Arnold calls for flat tax

[TuTu Monroe]

Ho, Ho, Ho!


Friday, June 05, 2009

LA Times: California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Calls For Flat 15% Tax.


Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that he would like to see such “radical” proposals come out of a commission now studying an overhaul of the state’s tax system. The governor told the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee that he hoped the commission would not be afraid to propose something like “a 15% straight tax.”

“That’s the kind of radical, daring kind of a proposal that I want to see on the table so we can look at it and say, ‘Oh, let’s study this, maybe that is the way to go,’ ” Schwarzenegger said during the discussion, which was webcast.

The current system, based on highly unstable income tax revenue that fluctuates with the economy, “doesn’t work,” Schwarzenegger said.

Advocates of a flat tax, which applies a single tax rate to all income, say it increases compliance with the tax codes because it is so simple and easy to understand. But opponents dislike that it taxes the wealthy at the same rates as the poor.

Steve Forbes and Jerry Brown both pushed for it during their presidential campaigns.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

LOL, good luck.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

“a 15% straight tax.”

OK, let me get this straight. Under the current system, the poor pay very little, the middle class a reasonable amount, and the rich pay 9%. Under the new system, everyone in the state will pay the highest state income tax rate in the nation. For some reason, I'm not seeing any positives.

 

[TuTu Monroe]

“a 15% straight tax.”

OK, let me get this straight. Under the current system, the poor pay very little, the middle class a reasonable amount, and the rich pay 9%. Under the new system, everyone in the state will pay the highest state income tax rate in the nation. For some reason, I'm not seeing any positives.

The current tax system has been a monumental failure and it hinders Anerica's growth. Nations around the world have lowered their tax rates and are yeilding impressive results. America has fallen behind.

Households would receive a generous exemp*tion based on family size. For instance, a family of four would not begin to pay tax until its annual income reached more than $30,000. This is labor income only and one would not have to report interest, dividends, etc.

Anyway, you should not reject the idea before you research it, but I doubt you would.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

The current tax system has been a monumental failure and it hinders Anerica's growth. Nations around the world have lowered their tax rates and are yeilding impressive results. America has fallen behind.

Households would receive a generous exemp*tion based on family size. For instance, a family of four would not begin to pay tax until its annual income reached more than $30,000. This is labor income only and one would not have to report interest, dividends, etc.

Anyway, you should not reject the idea before you research it, but I doubt you would.

I here those claims over and over about regressive taxation but you never provide any reliable data or research to back those claims up. Most probably because you can't.

 

[Bonestorm]

Well, his reasoning certainly is beyond reproach:

The current system, based on highly unstable income tax revenue that fluctuates with the economy, “doesn’t work,” Schwarzenegger said.

Because, apparently, incomes don't fluctuate with the economy under a flat tax.

 

[Onceler]

He's trying to redeem himself with conservatives.

I have never seen a good argument for regressive taxation that makes it seem anything but, well, regressive. The current tax system isn't really working, but a flat tax isn't the answer.

 

[Topspin]

he's deflecting.

 

[belme1201]

The current tax system has been a monumental failure and it hinders Anerica's growth. Nations around the world have lowered their tax rates and are yeilding impressive results. America has fallen behind.

Households would receive a generous exemp*tion based on family size. For instance, a family of four would not begin to pay tax until its annual income reached more than $30,000. This is labor income only and one would not have to report interest, dividends, etc.

Anyway, you should not reject the idea before you research it, but I doubt you would.

Supply Side does not work, the European economy is in the tank worse than ours, including Ireland, formerly a favorite example, and Spain. I'm sure the Globalists would love to "harmonize", their favorite term, not only US taxes but also US wages with China, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and South America.
If it's for labor income only, what is proposed for capital gains, interest, and dividends to those who derive their living from them? No taxes to the very wealthy?

 

[SmarterthanYou]

Well, his reasoning certainly is beyond reproach:

Because, apparently, incomes don't fluctuate with the economy under a flat tax.

that must be some of that Austrian economic theory?

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

The current tax system has been a monumental failure and it hinders Anerica's growth. Nations around the world have lowered their tax rates and are yeilding impressive results.

No they haven't. Flat taxes are rather well known for being massive failures and not producing the magical results that were promised.

America has fallen behind.

Households would receive a generous exemp*tion based on family size. For instance, a family of four would not begin to pay tax until its annual income reached more than $30,000. This is labor income only and one would not have to report interest, dividends, etc.

Anyway, you should not reject the idea before you research it, but I doubt you would.

15% is WAY to high a rate, when 6% would be considered a "high" flat tax in most other parts of the US. 15% is the low end of the rates they're proposing for a NATIONAL tax.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

Supply Side does not work, the European economy is in the tank worse than ours, including Ireland, formerly a favorite example, and Spain. I'm sure the Globalists would love to "harmonize", their favorite term, not only US taxes but also US wages with China, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and South America.
If it's for labor income only, what is proposed for capital gains, interest, and dividends to those who derive their living from them? No taxes to the very wealthy?

