The share of the debt for the 50% of the households that actually pay taxes is about $500,000 each. But if we taxed billionaires at 100% of their annual income, we could pay off the national debt in about 10 years, provided don’t run out of billionaires, now where did I leave my pitchfork?
The national debt averages out to $239,845 per household. 57% of households paid no income tax in 2021, so each tax-paying household’s average share of the nation debt is about half a million dollars, but our concern is with the improper paper shuffling by our chief paper shufflers.
A sales tax that exempts food, clothing, rent, medicine, utilities and other basic necessities would even things out, but then the combined federal and state sales tax rate would probably have to be around 50% or more to make up for the lack of income taxes.
When I was a kid phone service was through a handful of tightly regulated regional monopolies. You had a choice of one service provider, one calling plan, and paid a monthly rent for using the one or two phone models the company allowed you to use. Glacially slow innovation of phone service turned into an avalanche of improvements as soon as regulation was swapped for free market competition. Nobody has nostalgia for their black rotary phone with $20 long distance calling charges.
Test AI for Bias, tell it to draw five political cartoons that target one of the political parties. Then see which party it targets more.