Hi,
Thanks for that link. It is an interesting read, though it seems a bit slanted. I'll have to follow up on it.
Thereby discouraging investing or saving. Rent your house, don't buy it. Buying it adds to your net worth. Buy that bottle of hundred year old cognac -- that'll reduce your net worth by a couple of hundred. Don't start your own business, that becomes part of your net worth. Work for somebody else, let him pay the taxes.
Of the various ideas you've put forth, I think this may be the worst.
As Lissa originally pointed out, bad example. Buffet is a money player. For him not to take advantage of every legal loophole in the tax code would be like a hockey coach voluntarily removing a man while the other team has one in the penalty box just to keep things 'fair'. Buffet is on record as saying that the tax laws are broken and that he is not paying a 'fair' amount although he is paying the legal amount.
The problem is the tax code. Eliminate all deductions. Count everything as income (i.e., The company supplies a car? The mean monthly rental for that car is part of your income. Ditto anything else supplied in lieu of cash.) Drop the single-married-etc. distinctions (the government is neither responsible for nor at fault because of your personal choices). Tax net total income of any and all kind. Determine a reasonable 'poverty' level, set the rate to there at 0. Above that, tax inversely to the percentage of the population making more than the poverty level and less than that taxpayer, in 5% or 10% increments.
--Pete
(09-16-2010, 07:37 PM)ShadowHM Wrote: I have been following a series of essays written for Slate Magazine, exploring the possible causes of the increasing disparity in income distribution in the U.S.A.
Thanks for that link. It is an interesting read, though it seems a bit slanted. I'll have to follow up on it.
(09-16-2010, 08:06 PM)kandrathe Wrote: Now, if only we might convince the IRS to tax us at a flat rate according to net worth, . . .
Thereby discouraging investing or saving. Rent your house, don't buy it. Buying it adds to your net worth. Buy that bottle of hundred year old cognac -- that'll reduce your net worth by a couple of hundred. Don't start your own business, that becomes part of your net worth. Work for somebody else, let him pay the taxes.
Of the various ideas you've put forth, I think this may be the worst.
Quote:. . . then those at the top, like Warren Buffet, might actually feel the sting of having to contribute rather than grouse about it.
As Lissa originally pointed out, bad example. Buffet is a money player. For him not to take advantage of every legal loophole in the tax code would be like a hockey coach voluntarily removing a man while the other team has one in the penalty box just to keep things 'fair'. Buffet is on record as saying that the tax laws are broken and that he is not paying a 'fair' amount although he is paying the legal amount.
The problem is the tax code. Eliminate all deductions. Count everything as income (i.e., The company supplies a car? The mean monthly rental for that car is part of your income. Ditto anything else supplied in lieu of cash.) Drop the single-married-etc. distinctions (the government is neither responsible for nor at fault because of your personal choices). Tax net total income of any and all kind. Determine a reasonable 'poverty' level, set the rate to there at 0. Above that, tax inversely to the percentage of the population making more than the poverty level and less than that taxpayer, in 5% or 10% increments.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?