Warning

 

Close

Confirm Action

Are you sure you wish to do this?

Confirm Cancel
BCM
User Panel

Posted: 5/26/2003 5:42:28 PM EDT
[url]http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32765[/url]

This smells, and I don't care for the stench.


[pissed]
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 6:00:03 PM EDT
[#1]
This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32765


Monday, May 26, 2003



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bush tax package guts middle class

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: May 26, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern



By Joan Veon



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Using tactics of deceit and distortion, President Bush will sign a tax bill that was literally dictated by him to Congress and passed by the Senate late last week while the writers were still crafting it. What is being put into action will not only completely gut our entire tax code but will add a level of taxation that heretofore was only known by the children of Israel when pharaoh commanded them to make bricks without straw.

The tax deductions have been sold to the American people as creating more jobs but the truth of the matter is that Congress feels you and I are not paying enough in taxes. What Bush has done, Clinton could not have ever gotten away with: a tax on everything we buy – otherwise known as a Value Added Tax – for you and I.

If you think you pay a lot in tax now, just wait and see what the Republicans – or should I say, "neocons" have in store for us. Let me give you a glimpse.

First, a Value-Added Tax system is a more "purer" form of tax because it is structured like the morning dew – it will tax everything and every process . For example, currently you are not taxed on the activity (not the gain but the activity) of buying or selling a house. Under a VAT, we will be taxed. Currently you are not taxed for the professional services of our doctor and dentist – those services will have a tax.

The basic structure of a VAT is that it is essentially equivalent to a tax on wages and pure profits – in other words, it is a superior form of tax. In fact, it is a "vertical" tax – depending on how the VAT is structured, every phase of manufacturing and production will be taxed. Currently it is not taxed. For example, the farmer who grows sheep will pay a tax to buy the sheep, then, when he sells the sheered wool, the weaver who buys it from the farmer will pay a tax on that purchase. When the weaver who spins the wool into fabric sells it to a pants factory, the processed wool will be taxed. When the factory sells the pants to the department store, another tax will be levied. At each phase, while there may be some offset in the tax between the various stages of production, you will be taxed on the cost of the shirt which also includes the tax that was paid at each phase. Will the price of the shirt increase – absolutely! So will the cost of living.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the VAT is a more modern tax, providing the ability to tax each phase of production and also the turnover of goods and services, thus increasing the cost to live while providing a greater income stream to the government. A VAT is basically sustainable development at its finest. Government can't continue spending unless it increases its income stream!

Now this brings me to another point – the need for government to increase their income. Do you remember John Maynard Keynes and his socialistic "Keynesian economics"? Essentially, back in 1933 when America went into a major depression, Franklin Roosevelt relied on the "innovative" thinking of Keynes who recommended deficit spending to create new jobs. Well, 70 years later, every level of government in the United States is broke.

Currently, the U.S. government is $7 trillion in debt. Democrats, who have opposed this bill from the beginning, project that under the weight of the huge tax reductions being given to the very wealthy, that by 2013 when it is fully phased in, our debt will rise to $12 trillion or $36,000 for every person in the United States. Basically the July tax rebates we are going to receive will help contribute to this figure. Nothing like paying one credit card with cash from another!

Furthermore, instead of you and I paying taxes and receiving a service, we now live in a time when our government is privatizing (selling its assets to reduce its debt), changing the code so it can increase its income while reducing services to you and I. Under the current tax system, mortgage interest and charitable contributions are deductible. These will have to be sacrificed to provide the government with a greater and constant income stream. Simply put, a "pure tax" is basically "squeezing" the turnip – which is you and I.

So how does a government with a VAT increase revenue? In order to switch to a VAT from our current system of taxing income, the tax brackets of the rich will be reduced from 38.5 percent gradually over a 10-year period to the targeted 21-27 percent VAT rate. This level of taxation is the level that will produce the same amount of tax under our current system. At the same time, the tax brackets of those who have an income of $1 million and above is being reduced, those who currently don't pay tax because they have too little income will have be subjected to an increasing tax bracket which may start out at 10 percent but will have to rise to meet the brackets of the extremely wealthy at 21-27 percent. Is your back breaking yet?

So – what if, in this time of never-ending war on terrorism, the government still does not have enough income? Well, then the rate can be increased. For example, in 1973 when England introduced the VAT, it started at 10 percent ... today it is up to 18.5 percent.

Lastly, the president and his cabinet are unwilling to even admit that they are gutting the current system and putting a VAT in place that will benefit those like Warren Buffet who calculated that he will save $300 million while his secretary's tax rate will increase. This tax bill should be more accurately called, "The Gutting of the Middle Class."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joan Veon is a certified financial planner and is president of Veon

Link Posted: 5/26/2003 6:09:00 PM EDT
[#2]
Actually, it's too heavily slanted toward the 'middle class'...

That's my biggest beef:

Tax breaks for married 35-50yos with kids...

No tax breaks for me (single, 23, no kids (fortunately))...

Even 'college tuition tax breaks' that were supposed to 'help me afford school' were not available to me when I was in school. They wen to my parents, who didn't pay a penny of my tuition...

Instead of this convoluted BS, why not just do a no-credit system where you take income, minus investment losses/business expenses, and then apply the appropriate rate? We could all do our taxes on a postcard, and save millions in processing...

But of course, that would make sense... And the govt CAN'T make sense, can it???

Link Posted: 5/26/2003 6:18:22 PM EDT
[#3]
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 7:56:58 PM EDT
[#4]
I am just really tired of being crapped on by those that are supposed to represent us.

I was supporting gw inspite of his AWB stance, inspite of the patriot act, now this [pissed]


If this is true, then he has sold us down the river just like his dad. Not a real suprise, it just pisses me off that I thought he really had the country's best interest at heart.

