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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (390112)	6/10/2008 10:35:37 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576628

The tax code is not nearly as progressive as it can/should be. The top money earners make dis-proportionally more than they should pay in taxes in terms of % of AGI, they are much more likely to manage their tax burden, so they find loopholes and reduce their AGI and their payroll taxes are nil. The mid wage earners get hit with payroll taxes and are less likely to do any tax management, and the bottom 50% pay very little in income tax, but they make barely a living wage, and when you factor payroll taxes, the picture for them is in fact burdensome. Income tax is the only progressive tax. The vast majority of taxes are regressive.

To: Alighieri who wrote (390112)	6/10/2008 11:48:35 AM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576628

Perhaps FICA should be taken on all earned income, thus reducing the overall rate back to a lower X%. I would also make the first $10,000 of earnings fica free for the employee. I would make it all revenue neutral so i think we might be able to get down as low as 5-6% with the exclusion. I would leave bush income tax rates alone as this would do the trick for balancing out upper and lower income folks tax burden. The average family making 100k will save about $10,000, 50K will save $7500. Just playing with this plan at present and with the numbers are just guesses.

To: Alighieri who wrote (390112)	6/10/2008 12:05:30 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576628

Al, > The tax code is not nearly as progressive as it can/should be. I'd sure like to know how you plan on getting at Warren Buffet's money, for instance. Tax muni bonds? By the way, most people already do "tax management." If you have a home mortgage, you are "managing your taxes." Trying to perform "wealth redistribution" when by your admission the tax code is heavily skewed toward the rich is folly. If it's not working now, fix it. Get rid of tax breaks that accomplish nothing these days but skew markets and benefit those rich enough to take advantage. Simply raising rates on an already manipulated tax scheme is insane. I'll also add that if you have one simple flat tax with no breaks whatsoever, you'll see class mobility rise. Tenchusatsu