Right Bing…We are he victim of Wallstreet mentality. Money is made at a phenomenal rate by the money managers and inside traders…not the average stock holder. Take a look at your returns and compare them to the wealth thrown around by Wallsteet executives. No one who holds stock and needs short term profits on their shares will put up with long term investment. I"m sure the Romney’s of this world whose goal is to make “money for nothing” ( compliments by way from Bros. in Arms album.) put a lot of pressure at the board meetings of these companies by highering CEO’s whose salaries are based on a percent of the profits.
We had greatest economic growth in the 50’s and 60’s when the highest marginal tax rates were over 90% FORCING reinvestment and minimizing the effects of Wallstreet investors. NOW, conservatives are arguing about 39%; what a joke.
If I were in charge, I would walk into a meeting with the house majority leader and say…" we’ll dufus, my starting point for taxes on the rich is 60%. I could be talked down a few points if we include when to implement single payer healthcare and raising the minimum waging by three dollars. "
By having single payer healthcare, you can get rid of our employer based healthcare system and take the biggest burden off small and large businesses and free up funds for minimum wage increases…it’s a total no brainer idea now opposed by politicians with no brains.
Yes I remember well,when Wally World used to proudly tout,“made in America by Americans” were they not making enough money when they shut Mom and Pop down? Dont really blame the consumer,blame the apathy we have,
I used to try my best to shop local and buy american,but it became very hard to do.
No.47 would be american tax dollars,buy american goods-Kevin
Wally World did MORE then shut down the Mom and Pop stores. They have so much power they can change the way a company that sells them goods do their manufacturing. They FORCED rubbermade to move their operations out of the US and into Thiland. They TOLD them…they would only buy their goods at THIS price. If you didn’t like it…then leave. For consumer goods like that…if you’re NOT in Wally World you’re dead.
Here’s a story close to home. A company in Milford NH (Hitchiner manufacturing) makes cast parts for the auto industry and airplane manufacturers. Anything that can be cast they can do (I think there’s a size limit). They use to also make metal drivers for Calloway and other golf club manufacturers. But the golf club manufacturers demanded to make them cheaper…They cut some costs, but couldn’t get it to the price they wanted.So Calloway then went to China to buy the parts. 2 years after going to China…all of a sudden a Clone golf club was showing up on the market that was EXACTLY like the Calloway. In fact they were built at the plant in China that built the Calloway club heads. But these clubs were going for 1/10th the price of the Calloways. It’s estimated Calloway lost MORE money is lost sales doing this then if they kept the manufacturing here in the states.
“So Calloway then went to China to buy the parts. 2 years after going to China…all of a sudden a Clone golf club was showing up on the market that was EXACTLY like the Calloway. In fact they were built at the plant in China that built the Calloway club heads. But these clubs were going for 1/10th the price of the Calloways. It’s estimated Calloway lost MORE money is lost sales doing this then if they kept the manufacturing here in the states.”
Bargains with the Devil are always bad bargains. I wonder if Calloway will pull out of China for this.
One of the reasons I bought Ping clubs for years was that they were American made. Now, that is no more either. I’m old and my golf days are limited enough, I’ll just buy used and only buy Pings that are more then two years old…too bad. I really think in golf, there is a market for American made clubs. Golf clubs are seldom worth what you pay for them new anyway…why not spend a little extra on quality for American made.
Dont deal with the Devil, your sure to get burnt.So Wal-Mart actually does this?I guess they have more net worth than many 3rd world nations(hope they dont have a army)-Kevin
Ooh. Term limits for all politicians. Two, then out.
10% flat tax whether you make $100 or $100,000,000,000,000.
Those are the two things that bug me the most and the first two things I’d change.
Oh, and I’d make a royal decree making it illegal for Kristin Kreuk to marry anyone but me. As long as we’re dreaming, I say dream big or wake up.
Oh, and ban plastic bags in grocery stores. I don’t need one for my half-gallon of milk. It’s only one thing and it has a handle.
I just came from Germany where, if you don’t bring your own bags, you have to pay for them. I really like that idea. Funny thing is, here in Texas when I say I don’t want a bag or offer them one of my own that I brought, they look at it like the monkey looked at the obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey. “What? You DON’T want a bag? What kind of freak are you?” I like to think of myself as a ‘Crunchy-Con’ a Conservative Environmentalist.