All this crap adds up to socialism, plain and simple.

I am seriously thinking about changing my voter registration to independant. Not that it would do any good...........

I voted for the bastard[pissed]
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 8:00:09 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
I am just really tired of being crapped on by those that are supposed to represent us.

I was supporting gw inspite of his AWB stance, inspite of the patriot act, now this [pissed]


If this is true, then he has sold us down the river just like his dad. Not a real suprise, it just pisses me off that I thought he really had the country's best interest at heart.

All this crap adds up to socialism, plain and simple.

I am seriously thinking about changing my voter registration to independant. Not that it would do any good...........

I voted for the bastard[pissed]
View Quote


here's another one to make you happy:

[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=187740&w=searchPop[/url]
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 8:13:14 PM EDT
[#6]
That article is obviously slanted to the left.  It describes a slow move towards a flat tax which is fine.  Then it describes some weirdo made up BS about taxing sheep.
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 8:25:12 PM EDT
[#7]
Sorry, but I gotta call bullshit on this article till I see some proof other than the author's assertion.
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 8:37:56 PM EDT
[#8]
Isn't this what Forbes was stumping on? I think everyone paying the same rate is less socialistic than taxing the rich and redistributing downwards. The thing that bothers me reading this article isn't that it's a flat tax, it's that this is the first I've heard this. Russia went to a flat tax and I think it will be better off than we will in the long run because of it. A flat tax is also much simpler, therefore less of a burden (paperwork)and easier to predict which will have its own benefits. Now I just have to go and get rich.
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 9:38:10 PM EDT
[#9]
From my knowledge about the author's background, she is not really all that left-leaning.  More anti-globalization and anti-government intrusion.

Very nice lady actually, I've had the chance to speak to her on a few occasions.
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 10:51:00 PM EDT
[#10]
A) NONE OF THE STUFF IN THE ARTICLE IS ACTUALLY IN THE TAX BILL (except for the initial rate cuts)

B) It's not a flat tax they're talking about. It's a super-duper-sales tax...

The EU has it, and calls it VAT (just like the article).

The canadians call it GST (Goods & Services Tax)...

Basically, it's like a sales tax applied to ALL commercial sales. No 'reseller exemptions' this time, sales tax is paid at every step of the way from when the raw materials are bought, to when the consumer picks the product out of the store...

It's worse than double taxation, it's infinite multiple taxation (at each stage of production)... The effects are the greatest on expensive and/or complex products (vehicles, computers, heavy equipment, houses, etc)...

A 'flat tax' is simply a single-rate income tax (a much better solution)...
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 10:53:15 PM EDT
[#11]
Quoted:
President Bush will sign a tax bill that was literally dictated by him to Congress
View Quote


The President takes dictation? Oh really?

Or does the writer miss use the word literally and really mean that congress actually wrote the bill and sent it to the President for signature ... ah, last time I checked that's how its literally suppose to work.
View Quote


President Bush will sign a tax bill that was literally dictated [red]by[/red] him [blue]to[/blue] Congress
View Quote


The allegation is that the President DICTATED TO CONGRESS what the new law should be. Not the other way around. Last time [i]I[/i] checked, that's the opposite of how it's literally supposed to work... [;)] (Just messin' with ya')
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 11:10:13 PM EDT
[#12]
All I know is that if the small-business captial equipment deduction rises from $25k ro $100k, I will save THOUSANDS of dollars in taxes this year.

All tax cuts naturally favor the rich, because the rich pay the vast majority of taxes.

I don't know what to think of a flat tax. To go from today's progressive system to a flat system would somewhat reduce taxes on the rich, and massively increase them on the poor. (this is not necessarily a bad thing though - with lower-income people paying higher taxes, they'd probably get much more concerned about stopping the expansion of government!)

I think a uniform VAT, **if applied correctly**, could be an improvement over today's tax system. However, in my humble opinion, the chance of the Feddle Gubmint crafting an economically-sound tax policy is not very high (ahem). e.g. to correctly implement a VAT you'd have to repeal every single OTHER tax. How exactly is that going to happen?
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 11:12:07 PM EDT
[#13]
I see it as,  if it was the way "President dictated it",  then the tax cut wouldn't have been cut in half.  He submits what he wants and then the congress DECIDES what will be the final draft.  Unless there is a veto,  but that is a different situation.  But what do I know I just drive a truck for a living.


Also,  I don't trust any politician any farther than I can throw the bastards.  Every single one of them has their own agenda,  and will say ANYTHING to get what they want.
Link Posted: 5/26/2003 11:45:19 PM EDT
[#14]
Only ANTI-AMERICANS with ulterior motives would question the tax reallocation bill given to congress by the president of this great democracy.

Link Posted: 5/27/2003 6:02:10 AM EDT
[#15]
Let me make my position clear.

I am for tax cuts

I am for a flat tax (income tax)

I AM NOT FOR VAT!

Talk about stunting the growth of the economy, and the costs of goods going through the roof.

Link Posted: 5/27/2003 6:10:44 AM EDT
[#16]
Link Posted: 5/27/2003 6:50:50 AM EDT
[#17]
Quoted:
Let me make my position clear.

I am for tax cuts

I am for a flat tax (income tax)

I AM NOT FOR VAT!

Talk about stunting the growth of the economy, and the costs of goods going through the roof.

View Quote


Except that as far as I can tell there IS NO VAT in the tax cut bill.  
Close Join Our Mail List to Stay Up To Date! Win a FREE Membership!

Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!

You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.


By signing up you agree to our User Agreement. *Must have a registered ARFCOM account to win.
Top Top