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Ted Cruz Wants To Raise Taxes On Your Grandma
Fortune.com ^ | February 2, 2016 | Chris "The Thrill" Matthews

Posted on 02/08/2016 7:00:17 PM PST by kiryandil

**snip**

...Ted Cruz has endorsed policies that would fundamentally change who pays the federal government’s bills, and how.

Expect the establishment wing of the Republican Party to increasingly draw attention to this fact, especially when it comes to his tax policy. While on the one hand Cruz’s plan hews to Republican orthodoxy in its large tax cuts for the wealthy, he also embraces a European-style Value Added Tax, which is a lot like a sales tax, as replacement for all payroll taxes, and which would enable the elimination of all income tax outside a 10% flat tax for all earners...

**snip**

...The downside to this is that his plan is both very regressive - shifting the burden of paying for the federal government onto the middle and lower classes during a time when only wealthy Americans are seeing economic gains - and that it places particular pressure on older Americans living off of social security.

As my colleague Shawn Tully points out, the Cruz plan would increase the price of the things we buy everyday by a lot. Cruz would argue that this would be more than offset by his tax plan’s increase in take-home pay. But what about people who no longer earn wages, like retired folks living off social security? They worked their whole life paying income taxes, and if Cruz’s plan is enacted, will have the rules of the game change on them when they can afford it least. Their entitlement payments won’t go up, but the price of everything they buy will.

Since older Americans vote in greater numbers than any other demographic group, and senior citizens are now one of the Republican Party’s most reliable voting blocks, expect Republican hopefuls to increasingly attack Cruz on this point in New Hampshire this week and beyond.

(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chrismatthews; cruz; fearmongering; gettedcruz; losecruz; socialsecurity; taxes
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To: nopardons

Chile for one works quite well with their VAT, 17+%. But they don’t also have an income tax to go along with it.


101 posted on 02/08/2016 8:06:44 PM PST by X-spurt
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To: kiryandil

Oh, I see. You are in that category of people who stoop to the lowest common denominator. Makes sense that you support Trump, then, I guess.


102 posted on 02/08/2016 8:07:12 PM PST by bolobaby
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To: Milhous; onona

Wonder what would happen if I told April to “make me a sammich”?


103 posted on 02/08/2016 8:08:12 PM PST by kiryandil ("When Muslims in the White House are outlawed, only Barack Obama will be an outlaw")
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To: onona

I don’t watch network television, so I wouldn’t get your reference (nor vote for a poseur reality star).


104 posted on 02/08/2016 8:08:25 PM PST by bolobaby
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To: Dead Corpse

Don’t Trumpbots get a pass? The DONEald said they could.


105 posted on 02/08/2016 8:08:36 PM PST by X-spurt
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To: Dead Corpse
So you are aware that this isn't a VAT then. Good. Glad we got that cleared up...

Yes, but I can see why "economists" would liken it to a VAT - since the CONSUMER ends up paying it.

Yes, glad we got that cleared up.

106 posted on 02/08/2016 8:10:06 PM PST by kiryandil ("When Muslims in the White House are outlawed, only Barack Obama will be an outlaw")
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To: kiryandil

Gotta Love it! Tax poor old granny -— before tossing her off a cliff. ( oops, that’s his next article ...)


107 posted on 02/08/2016 8:10:56 PM PST by faithhopecharity ("Politicians are not born, they're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 -- 43 BCE))
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To: kiryandil

Always, always, always consider the source.

I know you’re aware of this.

In this case, the source is an enemy of Liberty, the Constitution, and our traditional, conservative principles.

When people like this rail against Ted Cruz, it helps us identify and confirm our resolve to support the best candidate in the race.

Look at the list of those who hate Cruz and ask yourself, “Why would these people be so opposed to Cruz?” If the answer doesn’t come to mind immediately, ask yourself a second time.

When the flak is greatest, you’re over the target.

We can learn something here, if (and only if) we are thinking it through.

