| Super Moderator  Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Seattle (grew up around D.C.) Gender:  Posts: 7,866 Country:  Points: 28,405, Level: 99 | Level up: 4%, 1,595 Points needed |  |  Quote: |
Originally Posted by Mojo Potatoes - I see a few issues with the flat tax, aside from the issue that the bureaucrats and politicians will fight eliminating ALL other forms of taxation, be it federal or state income, state sales tax, property tax, "sin" taxes, license fees and registrations, etc. The government should learn to live within strict financial constraints. Eliminate all taxation and government fees, and replace them with a flat tax rate applied to all income over "n" amount, perhaps $30k annually. A great starting point might be five percent. The government is not entitled to a "cut" of the fruits of my labor! A spinoff of the flat tax is to only tax unearned income, e.g., interest, dividends, capital gains, etc., as originally intended with the income tax.
Perhaps the greatest challenge to such an effort would be that of maintaining the purity of the system. As soon as you develop such a system, special interests are going to be asking for exemptions for one thing or another. If we adopt a flat tax, there should be zero exemptions, period.
Personally, I lean toward the concept of a consumption tax, but even that presents problems stemming from "black market" operations. There is always someone who wants to skirt the system and avoid the payment of taxes. I suspect much of the efforts stems from the fact that we are obscenely burdened with taxes to the point that it very profitable to cheat.
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The point that republicans dont understand is even the rich need their asses wiped. In other words all aspects of a functioning society need to be taken care of. That is why a flat tax is unfair against the poor, and bias towards the rich. |