Quote:
Originally Posted by Armistead
Tax rates mean nothing when you're rich, tax shelters and loopholes do.
Corporations don't care about tax rates as long as they have all their shelters and can buy regulation. Our code is so complex for one reason, it keeps average Americans out of the know. The tax code is much like our criminal code, we give people 3 life sentences, then they get out in 5 years. It's laughable when the GOP talks about lowering taxes, then only mentions closing a few possible loopholes.
They say the rich pay most of the taxes. First, we're going into mass debt, so it's not being paid for, second, the average american pays boat loads.
Everything is taxed, gas, sales, power, you name it, it probably has taxes built in. Corporations pay very little for what they get.
We need a complete reworking of the tax code, better known as the rich man's handbook. Get rid of loopholes, shelters, then adjust the tax..
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I generally agree, though I am a bit miffed about you questioning my beloved corporations. For the record, corporations are pretty good about paying their taxes. They're also pretty good about passing that overhead cost on to the consumers, which is why corporate tax is a patently stupid idea. Business is good. We want more of it, not less. No taxes for business.
No capital gains tax either. Capital is also good, especially when one is gaining it.
That said, Kristoff can go to hell. While I agree that
histaxes should be raised, seeing as how he has so magnanimously offered, he has no right to raise my taxes to fund things I don't support. Well, no moral right, anyway. He talks about politicians running from fiscal reality but he is not willing to cut medicare and medicaid or social security; by whose powers combined- not even Captain Planet can save us.
This ridiculous entitlement spending has to stop. It's eating nearly two-thirds of the GNP all by itself and nobody is happy with the results. I don't say that because I'm a heartless capitalist, I say that because everyone already knows it, though they have not yet admitted it. While the goals of these programs are noble and I retain enough of my former liberal enlightenment to appreciate that, the fact of the matter is that they have all been complete disasters.
Something has to be done, but whatever it is, do not let the government have too much discretionary power over it. I'd prefer it not have any at all, but I'm willing to compromise. Remember, this is the same agency that somehow managed to obtain the power to tax people's earnings in the interests of providing for them in retirement, a very simple task by any measure, and then managed to misplace all of that money. Worse, the government now effectively owes money to social security. How the ******* do you even do that? They literally could have taken that money and put it into a CD at a bank and done nothing else with it and
made money.
We are running out of time. Estimates vary, but our interest payments will eclipse our taxable income soon enough that we should be concerned. No amount of taxation, no matter how well-intentioned, nor how wisely-spent, is going to fix the Supreme Mongolian Cluster-**** that is our Federal Government. We need to get right to the heart of the matter, and that means drastic cuts in federal spending and power. It also means boosting our tax base by creating an environment favorable for business. Not this multibillion-dollar forward-thinking green-job BS that obviously isn't working, but a real environment that is favorable for business. No business taxes, no duties, no tariffs, no quotas. We are in an increasingly global market, and that means we need a competitive edge.
/rant Sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes.