Fixed Rate Income Tax

[roch5220]

^ Your not answering my response to your zero wealth theory. Though it does seem interesting, it doesn't seem very plausible. People can create wealth themselves without others going into debt. Bill Gates could liquidate his holdings. Microsoft is a cash cow, there would be a few large groups of investors/companies that would be licking their chops.

 

[EnviroTO]

I don't think rich people are escaping tax at a level different from lower income individuals. There are probably just as many legit "claim all income type" people that are wealthy as there are at lower income levels. At lower incomes there are far more people paid under the table. Pay a carpenter under the table, pay for a car repair under the table, report only a portion of sales in a variety store... while the rich need to move money offshore, they still have to do it above the table more often because moving millions of dollars isn't as easily hidden. Maybe there are too many loopholes in the tax system, I'm not sure, but the biggest loophole in my mind is the secrecy of a cash transaction. Replace cash with electronic money and I bet a lot more tax dollars would be collected.

 

[EnviroTO]

The zero sum wealth theory isn't really true. Productivity creates wealth through the creation of assets. Say you have two people, one is a carpenter that can build a house and one is a farmer that can grow food, in exchange for food the builder builds a house and the farmer gives the carpenter food. Now two people have food and two people have houses. They may have no cash, but they are more wealthy because they have created value in the form of a house and food. Nobody is worse off for the transaction. GDP is the value people create, not the value people sell.

 

[roch5220]

^ Serously, don't get me started. I will say that small busineses, around 60-80% don't pay taxes, some legit, some,,, hmm. I would institute fines of enormous amounts for people caught tax evading. If I went to a bank and took $5K, I would be thrown in jail. Why shouldn't tax evaders of the same scale?

 

[afransen TO]

I am not denying that wealth increases over time. I'm saying that the wealth of individuals relative to each other is at least somewhat zero-sum. Would a rich person be as rich is suddenly all their underlings were paid twice as much?