Raising taxes on the rich:New data from the Internal Revenue Service show that income inequality continues to widen. The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans earn more than 21 percent of all income. That's a postwar record. The bottom 50 percent of all Americans, when all their wages are combined, earn just 12.8 percent of the nation's income.Such conflicting emotions.
Considering the magnitude of challenges ahead for America, it seems only reasonable that taxes should rise on the wealthy. Taxing the super-rich is not about class envy, as conservatives charge. It's about the nation having enough money to pay for national defense and homeland security, good schools and a crumbling infrastructure, the upcoming costs of boomers' Social Security (the current surplus has masked the true extent of the current budget deficit, but it won't for much longer) and, hopefully, affordable national health insurance. Not to mention the trillion dollars or so it will take to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is now starting to hit the middle class.
Of course the rich should take on a much heavier tax burden than the poor. Right? Any non-profit will tell you that a single rich benefactor will give you more than you can squeeze out of 'memberships' and other small donations from the peons. The government doesn't require the wooing of donations, it can just take what it wants. Unless you want to run for re-election and raise the uber funds that require a massive influx of cash from the wealthy.
Of course those who benefit directly from government programs should take on the burden of funding those programs. It just makes sense, right? What billionaire needs Medicare, Social Security, public schools, or even the police for that matter? Let those who can't afford private security collectively pay for public security. What are we, a bunch of communists?
Nobody has ever won an election by pledging to raise taxes. While I love to prove people wrong, when someone tells me that a massive stab wound directly to the heart is always fatal, I'm not going to start a series of experiments to discredit them. So I can solemnly promise not to raise taxes on the rich, poor, or middle class. I won't raise taxes on businesses or imports or anything else.
The first step towards healthy taxation is to end compulsory taxation. But who will pay for roads and cops and judges and (insert favorite government program here and don't pretend like you don't have at least one that you actually sort of like)? You will have to pay for all of this. Each year the government, in hopes of collecting funds for projects, sends out a tax proposal with each item identified individually, not as one big spending bill. Each of us can then go down the list and say $5 for schools, $20 for Lunar exploration, $1 for the Coast Guard, nothing for the CIA, etc. We send in how much we are willing to pay to fund our favorite projects and what we don't like doesn't get our money. Could it actually work? Maybe. It has got to be better than what we've got going on now.
Secondly, abolish the Federal Reserve. Hell, abolish money. We don't really need it. If you've got skills, services, or stuff then you've got all the currency you'll ever need. That sounds stupid even to me, which is why I think we should try it out. Anything that simple has got to have some flaws. I promise to abolish the monetary system and all wealth and debt associated with it, just to see what happens.
At the very least, the government needs to learn to live within its means. I've watched quite a few non-profits go about business the government way. They figure out what they want, and then go sparing for change. Totally ass backwards. I've made that mistake myself and can attest to the stupidity of that kind of logic. Always look at what you've got before you go spending it. If we don't the military will quickly grab up every penny in the budget to fund a coup against me.
6 comments:
If there must be taxes a flat tax is most equitable. Everyone pays the same rate. Yeah the charities would scream, but really you should give because you believe in the charity, not for a tax write off. Or abolish the income tax and just have sales tax and excise taxes, then even illegals pay their fair share and I have one less thing to bitch about.
There is no such thing as equitable taxation within a compulsory tax model. Progressive taxation says if you make more you pay more, which isn't fair. Under a flat tax system, those who can barely earn enough to survive feel a much heavier tax burden than those with plenty, which isn't fair. In that sense, a Communist model where the state collects everything and redistributes it according to need is the closest thing to a fair model of equitable taxation. Everyone pays the same, everything. I'd rather abolish compulsory taxation and the government that feeds vampirically off of such a system. I prefer scavengers to ticks and leeches.
or go with the model Lebanon uses or used: Tax all imports and exports, no sales tax or income tax. In other words just tarifs, suddenly the global economy would look good.
That would require a government that fashions its spending based on revenues instead of spending and then making the citizens foot the bill, and that's silly. Just as silly as a voluntary taxation system.
I can almost imagine sitting through a week-long fund drive for defense spending... they could offer free "smoke 'em" tote bags and for your pledge... or maybe commemmorative guns with the pentagon logo, so that you could proudly show your support.
"Nobody has ever won an election by pledging to raise taxes."
You know, I've heard that again and again, but it's just not true. True would be "Since FDR left office, no one has won an election by being honest about how much they planned to increase taxes on the middle class."
The way FDR did it was by coupling the increased taxes with a plan to kill unemployment (the condition, not the unemployed people).
People seem to be okay with you taking a higher percentage of their money when you're simultaneously ensuring that they have money in the first place. Though you might want to take a close look at bribery laws before getting to deep into such a plan/position.
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