WELFARE IN THE TAX CODE

New York Post ^ | 6/05/03 | CHRIS EDWARDS

[kattracks]

June 5, 2003 -- BY some reports, the just- passed federal tax cut favored the rich at the expense of the poor. Yet U.S. Treasury data show that lower-income taxpayers received a larger percentage tax cut than higher-income taxpayers. Families with modest incomes received an expansion in the 10 percent tax bracket, an increase in the standard deduction for married couples and an increase in the child tax credit.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Whether Congress expands child credit refundability this year or in 2005, it needs to rethink the welfare system hidden in the tax code.

Amen to that.

[HiTech RedNeck]

However, exempting more citizens from tax and mailing them bigger checks is bad policy. For one thing, if over one-third of Americans think that the government is "free," they'll vote for too much of it.

ain't that the troof

[LizardQueen]

I wish they would scrap the entire tax code as written and put in a greatly simplified one (if they put one in at all, which is another issue entirely).

My idea: a modified flat tax where every wage earner gets 1 whopping cost-of-living deduction, and then is charged a flat % for all dollars above that.

I like this better than a straight flat tax as I don't think people should have to pay tax on money they need to stay alive, as it becomes a disincentive to work and makes welfare look more attractive. I was in this position once and that $1000 bucks or whatever could've paid for medicine I needed, the broken down car I had, etc.

The deduction could be an average cost of living across the entire country, like $20,000 per wage earner or something. If you live in a higher or lower cost area that's your choice.
There would be NO deductions or credits for mortgages, kids, donations, etc. After the .gov takes it's cut, its your decision what to do with your own money.

Why should an apartment dweller subsidize my mortgage via the tax code? Why should my sister's family, in which she is a stay-at-home-mom, subsidize other people's daycare useage when she made the choice to sacrifice her income and stay home?

A flat or modified flat tax would eliminate the possibility of special-interest pandering in the tax code, if we could keep the whores in Washington from getting their hands in there and changing it all around.

LQ

[fishbabe]

but the poor would pay too big a share in that..dims want to be mindful of that so they want to keep the rich{people who make over a $1.98 working their asses off} paying for more and yes i meant a$1.98..after all the taxes a middle class person takes out for their hard work it ends up about a 1.98

[LizardQueen]

In my idea, the cost-of-living deduction would exempt just about all of the income of the working poor from taxation, so I don't know how the Dems could complain about them paying too much. They just wouldn't get anything given to them.
The straight flat tax concept does tax even subsistence income, which I don't agree with.

But I do agree with your 1.98 statement ...

LQ