I want a flat tax, preferably somehow tied to consumption of government services, but at least on consumption instead of income, profit, investment, and other useful things. Not only is there no good defense of progressive taxation, there isn’t any reason rich people should pay more in an absolute sense, even if the rates are equal. Not unless you subscribe to the “from each according to his abities, to each according to their needs” philosophy.
That and they don’t want more money in the hands of upper middle class and the tier above that. It would give that class which is mostly conservative more power to control their destinies and influence government. The super rich (most politicians and behind the scene power brokers) don’t pay income taxes they pay 20% on capital gains. They are UNAFFECTED and DON’T CARE!
Taxes are slavery, cut and dried.
It is like the false dream of home ownership. Ask the families who have family farms/ranches that are paid off or the family that paid of their mortgage only to lose that asset because they couldn’t pay their property taxes.
I have no real arguments with the author. I think the flat tax is a more realistic goal, because it has some hope of being obtainable.
I prefer the fair tax/sales tax, because I do think it’s the most fair, but the author points that we could push for the fair tax and end up with both a sales tax and an income tax. That would be terrible.
So, I’ll settle for a flat tax. I do, however, want individuals/families to have the same right to exclude expenses from being considered income.
You are describing the fair/sales tax. It only taxes what you buy or use. The Fair Tax as discussed now also replaces ALL other federal taxes including Soc Sec, Medicare, excise, capital gains, gas taxes, etc.
The flat tax is on income and still requires reporting income. It’s just that there are zero deductions and one tax rate for all. Without deductions the rate would be around 10-15% period. It doesn’t get rid of excise, Soc Sec or Medicare taxes.
Oh, and then there is the “consumption” tax. It too requires you report income. But then you deduct what you save or invest only and pay a tax rate (the same for all) on the remainder which is, technically, what you have consumed.