This is the problem with taxation. Major public corporations can move their tax domicile offshore to avoid taxes legally. The average person cannot move his labor offshore to lower his taxes, which is a disadvantage we must address with tax reform. With VAT, that is far worse than a sales tax. Every person in the chain must collect and file paperwork. It must require three times the number of people to administer such a system compared to a point of sales tax collection.
But that issue aside, there should be ABSOLUTELY NO income taxes whatsoever. That not only eliminates government having to track everything, but it also eliminates the whole movement of capital solely for tax purposes. This is unfair, for the average person cannot send their labor offshore to avoid taxation without moving. Even then, that would only get an American the first $100,000 tax-free; after that, it would be subjected to U.S. income tax.
The Founding Fathers of the United States revolted over taxation without representation. We are back to that now, for we are being taxed to pay interest to service debts from the last two generations. We had no right to vote on that spending, which took place before we were born. This is not a democratic process.
There should be ONLY a retail sales tax EXCLUSIVELY for local government. Federal government should be prohibited from imposing ANY tax and it should be barred from borrowing money. The local tax will naturally be checked by the free market, for if they keep raising taxes, businesses will move to the next town and there goes the jobs. This will help to restrain government on a more practical level.
Moreover, there should be NO PUBLIC SCHOOLS. All schools should be private for then there will be no mismanagement, crazy pension failures, or tax hikes to line their pockets. Schools should be by voucher and run by private industry just like Catholic schools, which were always known for having better education in the States.
It is the teachers and their unions who have ruined society, as taxes are imposed on property and people cannot afford to retire in their home where they raised a family. They are forced to sell because they cannot afford taxes that never stop and only rise. PROPERTY TAXES must also be abolished.
Our problem is the total mismanagement of government. They promise and award themselves all sorts of perks, which reduces the quality of life for everyone else. We must look at the cause and that is the seriously flawed design of the financial-economic-governmental system.
“We must look at the cause and that is the seriously flawed design of the financial-economic-governmental system.”
Yeah, we look, we bitch, we gnash our teeth, we shake our fists, we threaten to vote for the other guy, we threaten to not vote at all, we still take it up the pooper.
Maybe we should just go back to the taxation our founders established to finance government when they wrote the Constitution.
Every problem we have today is the result of ignoring, twisting and distorting or changing the Constitution in the first place.
card802-sure we still take it up the pooper, but there are plenty of ways to seriously and legally reduce your tax footprint. Of course, that involves living with a lot less, and doing without shiny new things. Most people aren’t going to do that.
“…legally reduce your tax footprint. Of course, that involves living with a lot less, and doing without shiny new things. Most people aren’t going to do that.”
I understand what you are saying but I don’t understand why I should change my life (going without), to avoid paying taxes today, and higher taxes tomorrow because we obviously are not paying enough to keep the beast fed and happy.
I just bought a shiny new water purifier, (from admins link) I had to pay tax on what I believe will be a necessity, some day.
card802.
It doesn’t always mean doing with less.
An example would consist of doing for yourself that which you would have to pay someone after tax dollars to do for you so you receive full value of your untaxed labor in place of taxable income.
A personal example, my truck’s transmission went defunct a few years ago and a repair shop -best price- required a bit over 1,100 dollars to fix it. I did the work myself for around 130 dollars worth of parts and received the full value of my labor instead of having to earn around 14 – 15 hundred dollars to have the 1,100 left over after taxes to pay the shop. This effectively gave me a thousand or so dollars in income although it never appeared as such and was not taxed by anyone. (took about 3 hours)
Not every one has the same skills but there are many other examples of how to do this such as growing all or part of your own food or doing your own home repairs and such. They all give you the advantage of a higher income without having to earn it as a taxable income source. Everything you do for yourself reduces your need to earn taxable income without reducing your lifestyle.
Oh, and FWIW, I built my own RO water purifying system -one that exceeds almost everything commercially available at any price- for a less than two hundred dollars (and it will produce around a 50 gallons a day if needed).
Do for yourself or pay someone else to do it for you and pay the government for the privilege of paying them to do it as well.
@Anon, and THAT is why it is increasingly illegal to work on your own things, in your own homes and businesses.
In my town I cannot legally replace a hot water heater, though I have the skills to do so.
I cannot legally work on my vehicle in my driveway, nor park my company van here either.
I cannot hold bible studies, nor allow my daughter to have a lemonade stand, nor have chickens even though I have a HUGE yard where they would thrive.
In my son’s town he is not to replace a kitchen faucet, nor drain, nor even replace the filter on his own furnace without inspectors, permits and “licensed” repairmen doing the job.
NONE of us are legally allowed to grow food for our own consumption without the USDA licensing our gardens, testing our soils and declaring us “approved.” Granted, Obama “guaranteed” us that as long as he was President, the part of the law concerning home gardens would not be enforced. It was still written into law and if you believe that, I beg you to go back and listen to Ronnie’s speeches that insisted we would NEVER be pulled over for not wearing seatbelts while committing no other offenses.
Nancy Pelosi has been fighting for years to make illegal ALL youth employment, including family farms and businesses.
Opting out is being regulated out. By BOTH sides and ALL (bought and paid for) politicians.
There is not a whit of difference between the two when it comes to our “rights” and freedoms.
It’s for the children, polar bears, mother earth and of course, our own damned good.
Now shut up, drink your poison, eat your radiation and enjoy your continued pain and early death. It’s only fair, and moral, and just.