Posted on 01/13/2009 8:21:46 AM PST by DFG
Define SOME money. State and local governments used to operate on a total tax rate that comprised a much smaller portion of GSP than they do today and things were just fine. When I started working, city income tax in my community was 1% - they are now at 2.5% in that city and they still want more. Property taxes have increased at twice the rate of inflation. And the sales tax rate in that state has risen as well.
Look at the rate of inflation, and then look at the rate of change of tax collections and you'll see that government has increased its collection at a much higher rate.
Yes, states need some money to operate. But they're well above the level of taxation required for basic services now, and they would love to take more.
Was kinda my point.
The taxing authorities claim ownership of a percentage of what you make up front on income tax.
But when they demand a cut on your retail purchases as well, even purchases they can’t directly tax, then they are claiming ownership of even more money.
So I was just pondering on why they don’t just pull a number out of the air and confiscate that up front and leave the sales part alone?
Of course I don’t like that idea at all.
were you the owner of a corporation or business or an employee? Very big difference.
The cost of living reflects true market forces. It's an island with limited space and everything needs to be shipped there.
HK’s advantage is because it is an English speaking port city following the rule with perfect integration of a corporate-state next door. The Cheap Sh*t from Shenzhen has to go through the HK Ports.
you almost have it right. It's follows what? The rule of what? In order for "business" to function the rule of law and a stable platform for transactions has to occur. In other words if I give you A and you give me B in return, we are assured that the transaction occurs, that the monies/funds/good/whatever are assured EACH time the transaction occurs.
Without the stability and the rule of law chaos occurs and there can be no simple market but a disordered mess, where different bosses need to be paid off and transactions that occur one time may never be repeated again. As an example Russia, Mexico, any country in Africa and I'm sure you can fill in others.
And while we’re at it, Hong Kong has a state provided universal health care system.
they do not have an exclusive health care program, like Canada. They have the option of private physicians if they will pay for it.
Are you proposing we should adopt that as well?
My snowboarding friend, we do have universal health care for catastrophic needs. If you would care to go to the nearest emergency room with your ailments they are required by LAW to evaluate, stabilize and treat your emergent condition. They must provide you with follow up physicians and social services is available to assist you with funding for meds that are emergent and treatment that is emergent.
The big myth and LIE by the MSM and libs is that some people can't get health care. What they can't get is to get specialist to treat them for FREE. The "poor" would rather have cable tv, cell phones, alcohol, drugs, new clothes, televisions with big screens than pay for med bills.
Hong Kong isn't for the weak. If you are a multinational or desire to have your products shipped around the world, it's a very lucrative place for conducting those transactions. The way I describe it, is that if you're the guy shoveling gravel it sucks.... but if you're the guy holding the clip board, sitting in the truck and pointing where you want the gravel... then Hong Kong is for you.
If you think it's a lie, call one of the big credit card issuers (BofA, Citi, Discover, etc.) because that "lie" is exactly what my issuer (Discover) told me.
(As an aside, do you really think "lousy credit risks" would have single-digit purchase APRs?)
It's not gonna happen, at least, not in a state like Virginia...unless they want to deal with an angry mob that comprises 90+ percent of the population. Of course, they could act like the RIAA/MPAA (with regard to online file-sharing cases) and embark on a campaign of hitting a few people to scare the rest of the population into compliance.
So have you ever been to Hong Kong?
Another excuse for people not to spend, putting us closer to a depression, putting us closer to passive resistance of the government by avoiding taxes any way we can, putting us closer to outright subversion of the government, putting us closer to totalitarianism, putting us closer to armed rebellion, putting us closer to re-building the US according to the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Now we have to guess just how long this devolution will take.
Another excuse for people not to spend, putting us closer to a depression, putting us closer to passive resistance of the government by avoiding taxes any way we can, putting us closer to outright subversion of the government, putting us closer to totalitarianism, putting us closer to armed rebellion, putting us closer to re-building the US according to the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Now we have to guess just how long this devolution will take.
What the hell is that alphabet soup crap supposed to mean?
Single-digit: self explanatory.
Purchase APR: Annual Percentage Rate, i.e., the interest charged periodically on balances in the Purchases category of an unsecured credit line such as a credit card.
It's on the Truth-in-Lending Act disclosure that must be provided by creditors to consumers who apply for and maintain credit accounts.
Makes no difference, anyone that doesn’t pay their credit card bill 100% every month on time should have their card revoked.
Sure, and companies shouldn't be allowed to issue short-term commercial paper.
Feel free to start up your own bank or thrift and require all your credit customers to pay in full every month [i.e., the AMEX charge card model]. However, for all the folks who can't pay their balance in full every month for a perfectly legitimate reason, it's their choice, and so long as they are abiding by the cardholder agreement, there is nothing wrong with their actions, and their card should not be revoked (unless, of course, they do something stupid...like failing to make timely payments greater than or equal to the required minimum payment).
People like you are why we desperately need a depression!
That's funny, considering your profile page shows that you're located in California, one of the States that is most likely to go bankrupt in the very immediate future.
I can answer that. There are many forms of wealth, and the government attempts to tax each of them to varying degrees, by whatever amount they can get away with.
By having multiple taxing authorities, the government can generate a more stable revenue stream. Now, I personally think that an income tax is better than a sales tax, since the income tax is a tax on money I obviously have.
However, people don’t always have income, but they almost always have to buy things, so a sales tax will bring in a much more stable flow of money. Also, I like the sales tax because it is much harder to make it “progressive”, meaning that it is a tax that hits EVERYBODY.
I think all taxes should be applied to everybody equally. We are almost to the point where a majority of the people in this country don’t pay income taxes, and therefore can vote for people who will raise those taxes without feeling any pain. The constitution originally required all taxes to apply across the board so we wouldn’t be able to “tax the other guy”, and the income tax is the easiest tax to apply to a small subset of the population.
A national sales tax, or the “fair tax”, would be a better tax to make sure everybody feels the pain when they ask to raise taxes to pay for more government programs.
Property taxes are really good at generating stable income, but are really bad because the ownership of property has no relationship to your current ability to hand cash to the government. However, property is probably one of the better measurements of how much burden you put on government, since it is property that forces government to build roads, and provide police and fire protection. But the correlation between property VALUE and cost to the government is minimal — a 4-family home costs the same no matter whether it is a derilict house or a mansion.
Sin taxes are the easiest to levy and raise, because most of us are more than happy to get other people to pay our burdens for us, especially when it’s not a sin we partake of. We non-smoking non-drinking non-gamblers owe a debt of gratitude to the smoking, drinking, gambling population that keeps OUR taxes low. But it is patently unfair for the government to tax particular behavior, and also opens the door for government interference in our freedom, through coersive taxataion.
Anyway, my point is that we can argue over forms of taxation, but whatever form is in use, it should be applied fairly and across the board. So if a state has a sales tax, it should apply to what a person in that state buys, whether they make the purchase at the corner store, at the mall in the next state, or on the internet. That is what is “fair” within the confines of the current tax structure.
I've been the human hockey puck, neck deep at the MTR, almost gotten killed walking across the street, drank and brushed my teeth with only bottled water and have developed an aversion to being a human sardine. ....... but you got to admit, living in an ant pile will make you some money. ...... or some great stories.
Macao and Singapore are pikers compared to HK Island.
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