Taxation and Income

Discussion in 'Politics Discussion' started by Jason76, Oct 31, 2015.

  1. Jason76

    Jason76 Well-Known Member

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    Is the idea that taxation should be based on income moral or not? People who are rich, and some that are middle class, claim they earned the money and have a right to keep it. On the other hand, the poor feel like the rich, and some of the middle class, should pay what the poor consider a "fair share".
     
  2. baudwalk

    baudwalk Senior Investor

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    The USA tax system has been corrupted by social engineering. Special interest lobbyists have run amuck. The federal tax code niw numbers more than 70,000 pages. It's shameful. Frankly, I liked Steve Forbes's 1996 flat tax proposal. Other variations have been proposed over the years, but the flat tax core principles remain in place. That said, everyone over whatever the threshold is determined to be should should pay taxes.

    Corporate tax code needs repair too. We're taxed on dividends twice over. Publicly held corporations pay taxes on earnings, and we individuals pay taxes on stock dividends received from those companies.

    And we should dump the egregious high repatriation tax penalties. International companies with overseas earnings should be able to bring those earnings stateside for capex, job expansion and shareholder dividend payouts. Yes, the tax trickery of inversions must be dealt with, but the concept of stateside business stimulation with lesser regulations could begin with what should be a relatively easy fix. One can't grow an economy by pushing on a wet string.
     
  3. gmckee1985

    gmckee1985 Senior Investor

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    I personally do believe it is immoral. Taxing people for their labor is an absurd idea. I'd much rather we not have an income tax. But if we must accept the current system I'd like to see the United States move towards a flat tax and away from the progressive model.
     
  4. nissi

    nissi Well-Known Member

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    I'd rather we not have an income tax either. It's illegal and makes no sense. The rich get richer while the poor stay right where they're at. It's a messed up system. And what's sad is that the upper class don't see anything wrong with it, they have blinders on. They think the lower class is lazy or they should be able to do better. Yeah right.
     
  5. crimsonghost747

    crimsonghost747 Senior Investor

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    Taxes are necessary. Whether you like them or not, you still use services provided with tax money on a daily basis. However the system in most western countries is too damn complicated... it's ineffective and full of loopholes.
     
  6. petesede

    petesede Guest

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    it is really abnormal compared to most countries that just have a national sales tax. The issue is that the US economy is based on consumerism.... and a national sales tax promotes saving money, not spending it. If they ever did a transition, there would be a system shock for the economy that no President wants to have to deal with. What if you let people keep that 20% of their income, but they didn´t spend it? That right there would cause a huge budget issue the first year. Would the gov´t have to step in and invent reasons to encourage people to buy stuff and not save it? Japan already has this issue at times, where the gov´t tries to encourage people not to hoarde their money.

    I don´t think there is anything wrong with a national sales tax, I just think the transition to it would be too much for any politician to want to deal with.
     
  7. Jason76

    Jason76 Well-Known Member

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    Some rock bands in the UK had complained about taxation. For instance, the Rolling Stones moved to avoid it. However, this might seem hypocritical :rolleyes: as many bands favored left wing views, the Beatles for example. They even wrote a song called Tax Man to show thier annoyance.:mad:
     
  8. Light4c

    Light4c New Member

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    I have no details for a tax plan, but the bottom line should be when taxing anyone: America was established by our forefathers, giving the power to the people, not to the government.The more money a private citizen can keep in his pocket, the more power he has over the government.
    Capitalism America exists because people left Europe and Asia to have more "Individual Freedom" than what the European and Asian countries offered.
     
  9. Light4c

    Light4c New Member

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    I agree, baudwalk.
    Capitalist America is giving the power to the people, not to the government.The more money a private citizen can keep in his pocket, the more power he has over the government.
     
  10. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Life is not fair, and any attempts by the govt to try to make it so will fail and will only make everyone worse off eventually.

    Everyone should pay something, whether they make $1 or billions a year. I like a flat % tax in theory, although I don't have a problem with paying a slightly higher % myself than someone earning a low wage.

    We spend 2/3 of our money on entitlements at the federal level already. If you took away 90% of the money of the top 1%, it still would not make a dent in what we owe already.

    Money earned and invested by small and large businesses, top earners, and the wealthy in and of itself creates jobs for the middle and lower classes. Money taken from the same people by the govt to "redistribute" is largely wasted by the govt. And those who are given money that they did not earn usually blow it.
     

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