I once read that all the plastic bags we use annually in the U.S. could power 8 million cars. Of course, I’ve also read that 91.325% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Yes plastic bags come from Saudi Arabia(they love us so much)-Kevin
No.48 only biodegradable packaging or containers with fuel value(I consider 2nd use as fuel, recycling)
Flat tax ? This is an idea that makes people who even care about the working poor cringe. In order to function, the govt. would have to have a rate high enough that some one on minimum wage would loose nearly 1/4 of his salary to the Feds alone and still have to pay out all other taxes. Assuming you still allow deductions, these people usually can’t afford to own a home, send their kids to college and take advantage of these deductions. We the very rich would pay NOTHING given the lower rates to begin with.
So now you want to eliminate all the deductions to keep the rates low? Now the govt. has to help fund everything charitable to a much greater extent for what non profits now provide including the Red Cross etc., as deductions for charitable donations would cease to exist. The country would go into an immediate depression with no incentive on the part of any small or lrge business to reinvest in their own business. The govt. would then have to provide great role in funding businesses to. Very soon, your 10% rate would go much much higher, for everyone. The stock market would be in constant turmoil with it’s own incentives gone. You may not like the present tax code but it’s a work in progress and always will be.
All These Different Reasons And Exceptions For Certain People So they Don’t Contribute Tax Money Is The Problem. There Are More And More Every Day. A Flat Tax Is Better Than What We’ve Got Now, But I’m Beginning To Think A VAT Would Be More Fair To These Low Income Contributing Types You’re Talking About.
To really fix the problem we need to drastically cut spending, rein in entitlements, get everybody contributing something with a VAT or something, and eliminate withholding tax.
Part of Europe’s tax VAT system is that it’s self-enforced. And there’s a LOT of fraud.
But I’m NOT convinced it’ll work. Our current tax systems problems is NOT that big of a problem to fix. Eliminated stupid special deductions that only the top .1% have access to. Income is income…no matter what the source is and should be taxed accordingly. The top .1% are paying on average paying a tax rate of 15%. While the middle class is paying on average 30%.
The other problem I have with a VAT…is that it doesn’t eliminate income tax…nor does it fix the income tax inequality. Countries that have VAT still have income tax. And it’s now at a rate higher then it was before the VAT was implemented.
You can’t beat blood out of a turnip and the federal government can’t be funded with a sales tax. And it is difficult to understand why so many hard working middle class people are hell-bent on giving the wealthy a >50% cut on their taxes.
And it is difficult to understand why so many hard working middle class people are hell-bent on giving the wealthy a >50% cut on their taxes
Because they don’t know any better. They listen to the millionaire talking heads who tell them they’ll be better off if they let them pay less tax. Because out of their generosity they’ll pass that savings down to you. Doesn’t matter when you present them with the FACTS that for decades many of these same millionaires have been purposely sending jobs out of this country for the bottom line of their companies. But NOW they’re saying TRUST us. Trickle down economics NEVER worked.
“I just came from Germany where, if you don’t bring your own bags, you have to pay for them.”
We pay for plastic bags. But it is built into the price of the groceries. If I bring my own bags, I can get a 5-cent discount for each bag of my own that I use.
Hey, I Need Those Plastic Bags ! That’s What I Pack My Garbage In So That It Is Preserved When They Bury It At The Landfill ! Besides, It’s An Industry That Furnishes Jobs.
Yeah I like plastic bags too. I put things in them. Flat tax sounds nice but like said, the rate would need to be in the 20s from what I’ve read. I have great sympathy for low earners but, I believe it is a dangerous thing to have a population not contribute to the revenue stream. Everybody should-no exceptions. In high school I never made a lot but I always ended up paying some tax. I got a lot back but still paid some into both fed and state. I don’t know when or why it changed but seems to me any income over $5000 should have tax paid on it.
Personally, I’d like to see businesses pay tax on their gross, not their net, just like me. If my insurance or small business buddies buy a vehicle or travel for business, it is all deducted off of their gross so they don’t pay tax on it. When I had to drive 100 miles a day to work, that all came off of my net. No one can explain why a business can deduct their costs but individuals can’t. Really makes no sense and would eliminate a lot of the accounting tricks now used.
Taxing the gross would often leave no profit. If my annual sales are $250,000, cost of goods $100,000, overhead $30,000 and labor $60,000 my profit is $60,000. At 35%. the tax on gross sales is $87,500. I could stay home and go broke much slower. The right wing radio hucksters have their gullible listeners believing that entrepreneurs pay tax on their gross.
@rodknox Obviously the rate would need to be quite lower for a tax on the gross. On the other hand, the 50% non-business owners that pay tax, currently pay a fairly high rate on their gross not net. Might put a little crimp on the schedule C filers or multiple schedule C filers used to reduce the gross.