Posted: 2/14/2005 9:03:30 PM EDT
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The government shall not impose any tax that is intended to enforce or modify a citizen's behavior. This seems to be liberals and, yes, conservative politicians favorite method of getting around constitutional protections. It would hugely reduce the tax code, let the market drive the real price, and eliminate sin taxes, ammo taxes, luxury taxes, etc. An apple would have to be taxed the same as an AK. If someone wanted to tax the AK more they should have to use the funds to benefit AK owners (i.e. shooting ranges). |
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That is easily subverted. Now instead of taxing cigarettes as a means of preventing people from smoking, we tax cigarettes because they are a frequently sold item with the potential to generate lots of revenue for the state. Same with alcohol, guns, ammo, gas, etc. |
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Yeah it could be easily subverted just by changing the reasoning. You'd also have people running around saying that property, income, and payroll taxes are designed to modify their behavior too and thusly refuse to pay. I like the simplicity (in the spirit of the Constitution) but the lawyers would have a field day with it. So sorry to the lawyers here, especially those that play for the lightside but, again lawyers ruin everything. |
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I say we repeal the 24th Amendment (poll tax) and the 16th Amendment (income tax) and replace it with a three-part tax (the exact $$ are for example and need to be crunched a bit): 1) "Citizen Tax" - Every citizen age 25-69 pays $1,500 per year = their "fair share" for being a responsible citizen and part-owner of America. - For every citizen from 18-24 and over 69 it's $500. - If you can't pay, you can't vote. NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION! 2) "Legal Resident Tax" - Every non-citizen immigrant 25-69 must pay $1,000 per year to maintain legal residency. - Fore every non-citizen immigrant from 18-24 and over 69 it's $500. - You no pay, you no stay. 3) "National Sales Tax" - Repeal the 16th Amendment and replace with National Sales Tax with the specific % written INTO the amendment. - The only way to raise it is by another amendment. That's just the start - we also need to end all Federal welfare entitlements, subsidies and Gov't-funded charities - and privatize Social Security and make it voluntary. But whatever we do never forget that... INCOME TAX IS THE EPITOME OF MARXIST THIEVERY!!! |
| A flat sales tax would also do what I wanted to accomplish. It would have be done so "supplemental" taxes could not be added. I would have no problem at all pay a reasonable percentage in taxes on all my purchases if all the rest of the taxes disappeared. Also, fees cannot be substitued for taxes. |
what do you mean "what they spend" ? you mean a VAT? Spend on what? |
No, it would not screw up the economy. The current property confiscation code keeps hundreds of billions of dollars out of the economy. Also consider this. The current property confiscation code is in affect a national sales tax. Where do you think the money comes from for the gov to confiscate? It comes from the price of the goods and services that we buy. Everything that you buy has a price and that price includes the cost of getting the product to you plus profit. The greatest expense in getting those goods to you is taxes. YOU pay ALL of those taxes when you buy that product. I have an amendment proposal. Repeal the second amendment and replace it with this: The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed and ANY member of ANY governmental body under this Constitution that questons this right may be executed by any US citizen without consequence. |
No VAT taxes suck. Things get taxed about 50 times. consumption tax At the last point of sale a 10% tax is added to all items. 5% goes to the state and 5% goes to the feds. That is it. Forever. |
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Can Canadians get a deal with the exchange rate? 
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The high taxation is the reason our economy is as slow as it is. If you put all the money back into the economy BUT 10% and you would see real growth like never before. .gov lived on much less than 10% in the past. They can do it again. We just need to force them. |
| Agree that the government can operate at 10%, but if you suddenly kick all those people of the Federal teat directly or indirectly without a weaning process it would throw us into a major recession while the equalibrium was regained. Then growth would start occuring. |
Fuck'em. Let them eat cake. And I say this as a .gov employee. |
The problem comes, though, when $1500 becomes an unrealistic number, or when it gets changed to $1.5M. Consider these three: 1. What happens when $1500 per person isn't enough for The Government to do all the stuff It wants to do? The number will be raised. See Number 3. 2. What happens if (due to some economic nightmare) $1500 is WAY beyond most people's ability to pay. Will the number be lowered? See Number 3 3. What would prevent Congress from pressuring state legislatures (e.g. "We won't approve any budget that'll give y'all any money") to approve a new amendment raising the number to something stratospheric? If this happens quickly, most of those who are thus disenfranchised won't be able to "throw the bums out". If you want a legislated arisocracy, this seems like the shortest path to it - and if the middle class is excluded, there is nothing short of a revolution that would stop it. (Unless, of course, that's the idea.) |
they have to fight through an amendment process to raise taxes ... very tough to do so, big uncles sugar will have to stop growing. I want to buy a brand new car ... can't afford it, so I make do with what I've got. The .gov leeches will have to do the same. ... which is the point of this. |
Actually, if you put a flat tax on consumption and it did have the impact you state, then that 10% could be quite a large number. However, consider the psychology of the income tax system as opposed to a flat tax. Most people who never see their witholding, other than as a line item on their paystubs, doesn't really understand that money is theirs. However, with a flat tax, there's a perceived increase on the cost of goods, as most places have a total sales tax less than 10% (8.25% where I live). But I'm all for forcing the government to live within its means. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... |
