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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elroy who wrote (154345)	1/14/2011 12:40:35 PM
From: Elroy	Respond to of 540882

And I'm not really a lefty or a rightey, but I think if government takes about 2% of one's assets per year, that should be plenty. All we people really need out of the government is a basic defense and basic police force, and we can take care of ourselves by ourselves after that. There is no reason that the size of government should grow with GDP. GDP should grow faster that government, and that's all there is to it. So, gotta go to bed, goodnight all.

To: Elroy who wrote (154345)	1/14/2011 12:54:33 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 540882

90% over 10M, 95% over 100M, 99% over 1B. As you say, "Is there a number that is "enough"? People should be able to live on 10M quite comfortably. 95% on all corporate savings over 2 years old; spend that trillion or lose it.

To: Elroy who wrote (154345)	1/14/2011 1:56:51 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 540882

No more than 50%- for under a million. I don't know about folks making over a million. I'd have to think about that. I think people making under 20k shouldn't be taxed at all. 21- 35- maybe a small tax, to make them feel part of the system. 36 to 45- still small- with lots of generous credits for things like child care, education, health clubs- things that keep our citizens healthy and well educated. 50-75k- maybe a 12% rate? With credits for things we consider important. Over 75k- 25% Over 125- 35% Over 150- 40% Over 300k- 50% At the point where you make a milliong a year- I suggest we tax those extra millions (OVER 1 million) at around 60%. Over 5 million a year- I'm thinking a 75% tax rate

To: Elroy who wrote (154345)	1/14/2011 6:38:51 PM
From: Mary Cluney	Respond to of 540882

<<<the question for you is how much (as a percent of either income or wealth) should the governement take? Is there a number that is "enough"?>>> I agree that government should take as little as possible. Off the top of my head, there are some things government has to take care of - stuff like nationl defense, making sure that we end slavery, allow women to vote, that foreign countries, corporations (foreign or domestic) do not engage in predatory or bad practises, and ensuring a level playing field (at least somewhat level) for all citizens. The trick is to do all that as efficiently as possible. But you should be able to see that that is fairly complex and to have a system that can do all that is unlikely to be cheap. I don't think we could be competitive in this world if we do not have a national education vision and structure. I don't think environmental and health care issues can be handled efficiently in a local or piecemeal fashion. There are some thing that require scale to address efficiently. The point is, there are no simple solutions for some of these issues.