APP - Value Added Tax should help mend the economy

Damocles said:
LOL. In what way? A company who has to pay for such taxation will pass that cost to the consumers,.
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Again, cap and trade is a regulation, not a tax.

Damocles said:
taxing their energy use is simply the most regressive form of proposed taxation available today.
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Hyperbole.

Damocles said:
Higher costs in gasoline = higher prices at the grocery store. Period.
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Of course. And you could very easily counteract that to a degree, spreading the economic innefficy out amongst the income brackets through lower taxes grocery taxes... etc...

Damocles said:
Those who can least afford it will have a higher cost of living, it is how corporate taxes always effect people. Corporate taxes in any form are a form of hidden sales taxes.
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I'm pretty sure corporate taxes have a different distortionary effect than sales taxes. Most taxes distorts the economy - a tax on income, of course, hurts business because people spend less, etc... etc...

The exception to this rule is the head tax and the land value tax, which don't distort the economy very much.
 
Superfreak said:
I disagree, the fair tax simply opens the doors for more lobbying of politicians to make company 'x's' product exempt or deemed a necessity. It also would be regressive in nature.
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The farthest most European nations go is to have a lower rate for groceries. The ability to exempt certain products from the tax is, in my view, not a good argument against the VAT. The most effective argument against it, from my perspective, is the regressive nature of the tax.

I just don't think that Republicans would support adding a 45% bracket or something. And raising the marginal rate very far above what it is now would put us at risk of capital flight. So, from a political realistic perspective, I would support a VAT. We could cut about 250 billion, and institute a 5% or so VAT to get around 250 billion in revenue, and that would balance the budget (once spending levels return to what they were before the stimulus).

We could go less and have a more sustainable deficit of around 100 billion or so, though, which would be alright in my view.
 
watertard:Again, cap and trade is a regulation, not a tax.

LOL call it what you want. it's a cost of doing business, it'll get added to the cost of products and services.

I doubt you can explain WTF you're talking about because it's absolutely ridiculous.

Kids like you are what's wrong with america. Not only are you ignorant, you actually think people showing you where you're wrong are uninformed.

Classic!
 
Watermark said:
1. A 10% VAT tax wouldn't fund a rat's ass.
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It would yield at least $400 billion in revenue, and that is a modest estimate. Combine that with a 15% tariff on all imports (350 billion in revenue), and excise taxes (such as taxes on gasoline and cigarettes), and the Federal government would have more than enough to carry out its Constitutional duties.

As for the national debt, a Constitutional amendment should be passed which implements a 20% tax on all income over 1 million dollars, with three catches: (1) all revenue will go straight to paying down the debt; (2) it will repeal itself as soon as the debt is paid off; (3) the 16th Amendment will also be repealed as soon as the debt is paid off.

There isn't 1 trillion dollars in wasteful spending.
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LOL
 
Tabasco said:
It would yield at least $400 billion in revenue, and that is a modest estimate. Combine that with a 15% tariff on all imports (350 billion in revenue), and excise taxes (such as taxes on gasoline and cigarettes), and the Federal government would have more than enough to carry out its Constitutional duties.
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I would rather abolish tarriffs. And I don't want the mandatory minimum government the constitution requires. I want a state with some meat to it.

Tabasco said:
As for the national debt, a Constitutional amendment should be passed which implements a 20% tax on all income over 1 million dollars, with three catches: (1) all revenue will go straight to paying down the debt; (2) it will repeal itself as soon as the debt is paid off; (3) the 16th Amendment will also be repealed as soon as the debt is paid off.
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Good luck.


Tabasco said:
LOL
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I'm just wondering because it's about half of discretionary spending. What are you going to get rid of? Food stamps? Roads?

And if you get rid of something like the Department of education, it doesn't really count because states are just going to have to raise taxes to make up the difference. Poorer states more so.

Before someone asks me to cut spending to lower taxes, I want to know the specifics. Saying something meaninglessly vague like "government waste" is not an acceptable substitute.
 
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tinfoil said:
watertard:Again, cap and trade is a regulation, not a tax.

LOL call it what you want. it's a cost of doing business, it'll get added to the cost of products and services.

I doubt you can explain WTF you're talking about because it's absolutely ridiculous.

Kids like you are what's wrong with america. Not only are you ignorant, you actually think people showing you where you're wrong are uninformed.

Classic!
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This is not worthy of dignifying with a response
 
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And to fit the federal government to only 400 billion in revenue you'd need to chop off about 80% of all government spending. For the sake of absurdity, let's assume that you could realistically chop off everything but defense spending. You would still have to be making cuts after that.
 
Watermark said:
Again, cap and trade is a regulation, not a tax.



Hyperbole.



Of course. And you could very easily counteract that to a degree, spreading the economic innefficy out amongst the income brackets through lower taxes grocery taxes... etc...



I'm pretty sure corporate taxes have a different distortionary effect than sales taxes. Most taxes distorts the economy - a tax on income, of course, hurts business because people spend less, etc... etc...

The exception to this rule is the head tax and the land value tax, which don't distort the economy very much.
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Again, it is a tax. Companies will have to pay more if they use the energy, this cost will be passed to the consumer, an artificial cost increase created by the government. The federal government doesn't have any power over local sales taxes in your area, and the cost increase will far outstrip those imaginary decreases. And corporate taxes are inflationary, just like sales taxes, and definitely regressive. It is by far the most regressive form of taxation proposed seriously today, and the democrats are toting the bath water for it.
 
I bet watermark gets crappy grades in statistics, economics, and math.

How do you look at a value-added tax and try to make the case that it's not a tax?

It's defined as a tax.

Unless we're allowed to log and deduct the VATs entire value against our tax bill (not taxable income) it amounts to double taxation
 
tinfoil said:
I bet watermark gets crappy grades in statistics, economics, and math.

How do you look at a value-added tax and try to make the case that it's not a tax?
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I said that cap and trade was not a tax. It's a regulation. Even if a regulation leads to higher costs, its a misnomer at best to call it a "tax".

tinfoil said:
It's defined as a tax.
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It has tax in its name.

tinfoil said:
Unless we're allowed to log and deduct the VATs entire value against our tax bill (not taxable income) it amounts to double taxation
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It's just two different taxes.
 
Superfreak said:
I disagree, the fair tax simply opens the doors for more lobbying of politicians to make company 'x's' product exempt or deemed a necessity. It also would be regressive in nature.

The flat tax with a standard deduction is the simple fair way to change the tax code.
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Either could be abused, but not so simply as the current system. The flat tax doesn't address the level playing filed issue.
 
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