of the GDP.
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Old 07-16-2012, 08:46 AM
 
Location: 32°19'03.7"N 106°43'55.9"W
9,359 posts, read 20,732,294 times
Reputation: 9922
Flat tax of 20%.
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Old 07-16-2012, 08:47 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
20,054 posts, read 18,251,969 times
Reputation: 3826
Quote:
Originally Posted by txgolfer130 View Post
1) Fair although I would be fine paying what they were in the 90's.
Good. We can also revive the deductions we had back then and return surtaxes on those levels too, oh and bring back Greenspan and convince idiots to reinvest in dot coms while you're at it.

Quote:
2) I believe all brackets should return to previous bracket ranges.
See above.

Quote:
3) The top bracket should be in the 38-40% range.
See above.

Quote:
But as I mentioned before, I would be comfortable with brackets in the 25-35% range lowering 3-5% and have the closing of ALL loopholes.
I agree with you. Closing loopholes for rich and poor sounds good to me!
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Old 07-16-2012, 08:50 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
13,715 posts, read 31,093,243 times
Reputation: 9270
Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
I think that a fair share of taxes is completely dependent on how much you have beyond a 'reasonable comfort level". Accordingly I propose an Income tax and a personal property tax. The income tax would be on all income from all sources over the 90th percentile. The tax would be progressive and increase proportionately to the citizen’s percentile until 99%. In addition there would be a similar tax on all personal real and financial property no matter where located, deposited or held.

The primary effect of these taxes will be to place the financial responsibility of maintaining our country on the people that realize a disproportionate income or own a disproportionate amount of the country. It would also relieve most of the people from the burden of taxation and they would then be free to spend or invest the money as they desired. Some would just buy more stuff but many would start their own businesses realizing they would not be liable for taxes until well into the six figure personal income. That is well into the reasonable comfort income range.
"Reasonable comfort level"

Who do you define that? And you have no problem letting Congress choose that?

And what kind of personal real property do you propose to tax? Cars? TVs? Lawn mowers? Boats? Guns? How do you plan to monitor and enforce that? How large do you expect the IRS to become? 1/10 of federal spending?
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Old 07-16-2012, 08:54 AM
 
Location: Tampa Florida
22,229 posts, read 17,823,173 times
Reputation: 4585
My fair share is whatever I can get you to pay!
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Old 07-16-2012, 08:56 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
13,715 posts, read 31,093,243 times
Reputation: 9270
I want to stop the use of taxes to modify behavior. The distort the economics of buying homes, having children, giving to charity, and funding education.

I want to see a more "pure" system where we all understand how much energy, food, consumer goods cost, etc.

So deductions and incentives should go away over time. Phase out the mortgage deduction over ten years. Elminate deductions for state taxes. Why should you pay lower federal taxes because you chose to live in a high tax state like Californian, New Jersey, or Connecticut?

I can accept a moderate progressive system. But EVERYONE over that earns wages over a base amount should pay federal income taxes. No one should ever have a negative tax. Radical simplification of the tax code will reduce fraud, increase collections, and collect more from the wealthy, who are best equipped to take advantage of a complex tax code. It should take < 1 hour for 95% of Americans to complete their tax return.
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Old 07-16-2012, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Hinckley Ohio
6,721 posts, read 5,192,978 times
Reputation: 1378
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jester2138 View Post
Currently, the tax brackets for a single person are as follows:

$0 to $8,700-----------------10%
$8,700 to $35,350------------15%
$35,350 to $85,650-----------25%
$85,650 to $178,650----------28%
$178,650 to $388,350---------33%
$388,350+--------------------35%

1) Do you believe that your rate is fair (whichever it may be)?
2) Do you believe that another brackets rate should change? Which one?
3) Assuming the current rate for the top bracket is not fair, what would be a "fair share" and how would we know when it is taxed enough?
Once a person has the financial resources to cover their basic needs it is appropriate to tax their income at a progressively higher rate. The top rates could be much higher with little impact on the overall economy. If a recall we did real good with a top rate around 90%.

Do lee in mind that that graduated tax table applies to everyone. Someone making a hundred million a year pays the exact same rate on their first $8700 earn, at $388k and the same composite rates at each rung of that ladder as everyone else.
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Old 07-16-2012, 09:06 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
20,054 posts, read 18,251,969 times
Reputation: 3826
Quote:
Originally Posted by florida.bob View Post
My fair share is whatever I can get you to pay!
"Fair share" is nice, nebulous, subjective organic non-number. Reserved for stupid liberals who lack arithmetic skills.
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Old 07-16-2012, 09:20 AM
 
458 posts, read 614,860 times
Reputation: 362
Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
I think that a fair share of taxes is completely dependent on how much you have beyond a 'reasonable comfort level"... I am also, as corporations are now legally people, considering applying the same tax rates to undistributed profits.
What is the "reasonable comfort level"?
Corporations are not legally considered people, but they do have a few of the rights (and risks) people have, primarily the ability to sue and be sued as a single entity.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thriftylefty View Post
So should we tax by zip code?
What about less developed areas or highly developed areas where one zip code can cover a wide range of demographics?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sware2cod View Post
That chart is only for earned income but the chart is misleading. All your income isn't taxed at 28% if you earn $100k. You pay the lower rates on the amts under $85k.
I assumed most readers would know this already, but thanks for noting it just in case.

Quote:
Originally Posted by txgolfer130 View Post
3) The top bracket should be in the 38-40% range.
OK, why there? Why not 60% or 80%? What is the maximum "fair share"?

Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzards27 View Post
Once a person has the financial resources to cover their basic needs it is appropriate to tax their income at a progressively higher rate. The top rates could be much higher with little impact on the overall economy. If a recall we did real good with a top rate around 90%. (emphasis added)
How do we define what a persons basic needs are?

It is not true that progressively higher tax rates result in progressively higher revenue for the government. In the 20's, for example, the top bracket was dropped from a rate of ~90% to ~25% and revenue increased, not decreased (can't remember the exact rates). Similar results have been obtained from several other rate decreases in the twentieth century.

--------------------------

My goal in starting this thread was to prompt a discussion on what makes a particular tax rate fair and how we, as a country, can define what is fair.

What is the purpose of taxes? Simply funding the government? Redistributing wealth for a fairer society? Both?

What you believe its purpose is will dramatically affect how you view tax rates.
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