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Taxes


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2022 Jul 11, 5:28pm   16,432 views  227 comments

by GreaterNYCDude   ➕follow (2)   💰tip   ignore  

I've been thinking about this off and on lately, and there's been some recent threads related to the topic, so I figure I'll set up a separate thread.

Until the 16th ammendment was passed in the early 1900's, we got by without fedetal income taxes. Tariffs did the trick. Of course, we were not yet the superpower we became, huge millitary and all, and there were not nearly the federally funded social programs we have today.

Frankly, I don't think your average American realizes how heavily they are taxed. Federal. State (with some excaptions) Property. School. Gas. Sales. Etc.

For most in the middle and upper middle class, federal income tax is the biggest share of taxes paid on a percentage basis.

In a modern captalist economy, it makes more sense to me to tax consumption rather than income.

So why not abolish the federal income tax, and instead have a federal tax on goods and services rendered. Better yet, couple it with a balanced budget amment so that the government can't spend money they don't have.

Taxing goods should be straightforward to implement. Buy a bag of rice, clothes, a house, a car, stock, etc. tax it at a nominal rate to raise sufficent revenue to keep the government running. Tax should apply to individuals and corporations alike. I have no idea what the rate would need to be to replace the lost income income revenue, but there must be a way for the been counters to figure that out.

Same holds for services. From your lawyer to your plumber to your accountant.. services rendered should also be taxed... possibly at a different rate than physical goods, since we are a "service based economy".

Just thinking out loud here.. In the 21st century there MUST be a better way to raise revenue than income tax and the various loopholes used to reduce or even avoid ones tax burden.

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214   GreaterNYCDude   2024 Nov 16, 7:27am  

Well when you compare the US to Europe, the US doesn't look so bad.
It will be interesting to see what Trump can do with tarrifs his second time around. I'm not holding my breath that the DOGE duo of Musk and Vivek will be able to come in and lop off a third of the government. Sure they put forth a range of ideas for cost savings, but implementation is where the rubber meets the road. Many in government are unionized employees so one just can't come in and fire them without cause.
215   Booger   2024 Nov 16, 7:39am  

GreaterNYCDude says

Many in government are unionized employees so one just can't come in and fire them without cause.


If they shut down the entire agency or lose funding, they lose their jobs just the same.
216   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2024 Nov 16, 11:51am  

Booger says

If they shut down the entire agency or lose funding, they lose their jobs just the same.


Or move the agency to Guam.
218   zzyzzx   2024 Nov 25, 5:37am  

SoTex says

Or move the agency to Guam.

I don't understand that reference. Please explain.
219   WookieMan   2024 Nov 25, 5:44am  

zzyzzx says

SoTex says


Or move the agency to Guam.

I don't understand that reference. Please explain.

Ongoing joke/troll directed at a former (I think) user. I do actually want to go to Guam. I think SoTex and I are the only ones that toss Guam out on threads. I honestly forget the reason. If I recall someone had a bad take and brought up Guam and we made fun of him. It was funny at the time.
220   Al_Sharpton_for_President   2024 Nov 25, 5:49am  

Trump Treasury pick Scott Bessent to prioritize tax cuts, WSJ reports

Nov 24 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, will prioritize delivering on election tax cut pledges, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Sunday.

Bessent told the WSJ that tax cut measures would include making Trump's first term tax cuts permanent, as well as eliminating taxes on tips, social-security benefits and overtime pay.

Bessent would also focus on enacting tariffs, cutting spending and maintaining the status of the dollar as the world's reserve currency, he told the newspaper in the interview.

Bessent, who has been a donor, economic adviser and booster on TV for Trump, was nominated as U.S. Treasury secretary by Trump on Friday.

Bessent has spent his career in finance, working for macro investment billionaire George Soros and noted short seller Jim Chanos, and has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece, opens new tab he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.

As U.S. Treasury secretary, Bessent will essentially be the highest-ranking U.S. economic official, responsible for maintaining the world's largest economy, from collecting taxes and paying the nation's bills to managing the $28.6-trillion Treasury debt market and overseeing financial regulation.

The Treasury boss also runs U.S. financial sanctions policy, has influence over the U.S.-led International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other international financial institutions, and manages national security screenings of foreign investments in the United States.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-treasury-pick-scott-bessent-prioritize-tax-cuts-wsj-reports-2024-11-25/


221   ForcedTQ   2024 Nov 25, 6:14am  

Booger says

GreaterNYCDude says


Many in government are unionized employees so one just can't come in and fire them without cause.


If they shut down the entire agency or lose funding, they lose their jobs just the same.

The big thing that not many are talking about will be vetting the Constitutionality of all these agencies. That’s how you get rid of them, if they are not expressly called out for by function, they are for the States to create and control. Congress cannot even create a law that creates an agency that does not have reason for being in alignment with the constitution, although we know they have and that’s what needs to be fixed here. Consequently, Federal taxes will/should go down.
222   clambo   2024 Nov 25, 6:57am  

The "Tax Burden By State" map above is interesting.
Wyoming, New Hampshire, Florida and Tennessee had the lowest.
I have lived in New Hampshire which was nice except the weather was a bit extreme.
Last year in Florida I heard from several people they were moving to Tennessee because housing was cheaper there.
I've never met someone who was from Wyoming.
Tangental to this, I recall talking about taxes etc. in France with a French lady living in La Paz for a while.
Taxes are terrible in France from her report.
225   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2024 Dec 6, 9:08am  

WookieMan says

zzyzzx says

SoTex says

Or move the agency to Guam.

I don't understand that reference. Please explain.

Ongoing joke/troll directed at a former (I think) user. I do actually want to go to Guam. I think SoTex and I are the only ones that toss Guam out on threads. I honestly forget the reason. If I recall someone had a bad take and brought up Guam and we made fun of him. It was funny at the time.


That's right, there was a user who during the early hours of the 2016 election got very excited about IHLary flipping Guam. He disappeared eventually. Recently there have been discussions by the new admin to move federal agencies to Guam if they can't be disband/fired.
226   WookieMan   2024 Dec 6, 11:44am  

Maga_Chaos_Monkey says

That's right, there was a user who during the early hours of the 2016 election got very excited about IHLary flipping Guam. He disappeared eventually. Recently there have been discussions by the new admin to move federal agencies to Guam if they can't be disband/fired.

If I'm being honest I just like the word/country Guam now because of this site. And I legit want to visit at some point. It was also hysterical at the time.
227   REpro   2024 Dec 6, 11:36pm  

I Love Guam.

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