So, thanks for posting this pro-Cruz article.


108 posted on 02/08/2016 8:11:07 PM PST by kinsman redeemer (The real enemy seeks to devour what is good.)
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To: nopardons

Why are you venting at me about what other people do? Was my comment too close to the truth that you felt the need to try and redirect? Interesting psych profile here... Hmmmm...


109 posted on 02/08/2016 8:11:10 PM PST by bolobaby
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To: Dead Corpse

Do you think there are no taxes on each stage of production now?


110 posted on 02/08/2016 8:13:49 PM PST by pilgrim
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To: kiryandil

Most plans provide for senior to recoup those paid on their income tax returns.


111 posted on 02/08/2016 8:15:08 PM PST by pilgrim
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To: kiryandil

So paying less taxes is a good thing then...

Welcome aboard the Cruz train...


112 posted on 02/08/2016 8:15:27 PM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: kinsman redeemer
So, thanks for posting this pro-Cruz article.

You're very welcome. I hope to post many more "pro-Cruz" articles like this in the coming days. :)

113 posted on 02/08/2016 8:16:41 PM PST by kiryandil ("When Muslims in the White House are outlawed, only Barack Obama will be an outlaw")
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To: pilgrim

There are tons of taxes. This is just one way to get rid of them.

For the record, I still prefer an NRST that replaces our current tax nightmare entirely.


114 posted on 02/08/2016 8:17:20 PM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: Dead Corpse

Trump’s my engineer - and I’m your Huckleberry. :)


115 posted on 02/08/2016 8:17:40 PM PST by kiryandil ("When Muslims in the White House are outlawed, only Barack Obama will be an outlaw")
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To: Milhous

The American people do want larger government, as you say, but they want only their “rich neighbors” to pay for it.


116 posted on 02/08/2016 8:20:26 PM PST by Theodore R. (Liberals keep winning; so the American people must now be all-liberal all the time.)
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To: WENDLE
Agree
117 posted on 02/08/2016 8:21:02 PM PST by TribalPrincess2U (0bama's agenda�Divide and conquer seems to be working.)
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To: pilgrim
Most plans provide for senior to recoup those paid on their income tax returns.

This business of the seniors is a SERIOUS defect in Cruz's plan. I'm sure the matter will come up again.

118 posted on 02/08/2016 8:21:13 PM PST by kiryandil ("When Muslims in the White House are outlawed, only Barack Obama will be an outlaw")
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To: blueplum
My understanding is that Cruz's 16% 'Business' tax replaces both the individual and the employer sides of the FICA taxes, i.e. 16% in place of current 15.3% on current wages up to current SS limit, at most $82 more at the SS limit of $117k for 2014. Now for wages over the SS limit your taxes on wages do go up a lot potentially, but then your personal tax rate is still only 10% over that. And for business net income over expenses other than wages the 16% rate is lower than the current corporate (or Chapter S) rates. And the economy saves a LOT in compliance costs.

To get the total tax take down you'll need to shrink government (Ted's start is listed upthread), privatize SS and Medicare with politically palatable phase ins (essential but difficult), then go after the gibmedat entitlement boondoggles. Then shrink the debt/GDP ratio by growing the latter and starting to pay down the former. Selling off excessive federal land gradually would help. It's going to take more than a term or two, even with the best candidates imaginable, to get that all done. I doubt I'll ever see the Feds take the pre-progressive era 3% of GDP. We'll probably need at least that for defense for the foreseeable future. If some states want to tax themselves to maintain their current level of goodies let them try that... in competition with lower tax, less goodies, states.

119 posted on 02/08/2016 8:21:33 PM PST by JohnBovenmyer (Obama been Liberal. Hope Changed)
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To: kiryandil

The regressive value-added tax is the main reason someone I know would never vote for Cruz. (He has other reasons too.) It might be hard to explain this to low-income people. It’s not a big, juicy, visible issue.


120 posted on 02/08/2016 8:22:06 PM PST by firebrand
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