FLAT TAX

by Yerusalyim 49 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Bendrr

  Yeru, I like the idea of a fair tax. I'd prefer a national sales tax with the complete abolition of income tax though. Maybe not with the exemption of food though, just a lower tax. In Georgia, the sales tax is lower on food and it seems to work ok.

  That wouldn't be unfair to the poor at all. The people who now don't really pay income taxes, and I mean those who get it all back and those who get back more than they paid in, may lose those fat checks in February but they also lose that deduction from their paychecks.

  For us actual income earners it would be a boon. More money in our paychecks we can spend or save, either way more of our money remains in our control.

  Under a national sales tax, the rich would still carry more of the tax burden since logically they spend more.

  But if they do go to that, there should be some provision that there would be no more income tax EVER.

  Mike.
• 

  logansrun

  "Tax the rich,

  Feed the poor,

  Till there are no,

  Rich no more..."

  No, I know that's not the right answer, but it does sound nice, doesn't it?

  Seriously, I think a flat tax as you describe might be worth a shot. Who knows.

  Bradley
• 

  shamus

  I thought that it said "FAT TAX", not flat tax... sorry... I'm not fat, just seeing if they were applying taxes to obesity yet... LOL!
• 

  donkey

  www.fairtax.org
• 

  jgnat

  Luxury Tax? Our GST here in Canada (Goods and Services Tax) - toilet paper is a luxury, as are salted peanuts. Unsalted peanuts are food.

  Go figure.

  Just try and go down that road.
• 

  imallgrowedup

  Yeru and Big Tex -

  I like the idea of a flat tax coupled with a national sales tax - however, I like the way CA has structured their sales tax, and would like to see at least part of it incorporated nationwide. In CA, there is NO tax on food at all. At one time there was a tax on "junk food" like cookies, chips and ice cream, but I believe they have done away with that. I actually think it was good to tax junk food in the sense that it is not a necessity. If the purpose of a nationwide sales tax is so taxes are paid in proportion to earnings, then only the necessities of life should be tax free - which, in my opinion, includes nutritious foods, certain types of clothing and shoes. Additionally, it bugs me that there is a federal excise tax on tires, when tires are a necessity in order to drive your car to work. I know there are some in NY or SF who rely solely on public transportation, however, the infrastructure is not in place in outlying areas to make it feasible for all to rely on public transportation and heavily tax individual modes of transportation.

  BTW - Welcome to the board 1bigwhitedoggy! I like the way you see things!

  growedup
• 

  Yerusalyim

  1Big,

  Welcome to the board, I like your opinions...so far.
• 

  rem

  I thought the idea of a Sales tax on all items with a calculated return every year for everybody was interesting. The calculated return would be the same amount for every person and it would be recalculated based on the cost of living for the average family or person every year (or something like that). That way everyone pays taxes, but it's not regressive on the poor because they will end up paying a lower percentage in taxes compared to their spending. Seems like it would make the system a lot simpler. Maybe everyone would start getting a return at age 18 or something... not sure how that would work.
  
  rem
• 

  Yerusalyim

  With the flat tax idea an income tax return could be filed on a 3X5 card. We'd have to find jobs for all those tax preparers.
• 

  Azalo

  sales tax is a tax on poor people. Rich people can avoid paying sales tax a lot easier than poor people can and it would be a much smaller percentage of their income. all the "rich" people crying about the taxes they pay here should move to Europe where the taxes are about 45% or more. the top 20% wealthiest people control 80% of the country's wealth, of course they should pay the most taxes. do you propose the bottom 80% who only have 20 % of the wealth, with the bottom 20% of that group having basically nothing, to pay the same as the top 20, that is asinine. if you want to save money how about doing away with tax breaks for corporations, the US pays a lot more for corporate welfare than they do social services.