We can (and do) tax income of all kinds (corporate, personal, wages, interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, etc.). And we can and do tax transfers of money (sales taxes [mostly, so far, at state and local levels], various "sin" taxes [fuel, tobacco, alcohol], and estate taxes. So, our money is taxed, multiple times, coming and going.
But this likely won't be enough for the Obama regime. With spending on "entitlements" and interest spiraling out of control and unlikely to be reigned in, more tax revenue will be needed. There will likely be further increases on income tax rates for "the rich," but for the most part, the regime has boxed itself in by promising not to raise income tax rates on middle and low income people. And I doubt that a wide-ranging VAT will be implemented (maybe on selected "luxury" goods), because it will be perceived as regressive.
So, if you're limited on increasing tax revenues from income and from outflow, what's left? A tax on having. A national property tax on your houses, your cars, your other physical possessions, and most importantly, on your investment portfolio. You won't have to realize profits by selling stocks in order to be taxed; just the fact that you own them (you greedy, selfish capitalist pig, you) will earn you an annual invoice from Uncle Sam. A very quick method of income redistribution.
I propose that a start on reducing the deficit should include a $100,000 each assessment from every attorney in the US. That will bring in at least 114 billion dollars. Not enough, but a start.
With the debt Obama is running up, the only option without the US defaulting on it's debt is a federal VAT (Value Added Tax). This will be the ultimate battle ground if you ask me.
Obama’s strategy is to layer one unfunded program on top of another until “we have no choice” but to implement a federal VAT.
Food is likely to be exempt, but “bad” things like ammo and guns likely to carry a 50-75% VAT burden.
IMHO that is when the SHTF.
Alright!
I was just thinking that taxes are WAY too low. :)
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/article/vat-will-the-us-adopt-a-value-added-tax/411133/
“Until recently, discussion of a U.S. VAT had been limited to the back rooms of think tanks and cocktail hours of high-minded conferences. But nearly every other industrialized nation has one, and the idea is beginning to spread. In addition to Volcker, the head of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad (D-N.D), has mused that a VAT has “got to be on the table,” and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has murmured sweet nothings about it. In fact, interest in a VAT is cropping up all along the ideological spectrum (albeit more often along the leftish end).”
In conclusion:
“Americans as a whole did not squawk when spending rose during the Bush administration, and in electing Barack Obama, they voted for bigger government. At some point, the politics we have voted for have to be paid for. A VAT is likely to be part of the answer.”
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!
I for one hope they continue this line of talk and thinking. Nothing will throw these asshats out of office faster than a VAT or even the idea of a VAT.
The media started talking about a VAT last summer. I posted this CNN/Fortune magazine article several times already:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/05/retirement/next_crisis_americas_debt.fortune/index.htm
The VAT is coming soon and it will kill the middle class in this country! That’s part of the plan to place the government in charge of everything.