Time for a flat tax

Watch, it's simple...charge everyone the same percentage. Let's call it 20%.
So here is the example:
1mil / year = 200k in taxes
200k / year = 40k in taxes
100k / year = 20k in taxes
75k / year = 15k in taxes
50k / year = 10k in taxes
25k / year = 5k in taxes

You take it directly out of the paycheck and no exceptions, and poof...no April 15th, no complications etc. Of course that is about as simple as you can make it.

And what about those who don't get paychecks? Small business owners or self employed people? You taxing their income? Their profit? How u figuring profit? Depreciability of assets? What about income from the purchase and sale of capital good?

We don't live in Ancient Sparta where laws were few because the complexities of life were few. We live in a complex economic and social mileiu where real fairness does not lend itself towards simple answers.

And what about those who don't get paychecks? Small business owners or self employed people? You taxing their income? Their profit? How u figuring profit? Depreciability of assets? What about income from the purchase and sale of capital good?

We don't live in Ancient Sparta where laws were few because the complexities of life were few. We live in a complex economic and social mileiu where real fairness does not lend itself towards simple answers.

And to add on; are you going to tax people on the money they're using to spend on financing their house? Are you going to tax them on the money they're using to fund their own retirement? Are you going to tax them on their out-of-pocket healthcare expenses? How about they money they're paying back on loans they used to fund their college education?

As a government, shouldn't you encourage your citizens to go to college, to buy a house, to pay for preventative healthcare, to fund their own retirement? These are all investments in the future of our nation in their own way.

The tax code should not be simplified for the sake of being simple. It's complex because as JR said, we live in a complex world. If it seems too complex, you can always go buy TurboTax to help with your taxes.

Before dismissing the flat tax, or solutions that sound good, ONLY to fall short of revenue needed, consider this.
Our government is out of control and lacking any real accountablilty. Our social programs desperately are in need of radical overhaul. The people that really are in need are being over-shadowed by those that don't. We now have a national debt in excess of how many Trillion???????? Is..........it..........8...TRILLION, and, an ever growing deficit. When are we going to face the music, and when are we going to demand some kind of accountability from our elected officials?
If SERIOUS change is made in some of these things, and then a flat tax, or other alternative might work, as MUCH less revenue generation by the Fed would be required to maintain the satus quo.
Check out the Debt clock. That's some spooky stuff

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

I strongly believe that the market is better than anything else at setting someone's economic value and thus their salary. The market, however, is not working properly in setting CEO compensation. For example, many CEOs who are "leading" companies that are failing still manage to get great compensation packages. One reason is that their salaries (at least for big companies) are determined by committees appointed by the board of directors. Who nominates the board? The officers and fellow board members. Senior officers and boards are in bed and it shouldn't be any surprise that they each scratch each other's backs.

Actually I tend to agree with you. The market is best and CEOs are getting way too much for whatever reason.

Wow. Is the Parking Lot getting political or what?

Actually, I don't mind.

Problem with a luxury tax is that the smart people who have made a lot of money will always find a way around it.

The government tried the same thing with luxury yachts several years ago. They put a ridiculous tax on multi-million dollar yachts and the rich simply went to foreign countries and bought them cheaper.

Result? That put thousands of people who make their living building yachts in the United States out of work.

It is interesting how the parking lot has evolved over the last year or so.

The discussions are interesting and civil.

Before dismissing the flat tax, or solutions that sound good, ONLY to fall short of revenue needed, consider this.
Our government is out of control and lacking any real accountablilty. Our social programs desperately are in need of radical overhaul. The people that really are in need are being over-shadowed by those that don't. We now have a national debt in excess of how many Trillion???????? Is..........it..........8...TRILLION, and, an ever growing deficit. When are we going to face the music, and when are we going to demand at some kind of accountability from our elected officials?
If SERIOUS change is made in some of these things, and then a flat tax, or other alternative might work, as MUCH less revenue generation by the Fed would be required to maintain the satus quo.

This post is so vague it holds hardly any value. I get that you're saying the budget needs to be balanced; but to offer any value you need to tell us where you're going to cut spending in order to do so. Are you going to cut programs? Which ones?

Saying we need to cut spending is one thing, but when you get down and look at how the programs will be affected, it's not so easy to get the budget balanced. Especially without the tax revenue that the top 1% in this country provide. I mean unless you're going to cut ALL public welfare programs and come home from Iraq immediately, you're going to need to RAISE taxes on the rich if you hope to balance the budget.

