by HARM follow (0)
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I'm certainly tired of the 'I have to check the tax code' before I make a decision BS. What kind of freedom is that? its bs.
Eventually in 100 years there will so many laws of every stripe you will have to have THREE acountants and lawyers in order to function. The messy system barely functions now.
Wow. I can't believe that this came up on your site. I have been a fanatical patrick.net reader for a while now, and I am also a rabid proponent of the FairTax legislation.
If you haven't heard of the FairTax, the best thing to do is to go to FairTax.org and read up about it, or you can read an article that I wrote for TriplePundit.com.
I believe that the FairTax accomplishes all of your goals:
Greatly simplifies the tax system: the FairTax abolishes the income tax, payroll tax, estate and gift taxes and capital-gains taxes, and corporate taxes, and replaces them all with a 23% inclusive retail sales tax, collected only once at the final point of purchase. Did I mention that it abolishes the IRS too? States collect the tax and remit it to the federal government, and are paid a small percentage for doing so, the same as the retailers who also receive a small percentage.
Disincentivizes long-term welfare of BOTH kinds: corporate AND individual: The FairTax eliminates all loopholes, incentives and handouts granted by our tax system. It is fair and simple, and levels the playing field.
Disincentivizes subsidies and bailouts for reckless speculators using
taxpayers’ money: This isn't a tax policy issue, it is a government spending issue. No tax policy can stop the government from bailing out industries in trouble if they want to...
Moderate bias in favor of redistributing wealth away from the idle uber-wealthy (currently growing richer at a phenomenal rate) to the getting-screwed-from-both-ends working class: The fairTax does this by including a rebate that every legal resident gets at the beginning of each month for the poverty amount of tax on spending. This provides some progressivity, and relieves the tax burden completely from the most poor americans.
In addition, it taxes not only wage earners, but anyone who spends money, including illegal aliens, drug dealers, tourists, and the wealthy, who spend a lot of money in this country.
There's a lot more to know, so please check out FairTax.org.
Uh... don't you want to be insanely rich one day? Isn't this what America is about? Everyone has a right to dream, or even has a chance, no matter how small it is, of becoming disgustingly rich?
Was that sarcasm, OO? I mean, that could be used to justify pretty much any abhorrent condition, as long as there was a lottery system to let a couple proles out of the muck from time to time.
@OO,
I repeat:
“Don’t forget that most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor.â€
–John Dickinson (character from the play "1776")
Honestly, I'd prefer to have a society where everyone (who is willing to work) can live safely and be "comfortable", have 6-8+ weeks of paid vacation every year, cradle-to-grave healthcare, be able to afford to buy a modest house (without having to compete with govt-subsidized speculators) and send their kids to college (if that's important to them).
Becoming disgustingly rich would "nice", but it's pretty far down on my list of really important priorities. Especially if being rich means spending much of my money on bribes and my own private army of security forces, designed to keep out the hordes of angry, starving commoners who all want to kill me.
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We've often had lively debates here at Patrick.net about tax policy (flat tax vs. progressive tax, taxing wages vs. passive capital gains or consumption, what constitutes a "luxury" good vs. "staple" good, framing the inheritance tax as the evil "death tax", etc.).
Personally, I would like a much less complicated and less loophole-ridden tax structure that accomplishes the following economic and social goals, which are important to me:
While these goals are important to me, I recognize that everyone has their own priorities and agenda, which may be different from mine. Although I tend to lean in favor of a (greatly simplified) mildly progressive tax structure that treats all asset classes and income sources equally, and eliminates pretty much all corporate and individual subsidies (call it "Flat Tax Lite"), I'm open to other suggestions. I consider myself a fairly practical, pragmatic person, not so bound to one particular ideology that I'm unwilling to consider reasonable alternatives and/or compromises.
So, there you go. Have at it.
HARM
#housing