Here is my suggestion - a totally regressive, all-inclusive tax on TOTAL household income, starting with first dollar taken into the household, NO deductions for ANYTHING. The very modest tax would be set at 1% of the gross receipts of every household, from whatever source. If there is a Section Eight subsidy of $6,000 a year, $60 would be taken for this purpose. If an inheritance of $150,000 fell to the members of the household, $1,500 would be contributed. If $9,000 were distributed to this household as food stamps, then $90 would be assessed. For a family of four, that had earnings of $36,000 annually, they would be liable for $360, even if no income tax was due otherwise. Likewise, unemployment benefits would also subject to, and held accountable for, this same levy, as would be strike benefits paid by unions.
This way, EVERYBODY has skin in the game, and freeloading is no longer entirely “free”. Once everybody is getting bitten by the taxman, then a very loud clamor for reform will come.
This surtax would be repealed with the first budget that can be balanced, no deficit financing, based on the standing rules of taxation.
The tax code is more about government control than it is about revenue. They reward behaviors that they approve of by granting tax breaks. The penalize behaviors that they don’t like with taxes and fees. They would never give up the power that comes with taxing.
What this article doesn’t address is the impact of the taxes. If you increase the tax on millionaires, it’s going to reduce the number of millionaires. If you tax the job creators, will they react by creating fewer jobs and if so, what impact will that have on overall tax revenues?