[Action-America]

Love'em or hate'em, we need the wealthy, because that top-earning 5% pays more than half of the tax actually collected in the US. Yet, between the abusive IRS, increasingly harsh legislation aimed at punishing the wealthy for nothing more than being wealthy, more frequent government confiscations of private property, frivolous litigation and exorbitant damage awards, we are giving those people no choice, but to take their assets and seek refuge in other countries. This is disproportionately and severely reducing our investment and tax base. At that income and tax level, it doesn't take many leaving, to have a sizable impact on tax revenue and since the lion's share of the 363,000 and growing number, who expatriate every year, are wealthy, that impact is neither far off nor will it be trivial.

Yet, instead of passing laws that would have the effect of rewarding the wealthy for staying, both parties in Congress seem intent on passing more of the same kind of punitive laws that are increasingly forcing our largest taxpayers to leave. What's wrong with this picture?

We need to be encouraging the wealthy to come here, to spend their money here and to invest here, instead of making it difficult for them to stay here.

It's time to abolish the IRS and replace it with a National Retail Sales Tax. Furthermore, we need to seriously roll-back the most wealth punitive portions of the (ANTI)Patriot Act, since those provisions have absolutely nothing to do with fighting terrorism. National legislation needs to be enacted requiring that confiscation of private property may only occur under a court order and must be returned to the owner in the same condition (including accrued interest on seized financial assets and fair recovery of depreciation on physical assets), if official charges against the owner are not filed within 10 days or in the case of ultimate acquittal. Finally, a "loser pays" system needs to be enacted in our civil courts, with liability awards limited to actual and reasonably expected future damages.

With those changes, massive amounts of wealth would flow back into the US, in short order, thus reducing the tax load on everyone. The real problem lies in getting our power-hungry elected officials to let go of that much power over their constituents.

 

[Action-America]

Tax Reform BUMP!

 

[Phantom Lord]

self bump

[proxy_user]

Well, if you're one of the big boys, you should know how to play with the big boys. You should have tame senators on your side, and fierce attack lawyers on your staff. You should be able to use your control of the media to misdirect the wrath of the peasants at your enemies.

If you can't do that, the other guys will pick your bones.

[Ahban]

bump

[Gorjus]

This guy would make a good liberal! Exaggerate the problem! Declare a crisis! Then ride in on a white horse to save the day.

His numbers are based on the basic assumption that 100% of the highest-income taxpayers leave. There is absolutely no basis for making that assumption. The expatriates I know are predominantly upper-middle class (or less) retirees - small business owners, professionals like engineers and doctors, ex-military - who leave to where their very average retirement income puts them in the upper class where the migrate to not where they migrated from. More than that, as retirees their income is down significantly from their peak earning years. They may have a nice nest-egg to live off of, but they wouldn't be paying much in the way of taxes if they had remained. Like Willie Horton said about banks, the high-income taxpayers stay here because that's where the money is (or can be made).

I'd love to see a national retail sales tax replace the income tax. It makes no sense to me to have a national policy that actively penalizes the very behavior - providing a good or service that someone wants to pay for - that we should instead be encouraging. But this article is not even convincing, let alone compelling.

[xrp]

Question is, where are all the wealthy departing to? There has to be somewhere that is more friendly to high income earners.

[Penner]

The wealthiest Americans are leaving the USA for more wealth friendly climates at the highest rate ever.

And as they walk out the door, strip them of their American citizenship and bar them from entry into the US for the rest of their lives. If they try to sneak back in, lock them up in prison and throw away the key.

[HighWheeler]

Unless we can change the "minds" of some rat voters, this article is useless.

What makes this article essentially useless is that there is no listing of how much money you have to make at each level.

Without that, everyone who watches "The Rich and the Famous" on TV are convinced that they themselves are in the bottom half, and then thank God that the rats are screwing the rich.

So they keep voting rat.

[moehoward]

bumperoo

[Badeye]

All I know is I opened a company in 1997, and became sucessful as a result of it. I've bought the home my wife and I had always wanted, and 15 acres of land, with a wonderful view. I've never cheated anyone, I've never cheated on my tax returns. In short, I played the game as it was explained to me up until 1997, and won.

Since I went from a median five digit income to a comfortable six digit income, I have listened closely the the Democratic Party. From what I can tell, they seem to think a man with a high school education, that doesn't need a government handout as some kind of "threat to humanity".

I have a news flash for the Democrats. I busted my ass to get where I am in life. I never asked the government for a damn thing, unless it was the wish it would just get the hell out of the way. Continuing to nominate hypocrites like Gore and Kerry, who are far more wealthy than I am today - FROM BIRTH - just pisses me off.

I've created a dozen in-house high paying jobs in a area of the country known for high unemployment even during the boom years of the 1990's (Appalachia Zone in Southern Ohio). I've been responsible since 1997 for hundreds of sub contractors working from their homes becoming very profitable in their own right, based on their hard work from coast to coast.

To keep telling me in effect, I"m an "evil 1%" just makes me even more determined to see you remain in the Minority, and to keep you out of the Whitehouse.

Keep saying people like me, who found the American Dream, are "whats wrong with the system". It ensures you will remain a shrinking minority within our political system for decades to come.

(Rant OFF)

[EternalVigilance]

What is money?

Today, it is simply an article of faith, mainly expessed electronically without even the minimum show of a fancy piece of paper.

It can be transferred today anywhere globally at the click of a mouse, and at the speed of light.

The ridiculousness of our current form of taxation is huge. It is the equivelant of cooking on a stick over a campfire in the age of microwave ovens.

We need to come into the 21st century and adopt the NRST.

When we do, capital will make its way to America like never before, as will jobs and opportunity.

[Mariner]

I'd sure like to know where one would go if they wanted to keep their money.

While the US tax system may be onerous, is there someplace better? Also, there's a VALUE in the proximate wealth of America and the associated security, rule of law etc.

Where would one go?

[EdReform]

BTTT - read later

[dangus]

>>The top-earning 1% of US taxpayers are Leaving the USA at the highest rate in history.<<

Don't foreigners have to pay taxes on US investments? If not, why not?

Goddammit, I hate rich people who bitch and moan that they have to pay taxes. They can emmigrate to Hell, if they want to.

[CAPTAIN PHOTON]

Notice when you tell us about the woes of this abused top 1%
of wage earners you leave out the fica facts. The guy earning $80k pays !5.3% on the whole 80k...a little more than $12,000 per year for social security and medicare. The
guy earning 800k pays pretty much the same $12000 or so, since fica tops out at about the 82k salary limit. I would suggest that whenever we talk about tax rates on wage income, always factor in the fica....since most working people can never get away from it.


and btw....when the high wagers leave, could they please take their coterie of third world service wokers with them?
I don't need a nanny or a gardener and I resent having to subsidize social services for people who only came to "take the jobs that Americans don't want (at the wages rich folk want to pay)!

[taxtruth]

Scrap the code and do not start another new tax.

[leprechaun9]

For FY2003, the following is the breakdown on the sources of Government Revenues:

Personal Income Tax = 44.5%
SSI = 40.0%
Corporate = 7.4%
Excise = 3.8%
Other = 4.3%

The PERSONAL INCOME TAX BURDEN data:
Top 5% of Income Tax Payers:
1986 = 42.6% to 2000 = 56.0%

Bottom 50% of Income Tax Payers:
1986 = 6.5% to 2000 = 4.0%

With a small % of the Income Tax Payers paying such a large portion, and governments at all levels following this punitive practice, then when the economy tanked and the high incomes earners wern't making those big bucks, then all the government sows came up short of funds!