Before dismissing the flat tax, or solutions that sound good, ONLY to fall short of revenue needed, consider this.
Our government is out of control and lacking any real accountablilty. Our social programs desperately are in need of radical overhaul. The people that really are in need are being over-shadowed by those that don't. We now have a national debt in excess of how many Trillion???????? Is..........it..........8...TRILLION, and, an ever growing deficit. When are we going to face the music, and when are we going to demand at some kind of accountability from our elected officials?
If SERIOUS change is made in some of these things, and then a flat tax, or other alternative might work, as MUCH less revenue generation by the Fed would be required to maintain the satus quo.

Well the complex soultion to the higher taxes involves a startegic effort to reduce government spending drastically and then a reflective effort to reduce taxes to a comparable level.

I seriously think we'll see flying humans with wings and tails before our governent makes a concerted effort to actually reduce spending. By recude spending I mean eliminating billions of wasted dollars on entitlements that don't work and pork that does nothing for people.

Well the complex soultion to the higher taxes involves a startegic effort to reduce government spending drastically and then a reflective effort to reduce taxes to a comparable level.

I seriously think we'll see flying humans with wings and tails before our governent makes a concerted effort to actually reduce spending. By recude spending I mean eliminating billions of wasted dollars on entitlements that don't work and pork that does nothing for people.
I totally agree. BUT...When do we pay the piper? Do we continue on this path? Give up? At what point are we actually circling the drain?

This post is so vague it holds hardly any value. I get that you're saying the budget needs to be balanced; but to offer any value you need to tell us where you're going to cut spending in order to do so. Are you going to cut programs? Which ones?

Saying we need to cut spending is one thing, but when you get down and look at how the programs will be affected, it's not so easy to get the budget balanced. Especially without the tax revenue that the top 1% in this country provide. I mean unless you're going to cut ALL public welfare programs and come home from Iraq immediately, you're going to need to RAISE taxes on the rich if you hope to balance the budget.

There are without a doubt many scenario's that can lead us to a balanced budget. Hell no, it won't be easy. But like a Damn Cancer, it has to be attacked.
Yes, I would SERIOUSLY evaluate and Cut welfare and other Gimme' programs. And YES, I would (in a perfect world) develop a plan to get our asses out of Iraq in a manner we can live with other than turn tail and run. And NO it won't be easy!
By the way, the thrust of the post is that there are numerous other global issues we face in this country in NEED of attention that will greatly impact our tax generation needs. Not to provde a concise plan to do so.

Before dismissing the flat tax, or solutions that sound good, ONLY to fall short of revenue needed, consider this.
Our government is out of control and lacking any real accountablilty. Our social programs desperately are in need of radical overhaul. The people that really are in need are being over-shadowed by those that don't. We now have a national debt in excess of how many Trillion???????? Is..........it..........8...TRILLION, and, an ever growing deficit. When are we going to face the music, and when are we going to demand some kind of accountability from our elected officials?
If SERIOUS change is made in some of these things, and then a flat tax, or other alternative might work, as MUCH less revenue generation by the Fed would be required to maintain the satus quo.
Check out the Debt clock. That's some spooky stuff

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

While I am for eliminating waste and prosecuting fraud in the expenditiure of public dollars, I don't believe a draconian reduction in the governmental revenues will accomplish anything other economic chaos.

As Schneed indicated, what are u cutting? how much? where? Let's say we reduce government spending 20% across the board. A military budget already strapped for cash will have to further increase the burden on individual soldiers. Okay, will exempt the military. Since that is the single biggest expenditure of the federal government (social security is based on an entirely separate tax), we will be cutting many additional services - parks, museums. Oh, and how about all those things that get regulated behind the scenes - like standardization of food production? Remember the dog/cat food issue we just had? Who do you think ensures that weights and measures are standardized in the production, transportation and sale of goods across state lines (You know, like gas and EVERYTHING in your supermarket)?

If you put 1 out of every 5 (20% for those non-math majors) of federal employees out of work, what is your proposed employment plan? Let them starve?

The budget can be reduced by a vigilant and educated electorate. How do we hold the government accountable? It's called the election process. What projects did your senator and/or representative fund? Have you questioned him/her on the reasons? If dissatisfied, did you become involved in the electoral process to bring the abuses to light?