I'm all for a flat tax of sorts. You couldn't blame rich people for wanting to horde some of their hard earned fortunes though. If there was a tax structure that allowed people to pay less tax by limiting spending then we would have some control over how much tax we pay.

People are buying a bunch of things they can't afford. I don't understand why, but it seems that everyone must have a big screen TV. Even if they can't afford one. If there were a reward for staying within your means, people like me would benefit because I don't feel the need to have a lot of stuff.

There are probably many better methods of collecting taxes but I don't see the current system changing drasticly in the near future. One thing that could make a huge difference is to get congress to stop spending like many of the people in this country. Stop buying stuff, so that you have more stuff! Cut out the pork and there will be more money to do the job that the government is there for. This is especially important when the economy is weak.

We'll keep an eye on Obama and McCain but we've also got to keep an eye on the congress men and women that we elect. They are all playing with our money.

 

Wittom I always enjoy your well thought out post.

 

Don't forget, we're a Capitalistic Society. If American's stop buying stuff, we're in pretty big trouble!

 

Respectfully, I believe your "examples were bad". Poor people's and wealthy people's income will never be relative. Poor people don't ride around in Bentleys and wealthy people don't frequent Wal-Mart. At least, that's what I heard. - Og

 

Wit, good points, dude. - Og

 

You see, That's the Difference. A Rich person COULD live off Wal-mart.

If a Rich guy decides to live like a poor man, why should he be taxed at a Lower Tax Rate than the Poor guy? Again, RATE (Percentage of his Total Income).

What you guys are basically talking about is a Glorified Luxery Tax. I'm not a big fan of these types of taxes as we WANT rich people to buy stuff to help fuel our economy...

 

The tax should be based on a persons IQ

Higher the IQ the higher the tax

therefore nobody here would be taxed

 

I think I see what you're saying. A rich man could easily reduce his standards to take advantage of buying less which would result in less taxation. Understood. But how many rich people want to drastically change their lavish lifestyles? Maybe a few, but I'm betting not many. Bentley, Gulf Stream and Brooks Brothers would shut down if that was the case and I don't see that happening. - Og

 

We're all wannabe smart guys in here. - Og

 

To be honest, I don't think he'd even have to reduce his Standards too much.

Say the poor guy ended up spending 3,000 dollars in taxes for the year with all the stuff he had to buy (that's %20 of a 15,000 dollar income).

So the Rich guy making 250k would need to buy enough stuff to spend $50,000.000 dollars worth of taxes to hit the same tax rate of 20%. EACH Year...

I think that would be pretty easy to avoid yet still allow you to buy a LOT of cool stuff. It just doesn't add up to be fair any way you look at it...

 

Sad, but you're probably right, depending on how you look at it. If you're smart with your spending, I think it works out fine. But what do I know. - Og

 

What I think is they have to choose, do you want a percentage of money I make, or a percentage of money that I spend? Sorry con't have both, that is incredibly ridiculous.

Second, I believe in more powerful state governments. So the individual actually never pays federal taxes directly, just state (and something of a local city/county tax). Even if that means you have state based welfare programs and social security programs. The state collects my taxes based on the purchases that I make. Then on a quarterly, or bi-annually the state pays federal taxes, and just enough to make the government work.

I think something along these lines would greatly increase our gov's desire to make a good economy. Economy good, I buy a lot, you get a lot and vice versa.

 

Oh another great option, tax on how much money you have in the bank. Again 0 tax for me. I'm broke muahahaha!

Oh wait, that's not a good thing is it.

 

While I understand the sentiments about lower or flat taxes, which by the way I agree with, has anyone considered the fact that the true problem is the amount of government spending?

We send billions of US tax dollars over seas to "help" (buy loyalty) other countries. We waste billions of dollars here on handouts and failed gov't programs.

The tax rate could be dramatically cut and the money returned to the people which would spur a HUGE economic expansion if we just had the ***** to cut spending.

Everyone hates congress, but loves their own congressman.

 

Ain't that the truth! But I get Tom Tancredo so its not hard for me!

You are absolutly right about gov't spending. It needs to be curbed pronto!!