Posted on 04/04/2009 3:16:37 PM PDT by all the best
Our current income tax system, inaugurated in 1913 with the adoption of the 16th Amendment, began with a 1 percent tax on taxable income above $3,000 ($4,000 for married couples). A series of surcharges of up to 6 percent were applied to higher incomes, with the maximum rate being 7 percent on taxable income over $500,000. Less than 0.5 percent of the population ended up paying income tax.
From these humble beginnings, the income tax soon blossomed, thanks to World War I, into a tax with a minimum rate that doubled and a maximum rate that reached 77 percent on income of over $1 million. The rates did not fall significantly until 1925. In the middle of the Great Depression, the top rate rose to 79 percent. During World War II, the tax rate for those in the highest income bracket reached an astounding 94 percent. The Internal Revenue Code of 1954 resulted in 24 brackets with rates ranging from 20 to 91 percent. The top rate remained at 91 percent until 1964. Under the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 and the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the top marginal tax rates were lowered to 50 and 28 percent respectively. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 established the current tax brackets of 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, and 35 percent.
There is no question that the federal tax code is too long, too complex, too intrusive, too confusing, and too inequitable. The members of Congress responsible for the tax code would not even disagree. As a consequence, cries for tax reform can always be heard from every quarter — and especially around election time. There are even organizations dedicated solely to tax reform, such as Americans for Tax Reform, Reform AMT, Citizens for Tax Justice,
(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...
Ping to read later
Here’s my tax theory, one that I’ve not seen proposed elsewhere.
We start with the proposition that anything you tax you get less of.
Next, I believe all agree that we want less poverty.
Therefore, we should tax poverty. The less money you make, the higher the tax you should pay.
Jack
We should let the government collect 15% of our gross adjusted cumulative incomes. A certain part (10%?) would be a flat tax on income, and the other part (5%) would be a national sales tax. The government could not spend any more than that, and it would be based on the previous year’s income.
Example: We add our incomes and it comes out to be $100. Government could only spend $15.
This is what “Push Back Until” is all about. Read the info at http://www.pushbackuntil.com and then come to D.C. in September and early next year. This is the only way Congress will realize that we are serious about them changing their pathetic overspending.
You got that right. The circus is about to begin. Bring it on. Spread this FairTax crap on us again.
So...what’s your solution to the current taxation model, if you see it as a problem?
The income tax is based on the NUMBER of dollars you earn. The VALUE of those dollars is controlled by the Federal Reserve. The lower the value of your dollars, the more you have to earn to keep your standard of living. The more you earn, the more tax you pay. Your earnings are plundered by the Federal Reserve and the IRS.
I have an alternative proposal. Let us instead start from the following basis: the government is not entitled to any tax. None whatsover. Property may be voluntarily ceded to the government to be exploited for the benefit of operation of the government. Anyone who proposes a tax of any kind must first forever forfeit all property and interests of any kind to the government before their proposal may receive a hearing before a legislative body. All persons who support such a proposal in any way are assumed to be party to the forfeiture. Including the people who vote for it.
There. That’s a good bargaining position.
Leaves out a very important factor, various items of deductibility. A Major Point in Reagan's Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) of 1982, was the reduction and removal of itemized deductions in return for reduction in top marginal tax rates. Before this there were deductions for political contributions, all taxes and even interest on debts.
Consequently, we lose sight of the fact that there were people who could manipulate the tax regulations down to zero. Indeed that was the origin of the AMT in 1970 when a hundred or so taxpayers of considerable wealth outraged Congress by legitimately not paying any tax at all. Does this ring a bell (hint: bonuses?)
As I have said all too many times, much to the chagrin and anger of the Fair Tax Police, NO tax reform will ever work until government spending is brought under control.
That is what must be accomplished first!
How can anybody seriously have any actual tax reforms happen when leftists presently dominate politics, possibly for a very long time to forever?
I'm sure this will become the law of the land.
One of the root causes of our out of control spending and taxation is that a high percentage of people get a free ride.
And many get more than a free ride - they get money handed to them via the EIC program.
If every American had to pay something into the tax coffers (have “skin in the game” as Comrade Urkle put it) they wouldn’t be so supportive of federal government increasing taxes and spending.
Some form of a Flat Tax would represent a turn toward sanity and equity.
So many misrepresentations of the fairtax in one article.
"The real issue is total spending by government, not tax reform."Any system of taxation that take 40% of the national wealth/income is unfair; any that only takes 5% I could live with. Let us stop arguing about the form of taxation and start looking at the level of government spending.
“Any system of taxation that take 40% of the national wealth/income is unfair; any that only takes 5% I could live with. Let us stop arguing about the form of taxation and start looking at the level of government spending.”
Got that right. For a long time “conservatives”/Republicans have limited themselves to talking about tax cuts and new clever taxing schemes while government growth and spending have skyrocketd. If government were at rational level, it wouldn’t much matter what form of tax we had.
btt
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