Good information. Based on the perceived waste that goes on in government, 23.5% is way too high. It would be my proposal that we work our way down to the 10% rate over a period of ten years or so.
Sounds good, here's one plan that can lead to that:
23%........... NRST rate
14.91% ..... rate if Social Security and Medicare were privatized
14% .......... rate if Nat'l Endowment for the Arts were eliminated
11.9%........ rate if Dept. of Education were eliminated
10% .......... rate if welfare were eliminated
etc.
Hmmmmmm.......
The key is making the full tax burden visible to the entire electorate, right now we are caught in a political trap with the income/payroll tax system we exist under:
Walter Williams, World Net Daily, 10-25-2000
According to the most recent U.S. Treasury Department figures, in 1997 the top 1 percent of income-earners (those with income of $250,000 and higher) paid 33 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 5 percent of income-earners ($108,000 and over) paid 52 percent, and the top 50 percent ($36,000 and over) paid 96 percent of income taxes. Guess what the bottom 50 percent of income earners paid?
If you're among those who pay little or no federal income taxes, what do you care about tax cuts? Moreover, if you think tax cuts pose a threat to government handout programs, you might be openly hostile and support Al Gore's silly "risky scheme" talk. So many Americans paying little or no federal taxes makes for a natural spending constituency. It's like me in the restaurant: What do I care about extravagance if you're footing the bill?
The ability to hide or disguise taxation from the view of large sectors of the electorate allows the Congress to get away with the creation of the evergrowing monster that it fosters.
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-George Bernard Shaw
Liberty and freedom have a price, responsibility. If that price is avoided there are no brakes on the growth of government, the ultimate result is the end of freedom through creeping socialism.
I agree...as would nearly everyone on this forum. But you wouldn't have to wait long at all for the rate to go down...
Once withholding ends, and every single individual in these United States pays a federal tax everytime he buys something, pressure will be extreme to reduce taxes.
I look forward to the day every Joe has to pull cash from his pocket to pay the beast...then we'd see some action.