Yeah, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the US Tax system

[retro]

About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.

The result is a tax system that exempts almost half the country from paying for programs that benefit everyone, including national defense, public safety, infrastructure and education. It is a system in which the top 10 percent of earners -- households making an average of $366,400 in 2006 -- paid about 73 percent of the income taxes collected by the federal government.

The bottom 40 percent, on average, make a profit from the federal income tax, meaning they get more money in tax credits than they would otherwise owe in taxes. For those people, the government sends them a payment.

"We have 50 percent of people who are getting something for nothing," said Curtis Dubay, senior tax policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-half-of-US-households-apf-1105567323.html?x=0&.v=1

Can we seriously just scrap this whole ridiculous system and go to the FairTax?

 

[Tuxx]

FairTax seems awesome
Keep our all pay,
Pay taxes on things we buy

 

[MoonOwl]

Excuse me if I don't hold my breath on that one. It makes sense. Our government doesn't do things that make sense. It's not what we pay them their huge salaries for...:sarcasm

 

[Accountable]

Is Fair Tax and Flat Tax the same thing?

 

[retro]

Is Fair Tax and Flat Tax the same thing?

No, a flat tax would enact a default tax percentage that everyone would pay in taxes. The FairTax system is a modified consumption tax to replace other methods of tax collection.

 

[Tuxx]

bastids

hr in 'mericah
we shud hv no txs 't all grdy bstuds

 

[Minor Axis]

I'm open to the concept. But about 5 years after it's enacted, there will be people complaining that the consumption tax is too high.

 

[Accountable]

No, a flat tax would enact a default tax percentage that everyone would pay in taxes. The FairTax system is a modified consumption tax to replace other methods of tax collection.

How is it different from a VAT (value-added tax)?

 

[MoonOwl]

hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe...... posting just to see my silly name all the way down the page..... Excuse me

 

[Guyzerr]

How is it different from a VAT (value-added tax)?

For shits and giggles I just want to let you know how it works in Canada.

In Canada the VAT is actually called GST = Goods & Services Tax which is a federal program. We peeon's like to call it Gov't Sanctioned Theft. It is over and above the Provincial Sales Tax. It was implemented so that everyone paid their fair share of taxes. Most goods and services are affected by it and everyone pays that amount at the till. Originally it was 7% but has been reduced to 5%. The problem with that system, at least in Canada, is that in the end it's based on annual household income. I'm not sure what the threshold is but if a " household " has income lower than the threshold they get a GST rebate every quarter. When a person does their individual annual income tax return they apply for it then. Unfortunately it's not that cut and dry and the gov't has the advantage as usual............

In order to explain it a little simpler I'll use myself and my wife as an example. I make well over the threshold but my wife does not. Because she lives with me her income is added to the household total which makes her ineligible for a rebate. If she was single she would get that rebate. The problem as I see it is this. Because we don't have any dependents we are both taxed off our pay checks as being single( income tax ) however we are not able to get a GST rebate because we are forced to combine our income totals.

A business also pays that amount on their purchases but they are required to have a GST #. When they have that number they are enrolled in the rebate program and they get 100% of the paid GST back.

It's a flawed system imo and for years I have been a strong supporter of a flat tax. I wouldn't care if it was 10 or 15% but to me it just makes sense providing they do away with a rebate program. That way everyone would end up paying their fair share.

1 more little tidbit about Canada. A person that is receiving welfare will always end up getting an income tax refund even though they never pay income tax. Sweet eh.

 

[Alien Allen]

EVERYBODY should have to pay SOMETHING!!

The system is beyond flawed when 47% don't pay a dime.

And some get money for just being alive. I seriously doubt our founding fathers expected that kind of a bullshit system.

Along the same mind set you have people that comment that when a rich person gets a tax cut it is coming from the poor. It is that kind of twisted logic that has been the downfall of what made this country great.

 

[Minor Axis]

EVERYBODY should have to pay SOMETHING!!
The system is beyond flawed when 47% don't pay a dime.

Seconded!

 

[Tim]

EVERYBODY should have to pay SOMETHING!!

The system is beyond flawed when 47% don't pay a dime.

