Flat tax for middle class

The Washington Times ^ | November 29, 2007 | Harold Ford, Jr.

[ChicagoHebrew]

It's statements like these that make me very sad Harold Ford lost his Senate bid last year. Harold Ford is the Joe Lieberman of domestic policy -- a sensible, pro-growth, pro-freedom, truly moderate Democrat. For a Republican to propose these things is a non-starter. For a Democrat to do so means that they'll actually get listened to.

What is it about Tennessee that makes it so amenable to decent, sensible Democrats? I'm not just talking Ford -- Governor Phil Bredesen has shown more courage and political will in tackling growing government entitlement spending (particularly in health care) than any Republican out there.

[Free Vulcan]

Fred Thompson has propsed an opt-in flat tax of two rates: 10% up to 100K and 25% over 100K.

[familyop]

I met a former Hewlett Packard network analyst and administrator earlier today. He was working in a car parts store, where mostly Canadian, Mexican and Chinese items are sold. He said that the systems and software development jobs that he once saw Americans working at are now done in India for American company bosses. He’s no longer part of the middle class.

[Myrddin]

The former HP network analyst allowed his job skills to rot. The field of computer science is a fast moving train. You have to continually update your skill set to keep a job. People who specialize in a narrow set of skills will eventually find their jobs eliminated by new technologies. The work outsourced to India is generally fully specified grunt work (coding). The architecture, design and modeling of business processes is still happening here. Managing the outsourced vendors, meeting deadlines and maintaining satisfactory quality are continuing problems.

[Myrddin]

Harold Ford is still pushing class warfare. That crack about Bush tax cuts for millionaires exposes his agenda in a big way. His whining about health care costs smells of pushing for more socialism to "fix" the the problem.

[WOSG]

BARF!!! The entire Democrat party is sold off to the liberal socialist special interests, they have already proposed multiple tax hikes this year. Decent Democrat is an oxymoron, in all 50 states.

A joe lieberman and “moderate” Dems are there selling us short on immigration, taxes, ‘gay rights’, defeat in iraq and everything else.

“Governor Phil Bredesen has shown more courage and political will in tackling growing government entitlement spending”
oh please, when Romney does it, he’s bashed, when a Democrat does it, he’s praised. bass-ackwards.

What we need is real conservative leadership: The Tax Choice Act.
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2007/10/taxpayers-choice-act.html

There is someone from Tennessee in support of it. Maybe you should look him up.

[VeniVidiVici]

And who does Junior claim is in the middle class? Did he lay out income numbers?

[familyop]

"The former HP network analyst allowed his job skills to rot. The field of computer science is a fast moving train. You have to continually update your skill set to keep a job. People who specialize in a narrow set of skills will eventually find their jobs eliminated by new technologies. The work outsourced to India is generally fully specified grunt work (coding). The architecture, design and modeling of business processes is still happening here. Managing the outsourced vendors, meeting deadlines and maintaining satisfactory quality are continuing problems."

LOL! That's such a wordy and tactical way of saying that American business managers are geniuses, while software developers are lazy retards. Thanks for the motivation to work with a small group to conquer the stale, lazy-minded, competition here. I inquired into wage-work for our overlord geniuses. But for the most part, they only want Java and C# twits with [something that rhymes with twits].

[Arthur McGowan]

How about a 10% rate for EVERYBODY, regardless of annual income? People often make a million or several million in the space of several years—preceded and followed by years of little income. Why punish those people?

[Arthur McGowan]

The biggest cuts in marginal tax rates under Bush went to the middle class.

[ChicagoHebrew]

Yes, he did. If you’re actually curious, read the damn article yourself.

[FreedomCalls]

Everyone curses the AMT, but isn’t that simply a flat tax? What’s the difference?

[Straight Vermonter]

Can anyone explain to me why capital gains taxes are taxed differently than income? Why should a blue collar guy have a higher rate than an investor?

[tiger-one]

The Flat Tax was a topic in 1999 when Forbes was a candidate. Ford wants it only for the middle class. Should be for ALL

[camle]

everybody ought to have a stake in supporting the government and it’s spending. not just certain socia-economic groups.

a flat tax of whatever percent applied to everybody will fix a myriad of ills.

[sphinx]

Can anyone explain to me why capital gains taxes are taxed differently than income?

In principle, we should tax capital gains as ordinary income, but only after indexing them for inflation. That gets very complicated.

A consumption tax would make that problem go away.

[VeniVidiVici]

Why should a blue collar guy have a higher rate than an investor?

To spur investment.

I know several "blue collar guys" that have plenty of investments. Why do you think capital gains are only available to white collar workers?

[Myrddin]

I'm a software developer too. I also design hardware. Java and C# are part of my tools, but my employer really prefers ANSI C and C++.

Do you have a 4 year degree? Can you get a clearance? Do you have a good set of skills? If so, there are hundreds of job openings open. Why work for wages when you can land a good salaried position with decent benefits?

[Myrddin]

The biggest cuts in marginal tax rates under Bush went to the middle class.

I know that. The tax cut made my refunds so large that I purchased another house as an investment. My W4 is set at single/0 dependents to compensate for the impact of my wife's income that isn't sufficiently taxed at the marginal rate caused by adding her income on top. I end up paying about $4,000 of her federal taxes with my excessive witholding. If she was taxed at the same rate as I am, she would quit her job. Losing 50% of her income wouldn't make it worth her time. I realize that her income is really subject to that 50% rate, but it isn't as obvious to her when I "cover" the difference. I permit her to work so she will have a fall back if I happen to die prematurely. The mortgage is paid off. The property taxes are far less than local rents for small apartments.

[JPJones]

Fred Thompson has propsed an opt-in flat tax of two rates: 10% up to 100K and 25% over 100K.

I've got a better plan: 10% for registered republicans, and 25% for registered democrats, To each according to his or her belief.