I trust Newt with the best plan.
“Move toward an optional flat tax of 15% that would allow Americans the freedom to choose to file their taxes on a postcard, saving hundreds of billions in unnecessary costs each year.”
Not sure why so many people are fascinated by a sales tax instead of a flat income tax.
Not sure, but I'll take a try at this. Income tax... illegals or others getting paid under the table. How much income tax do they pay? I think that would be ZERO. Sales tax, and everybody that makes a purchase, illegally here or not has to pay.
I'll take a stab at this. The entire concept of taxing "income" - the fruit of ones intellectual or physical labor is inherently immoral.
What belongs to someone - other than one's soul - more than the product of one's endeavors? Why should government get first call on that product? If slavery is the same thing as a 100% income tax rate, then any lesser amount is simply a matter of degree.
It's like the kid said several weeks ago. "How much of MY money should I be allowed to keep?"
Because it's immoral to tax the sweat of your brow.
That's easy. With a sales tax I don't have to reveal my income. It's nobody's business.
I like the idea of a national sales tax, as long as it's capped at 9%.
Here's why. There is a huge underground economy. Those people avoid the income tax by doing cash-only transactions. Yet they get the benefits of government (defense, etc.). You and I pay our share, plus their share. A national sales tax will force everyone to pay something.
And think of how much easier it would be to administer a sales tax instead of an income tax. Just collect 9%, period.
Of course, the problem is in the capping. President Hermann Cain will want 9%. Then 10 years later President Chelsea Clinton will want to bump it up to 20%.
Folks like me who pay from my sole proprietorship businesses 100,000s of dollars in state and local taxes are not too keen to now take on a fixed 12-20% additional Federal Income Tax with no deductions
It would be a massive tax hike for me and I already pay a base of 17,000 a year in FICA alone as a double payer self employed person
Right now you are allowed to consider interest, depreciation and local taxes as business expenses