For one, why not tax dividens and lower the general rate to 12 or 13 percent? God knows that would do a lot to help out those on the lower end of the spectrum. It would still be a massive rate.

 

[midcan5]

Flat tax on what? Income, sales, everyone? He must be losing his mind, maybe it is the smog in California, didn't Reagan get silly about taxes there too.

"In 2003, total federal state and local taxes in the United States were 24.2% of our gross domestic product, ranking among the lowest in the world, with only Mexico at 19.5% with a lower tax rate. Along with the higher taxes, the difference between the U.S. and some of the other industrialized countries are increased social services, such as pensions and health-care funding."

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P148855.asp

"If you believe the conservative rhetoric on economics, this combination of high taxes, a large public sector, and lavish welfare benefits ought to be killing the Danish economy. But it's not. In fact, Denmark's economy has thrived. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the job market. By the time Rasmussen left office in 2001, the unemployment rate had fallen from a 1994 peak of 9.6 percent to 4.3 percent; in 2002, it fell below the U.S. rate, where it has remained ever since. For the most recent quarter of 2006, Denmark's standardized unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, compared with 4.7 percent in the United States. Moreover, while Europe has a reputation for fostering cadres of idle youth (a reputation that, in countries like France, has at least some basis in reality), in Denmark, a mere 3 percent of its 15- to 19-year-olds are neither in school nor working--the second-best rate in the developed world. (Tiny Luxembourg is first.) In the United States, by comparison, the figure is about 7 percent.

Another important measure of overall economic health is GDP per capita, which in effect approximates the wealth generated per person per year. Here, the United States remains near the top of the developed world, at $39,732. Denmark, though also in the top fifth of the oecd, is at just $31,932. It's a significant difference, but one that reflects, in part, the fact that Americans simply work more hours, don't get as much vacation, and can't take such generous pregnancy or sick leaves. GDP per capita is also an average, pulled up by the extraordinary wealth of America's elite. Once you consider the distribution of income and material goods, it becomes apparent that typical citizens in Denmark are doing as well as--and quite possibly better than--their American counterparts."

http://www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/wf010507.htm

 

[zappasguitar]

I here those claims over and over about regressive taxation but you never provide any reliable data or research to back those claims up. Most probably because you can't.

You aren't holding your breath waiting for her to answer, are you?

Cause you will be in big trouble.

 

[uscitizen]

“a 15% straight tax.”

OK, let me get this straight. Under the current system, the poor pay very little, the middle class a reasonable amount, and the rich pay 9%. Under the new system, everyone in the state will pay the highest state income tax rate in the nation. For some reason, I'm not seeing any positives.

Aww shucks you figured it out.

 

[uscitizen]

The current tax system has been a monumental failure and it hinders Anerica's growth. Nations around the world have lowered their tax rates and are yeilding impressive results. America has fallen behind.

Households would receive a generous exemp*tion based on family size. For instance, a family of four would not begin to pay tax until its annual income reached more than $30,000. This is labor income only and one would not have to report interest, dividends, etc.

Anyway, you should not reject the idea before you research it, but I doubt you would.

Sounds like a tax increase on the upper working class from your description.

My concept of a flat tax is just that a flat tax on all income with ZERO exemptions.

Probably could get by with low single digit rates in that case.

 

[TuTu Monroe]

Nope, as he loves to tell Conservatives, he doesn't know what he is talking about.

Aww shucks you figured it out.

 

[belme1201]

Nope, as he loves to tell Conservatives, he doesn't know what he is talking about.

.........and you can't defend the premise you put forth in your own posts on a thread you began. People question your posts and you go on your usual off-topic offensive to avoid answering. For example, if you tax labor only, what do citizens that earn their livelihood on capital gains, dividends and interest pay? If it is nothing, how does the earlier assertion by others that it sounds like an attack on middle class taxpayers strike you as being wrong?

 

[Mott the Hoople]

Supply Side does not work, the European economy is in the tank worse than ours, including Ireland, formerly a favorite example, and Spain. I'm sure the Globalists would love to "harmonize", their favorite term, not only US taxes but also US wages with China, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and South America.
If it's for labor income only, what is proposed for capital gains, interest, and dividends to those who derive their living from them? No taxes to the very wealthy?

And the irony is if you call their bluff on that they accuse you of playing class warfare.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

You aren't holding your breath waiting for her to answer, are you?

Cause you will be in big trouble.

LOL No I'm not but actually that's good. At least TuTu isn't playing "Wack-A-Mole" or "Raise The Bar" like Dixie or "Last Word" like Southern Man.