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Make it a consumption tax, the poor, the middle-class and the rich all pay the same rate. That is fair for all.
Except...they don't really. You know this, lets be honest.
What you're really saying is "Lets tax that which is required to live, while anything above that we dont tax". Yeah that sounds fair. Oh wait...no it doesn't.
Except...they don't really. You know this, lets be honest.
What you're really saying is "Lets tax that which is required to live, while anything above that we dont tax". Yeah that sounds fair. Oh wait...no it doesn't.
Wrong, you tax as we do now, food is not taxable. The rest are things we want and sometimes may be considered a need, but this way there is no way to avoid paying your taxes, no matter who you are. You would be surprised how quickly we could pay down the debt and balance the budget.
Wrong, you tax as we do now, food is not taxable. The rest are things we want and sometimes may be considered a need, but this way there is no way to avoid paying your taxes, no matter who you are. You would be surprised how quickly we could pay down the debt and balance the budget.
How about when they buy a stock is that taxable? When someone rents a lear jet?
What if someone has a business and it rents a house or a jet?
Its not nearly as straightforward as you act like it is.
Heck What if I created a non-profit called "the help greywar survive", that I donated all my money to? And IT paid for all my things?
Oh yes, lets make it a major disruption in people flows of income and payments by making it lump sum, just because we want to punish people.
I assure you, most people when they do their taxes DO know how much was taken out.
Most people don't know because they only see income taxes. Income taxes are just a portion of what someone in the middle class pays. You have social security, FICA, state income tax, property tax, state sales tax, federal and state gas taxes, then the fees, vehicle registration fee, fire prevention fee, then the local fees/taxes, some fee for parks, schools, recycling, etc. Then if you actually make some money selling something you own or in the stock market, you get hit with capital gains. You inherit some money when your parents pass away, estate tax. Win a raffle, capital gains again. If you get a seat belt ticket with a base fine of $20, they then add a whole bunch of fees and by the time you get out the door your paying 6-8 times the cost of the base fine. Not to mention all the taxes your employeer pays on your behalf, if they wernt paying them they could be paying you that money.
Then on top of all of this, you get to pay for the increase cost of goods and services as the government has taxed and regulated business so much that the product goes up 20-30% in price.
But your right, everyone is aware of how much taxes they pay.
You're cherry picking JUST the federal rate, ignoring the 6.2% I pay in social security (plus ANOTHER 6.2% my employer pays on my behalf-making it really over 12% in JUST social security alone.) The taxes I pay in state, AND other federal taxes I pay in various ways, AND my local property taxes.
But adding in that 12% social security I pay just isnt part of your preferred narrative is it? Because that one maxes out for the 112K or so income....and is a rounding error for the richer folks....(they only pay 12% of the firs 112K or so-0% above that)
If your employer pays it, then YOU don't pay it.
Where in the heck do you come up with this ass backwards logic?
Where in the heck do you come up with this ass backwards logic?
So the 6%+ that my employer pays on my behalf for my benefit is not part of my pay? If they didn't HAVE to pay that, it wouldn't go to me as part of my compensation?
Soooo... if we took the current what? 6.4%, and just rolled it over to the employer, and reduced your wage....suddenly it wouldn't be a income tax? See what I mean? Or what if we increased your pay by 6.4%, and you paid the 12.8% rate.....that would be a rise in taxes?
Its the same thing. In the end its a tax paid based on your income, whether its before its shown on your paycheck, or after really doesn't matter.
Well, you can know because near the end of figuring one's taxes, there is a taxable amount figure. People don't pay attention to it because they are looking at the refund area.
But that's why I like my plan. People will be aware of what they pay.
Now if you do your own taxes and don't know the loopholes, then you could be leaving money on the table.
But you are right. We don't write a check, so we don't pay attention. Same with property taxes that are rolled into the monthly payments through the escrow account.
I don't have a mortgage so I write the property tax bill check. I'm well aware of what that's costing me. That's why I moved from the Chicago area to the east coast (southern red state). Same value house; 1/3 the property tax bill.
Lets say a guy making $100k/yr has a wife, two children, and puts 10% a year into retirement. He will pay 8% in income taxes!!!
Lets move to a fair tax rate so that these freeloader middle class families can pay more.
Like so many things, we don't have to speculate. But like so many things conservatives who are the main advocates of a flat tax ignore reality.
You are correct the effective income tax rate for the vast majority of people is well under 10%.
So that any non rich person advocating for a flat income tax is advocating for increasing their income taxes and cutting the income taxes of rich people.
It is not until you get to household incomes of over $615,000 that those effective income tax rates start to climb.
In fact the link I supply shows that for families that with household income in the 80th-90th percentile which would be a household income of $134,000 to $180,000 pay an average effective income tax of 7.6%.
In fact, the link I supply shows that with household income form the 90th-99th percentile which would be a household income $180,000-$615,000 pay an average effective income tax of 9.3%-14%.
So yeah again most advocates for a flat tax are uninformed. A flat tax only benefits the wealthy.
Which is why it's main advocates are conservatives.
Last edited by Iamme73; 08-04-2014 at 04:52 PM..
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