Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

gar1976 · 08-25-2004, 06:50 PM

Oh, you run into some problems.

Starters: Per the WSJ, a 23% tax rate is waaay too low. They estimate a federal sales tax would need to be roughly 50% (!) on ALL sales (goods, services, as well as things like homes, etc.).

Second: a main basis in our tax system is that it's progressive, that is, the more you make, the more you have available as "consummable" income to be taxes, since you will bring home much more than you have available to live on. Think about it for a minute: do you think it's in the best interest of our nation to tax someone trying to support a family on 25,000 a year the same rate as someone making 3,000,000 a year? Who do you think could shoulder the tax burden better? Who needs more take home income just to survive? Remember, the poverty level for a family of four is around 17,000 IIRC. Not much.

Third: our tax system, while it has it's flaws, also is geared to "steer" the average american to certain options. One, like being able to deduct home mortgage interest - why would policy makers encourage this? The reason being that a family resisdence is the great wealth builder for middle income taxpayers, sort of a forced savings system that hopefully you will have paid off before you retire. Another tax incentive is the increasing amounts of taxable inome you can defer to later years through a retirement plan, which is in the best interest of the US government. The more you as a taxpayer can save by yourself, the less reliant you will be on social security when you retire (which, by the way, was NEVER meant to be a sole source of income for retirees).

Sorry, but a national flat sales tax will never fly IMHO - there's too much inertia behind the current system, and after you work with it for a while, even a twisted sense of logic tucked away in there.

08-25-2004, 06:50 PM	#2 (permalink)
gar1976 Custom User Title Location: Lurking. Under the desk.	Oh, you run into some problems. Starters: Per the WSJ, a 23% tax rate is waaay too low. They estimate a federal sales tax would need to be roughly 50% (!) on ALL sales (goods, services, as well as things like homes, etc.). Second: a main basis in our tax system is that it's progressive, that is, the more you make, the more you have available as "consummable" income to be taxes, since you will bring home much more than you have available to live on. Think about it for a minute: do you think it's in the best interest of our nation to tax someone trying to support a family on 25,000 a year the same rate as someone making 3,000,000 a year? Who do you think could shoulder the tax burden better? Who needs more take home income just to survive? Remember, the poverty level for a family of four is around 17,000 IIRC. Not much. Third: our tax system, while it has it's flaws, also is geared to "steer" the average american to certain options. One, like being able to deduct home mortgage interest - why would policy makers encourage this? The reason being that a family resisdence is the great wealth builder for middle income taxpayers, sort of a forced savings system that hopefully you will have paid off before you retire. Another tax incentive is the increasing amounts of taxable inome you can defer to later years through a retirement plan, which is in the best interest of the US government. The more you as a taxpayer can save by yourself, the less reliant you will be on social security when you retire (which, by the way, was NEVER meant to be a sole source of income for retirees). Sorry, but a national flat sales tax will never fly IMHO - there's too much inertia behind the current system, and after you work with it for a while, even a twisted sense of logic tucked away in there.