And some get money for just being alive. I seriously doubt our founding fathers expected that kind of a bullshit system.

Along the same mind set you have people that comment that when a rich person gets a tax cut it is coming from the poor. It is that kind of twisted logic that has been the downfall of what made this country great.

Does it really piss you off that those who are considered low income do not pay? How much money should we get from these people? How much would it add up in tax revenue each year to put these people through the meat grinder?

What about the corporations that make billions in profit and pay ZERO in federal taxes? Why don't you guys ever bring that up? What do you think it would look like if corporations started paying their fair share of tax revenue?

The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.
More than half of foreign companies and about 42 percent of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said.

That doesn't piss you off at all?

What about GE?

Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.

Not only did GE make $10.3 billion in profit last year and not pay any federal taxes, they TOOK $1.1 billion in your taxes...

That doesn't piss you off, but people making $20,000 a year do?

Lets do the math for a minute...

35% tax rate applied to $10.3 billion is $3,605,000,000 in taxes. Lets add the $1,100,000,000 in tax dollars they received...

That's $4,705,000,000 in taxes they shorted the US last year.
Now if you look at a family of 4 that make $40,000/yr who pay no taxes. They would owe $6,187 in taxes with zero deductions.

So the taxes GE dodged last year would pay all the taxes for 760,500 families who make $40k a year....


http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/ge-exxon-walmart-business-washington-corporate-taxes.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1249465620080812

 

[Alien Allen]

Yeah it pisses me off that the poor can not even contribute a friggin penny. I am not asking for much. Just that everybody needs to contribute something. Unless they are totally incapacitated.

 

[Alien Allen]

far as I am concerned a business should not pay any taxes. They don't don't get to vote.

and what GE paid or did not pay has nothing to do with this. Plus I am not gonna bother with trying to decode what they paid when you know as well as I that these huge corporations spend money on stuff that is legitimate write offs that compensates for their not paying taxes.

Also why should money a business makes get taxed twice. Makes no sense. Referring to a C Corp

 

[Tim]

far as I am concerned a business should not pay any taxes. They don't don't get to vote.

and what GE paid or did not pay has nothing to do with this. Plus I am not gonna bother with trying to decode what they paid when you know as well as I that these huge corporations spend money on stuff that is legitimate write offs that compensates for their not paying taxes.

Also why should money a business makes get taxed twice. Makes no sense. Referring to a C Corp

So corporations shouldn't have to pay taxes because they can't vote????

They don't use any of the countries resources? They aren't a burden to society at all?

Corporations don't benefit from the infrastructure that our tax dollars paid for?

You seriously must be off your rocker if you don't think corporations shouldn't pay federal tax dollars.

 

[Burntblood]

Taxes, phaxes, don't pay 'em.
Find a loophole like I did.

Don't forget to change your name and SS number.
Best wishes.

]v[ E G A D E T ]-[

 

[Accountable]

Corporations don't pay taxes even now. They just calculate them is at part of the total overhead and pass the costs onto the consumer. Um that would be us, the taxpayers.

Corporations are not people. They are not human. Corporations don't use resources or benefit from anything. That would be the owners and employees. Corporations do not vote. They should have no rights, not be allowed to contribute to elections or otherwise influence the political process, and not pay taxes. We're creative enough to prevent job benefits from becoming tax loopholes for executives. Taxes should be charged only to individuals who have the right to vote.

 

[Tangerine]

Corporations don't pay taxes even now. They just calculate them as at part of the total overhead and pass the costs onto the consumer. Um that would be us, the taxpayers.

Why so many people don't understand this very basic element of finance is hard for me to believe.

If you raise taxes on business, you are simply collecting more money from every customer who buys every piece of product or service. Period.

 

[anathelia]

So someone who got laid off and couldn't find a job for six months should still have to pay taxes? Despite the hardships they endured over the course of the year trying to provide for their family, look for a job, etc? How is that fair?

Not everyone who gets those tax credits goes off and wastes it on something unimportant. My ex used his to buy me a car so I could find a job in order to help us bring in more money. If he hadn't have done that, there would have been no way for me to look for work and subsequently make money that you think should be taxed.