Great idea.
But what about the 48% who pay no income tax.
Are they paying their "fair share"...?
Perhaps you make a case for completely defunding the beast.
“But what about the 48% who pay no income tax.”
Of course,if people are not working, you cannot expect them to pay income tax. For those people who are working, they are paying income tax in the form of “payroll taxes”, which are 15.3% from the first dollar earned. There is no exemption. If you only had $1500 of earned income in a year, you will still pay close to 15.3% on that income in payroll taxes (if you are an employee, your employer will pay half of the amount). These are not “income taxes”, but they are income taxes from the federal government in that they are used to pay the government’s bills, be they social security, medicare, or national defense, veteran’s benefits, or the national debt. 40% of the total federal taxes collected in America are in the form of payroll taxes.
The long and short of it is, everyone who has earned income in the US pays income taxes. Now if you are lucky enough to make your living from dividends, interest, capital gains, or rents, to name a few (that is, if you are not actually working) then you have “unearned income” and you do not have to pay the 15.3% payroll taxes that the ordinary working people have to pay.