Have either Party’s voters heard of self restraint? Cut spending, raise taxes on the %$# that blow bubbles. Kill “most favored nation” & impose tariffs on all imports. Pay off the debt so we don’t have interest as a major budget item. Charge the U.N. for being the world’s police.
Flat taxes have been tried, and they don’t work. After deducting mandatory expenses like food, clothing, shelter, and taxes, the poor have far less discretionary income and the rich have far more. This only serves to create a wider gap between the haves and the have-nots. Progressive taxation and deductions from income try to apply the principle of “from each according to his ability”. Pavlov’s ideas on tariffs can be supported, but his ideas on taxes are naive at best.
The postcard is not the issue. Getting those tax loopholes eliminated is the issue, corporations and hedge fund managers will fight for their exemptions, and both parties, especially Republicans, will defend them to the death.
The biggest mistake in the Ryan plan may be setting a new tax rate before getting any of the loopholes and deductions eliminated. If he’d set it up so that the tax rate is lowered AFTER the deductions were eliminated, and lowered only as much as you can afford based on the number of deductions they actually manage to eliminate, maybe I could take him just a little more seriously.
Richard Nixon is said to have seriously considered implementing a “negative income tax” scheme… which is a simple variant of a flat tax.
Under a flat tax, you pay X% of everything you make. No ifs, ands, or buts, no matter what your income. Make $10K? Give $2500 to the gov’t. Make $1M? Give $250K to the gov’t.
Under a negative income tax, you set a limit like, say, $40K. If you make more than $40K, you give (e.g.) 25% of everything over 40K. So if you make $41K, you pay $250 in taxes. 60K? Pay $5000 in taxes.
If you make LESS than $40K, you pay negative taxes. The gov’t rebates you the amount. Make $30K, get $2500. (Or pay -$2500 in taxes, if you like.) And get rid of welfare programs entirely, since (for example) if you lose your job you’ll be getting $10K until you find a new one.
What a freaking communist, that Richard Nixon, eh? He makes both sides of the spectrum today look like Ron Paul. And he was a Republican!
But my real point being, this is something that seems to me fair and equitable and would fit on the back of a postcard. Funny how it hasn’t come up since the 70s…
You know every time I hear the Repubs blatting about a flat tax, it reminds me of the one about the man who tried to build an airplane out of cast iron.
No matter how much the times may change, now matter how many times you tweak the design, that thing ain’t EVER gonna fly.
If a flat tax is ‘fair’, then why are the main proponents of this idea wealthy conservatives who’ve seen their taxes cut repeatedly in the last decade, and STILL think they’re paying too much?
kreole about 13 years ago
Good one, Tom Toles !
ChukLitl Premium Member about 13 years ago
Have either Party’s voters heard of self restraint? Cut spending, raise taxes on the %$# that blow bubbles. Kill “most favored nation” & impose tariffs on all imports. Pay off the debt so we don’t have interest as a major budget item. Charge the U.N. for being the world’s police.
alan.gurka about 13 years ago
Hopefully, they’re both heading for extinction.
grapfhics about 13 years ago
I see there are no backbones on the mat.
beenthere41 about 13 years ago
Flat taxes have been tried, and they don’t work. After deducting mandatory expenses like food, clothing, shelter, and taxes, the poor have far less discretionary income and the rich have far more. This only serves to create a wider gap between the haves and the have-nots. Progressive taxation and deductions from income try to apply the principle of “from each according to his ability”. Pavlov’s ideas on tariffs can be supported, but his ideas on taxes are naive at best.
ARodney about 13 years ago
The postcard is not the issue. Getting those tax loopholes eliminated is the issue, corporations and hedge fund managers will fight for their exemptions, and both parties, especially Republicans, will defend them to the death.
The biggest mistake in the Ryan plan may be setting a new tax rate before getting any of the loopholes and deductions eliminated. If he’d set it up so that the tax rate is lowered AFTER the deductions were eliminated, and lowered only as much as you can afford based on the number of deductions they actually manage to eliminate, maybe I could take him just a little more seriously.
dcsohl about 13 years ago
Richard Nixon is said to have seriously considered implementing a “negative income tax” scheme… which is a simple variant of a flat tax.
Under a flat tax, you pay X% of everything you make. No ifs, ands, or buts, no matter what your income. Make $10K? Give $2500 to the gov’t. Make $1M? Give $250K to the gov’t.
Under a negative income tax, you set a limit like, say, $40K. If you make more than $40K, you give (e.g.) 25% of everything over 40K. So if you make $41K, you pay $250 in taxes. 60K? Pay $5000 in taxes.
If you make LESS than $40K, you pay negative taxes. The gov’t rebates you the amount. Make $30K, get $2500. (Or pay -$2500 in taxes, if you like.) And get rid of welfare programs entirely, since (for example) if you lose your job you’ll be getting $10K until you find a new one.
What a freaking communist, that Richard Nixon, eh? He makes both sides of the spectrum today look like Ron Paul. And he was a Republican!
But my real point being, this is something that seems to me fair and equitable and would fit on the back of a postcard. Funny how it hasn’t come up since the 70s…
Simon_Jester about 13 years ago
You know every time I hear the Repubs blatting about a flat tax, it reminds me of the one about the man who tried to build an airplane out of cast iron.
No matter how much the times may change, now matter how many times you tweak the design, that thing ain’t EVER gonna fly.
If a flat tax is ‘fair’, then why are the main proponents of this idea wealthy conservatives who’ve seen their taxes cut repeatedly in the last decade, and STILL think they’re paying too much?
meetinthemiddle about 13 years ago
The real irony is that this firestorm of indignation is coming from the party who’s last VP said “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter…”
And under Clinton, the same party trotted out economists warning about how “dangerous” it would be to pay down the debt…
Reagan started the trend of doubling the debt every few years and it’s only been broken under Clinton.
To say “it’s that socialist Obama’s fault” is truly cynical revisionism.
WarBush about 13 years ago
^^You realize that those people are either unemployed or are earning below the poverty line. You should also realize that flat taxes are regressive.