Tax rates needed to close the deficit, 95% top rate...

[nova]

TaxProf Blog: A 95.2% Income Tax Rate?

That will get your attention.

Some people wouldn't even have enough $$ left over to pay their state and local taxes at that rate. And you're really screwed if you happen to be single...

 

[Pabst]

well clearly they wont spend less, so they're gonna have to raise taxes and they're going to have to raise them a lot.

 

[Tim]

The deficit is less than 9% of our GDP...

Just a little reinvestment in manufacturing would go a long way to wiping out the deficit.


or we can just keep the borders open and import everything... :dunno

 

[Lord Stanley]

The deficit is less than 9% of our GDP...

Just a little reinvestment in manufacturing would go a long way to wiping out the deficit.


or we can just keep the borders open and import everything... :dunno

we got stuff to sell

 

[nova]

The deficit is less than 9% of our GDP...

Just a little reinvestment in manufacturing would go a long way to wiping out the deficit.


or we can just keep the borders open and import everything... :dunno

If we taxed absolutely every component of wealth creation you might have a point but we don't. Our primary way of raising revenue is the income tax.

Reinvestment in manufacturing? By "keep the borders open and import everything" I assume you're implying we should stop free trade initiatives?

We make plenty of stuff in this country. In terms of value we're still the worlds leading manufacturer. We just don't make the cheap consumer crap that you see on store shelves, we make big expensive capital goods. On top of that we use a lot of automation to reduce the number of people required for "monkey push the button work" compared to other places.

‘Made in the USA’ still means something - U.S. business- msnbc.com

As Stephen Manning of the Associated Press acknowledged in a rare "just the facts" story in mid-February, the U.S. "by far remains the world's leading manufacturer," producing goods valued at a record $1.6 trillion in 2007 — nearly double the $811 billion produced a decade earlier. Indeed, the AP writer noted, "For every $1 of value produced in China's factories [in 2007], America generated $2.50." Not bad for a country that doesn't produce anything anymore.

Another reason is the fact that there is a kernel of truth in some of the naysayers' claims. Some of our factories are outdated; but many are among the most modern in the world. Wage and legacy costs — retiree health benefits, for example — have made some companies less competitive. By the same token, U.S. multinationals are generally among the most productive and innovative in the world. And, yes, U.S. companies have ceded production of men's dress shirts that retail for $12, microwave ovens that retail for $69, and boom boxes that retail for less than half that price to low-cost developing countries.

In fact, even in the midst of a global recession, the U.S. exported an estimated $1.377 trillion worth of goods last year, according to the authoritative CIA World Factbook. Nearly half of the exports were capital goods: aircraft, computers, electric power machinery, office machines, telecommunications equipment, and the like. Industrial supplies, such as organic chemicals, accounted for another nearly 27 percent. And consumer goods, including pharmaceuticals, and agricultural products accounted for 15 percent and 9 percent, respectively.