Cumulative burden of taxes

[WVTXn]

Fun buzzwords for today…..
“Consumption tax”
“Flat tax”
“Laffer Curve”

 

[WVTXn]

What makes me shed more dandruff is the property tax system in TX. We can never own our home free and clear and they tax us on their perceived value that goes up each year - we bought the house at XX dollars and pay taxes on the increased value each year without it generating any income - but the "Gov" is working on it....

I hear ya. One thing I don’t understand is the usage of “appraised” as opposed to “assessed”. I understand that the appraisal ultimately determines the assessment but the way it’s worded is just odd to me. As a TX transplant i scratch my head here often. But it sure beats at a minimum 40 other states. Maybe 45. Hey, at least we’re not laundering money for foreign terror states and using illogical virtue signaling as an excuse.

 

[WVTXn]

Here’s my conundrum via anecdote.
I walk into a bodega in NY to buy a sandwich one evening. Some inebriated fellow asks why I was there instead of a place like dunkin. I try to dodge the interaction as best I could, but to summarize…. Dude goes on a rant about big biz vs little biz (he hates “corporations”) and tries to justify his thoughts. Fair enough, but……
My retirement is tied into this 401k thingy….. and as I far as I know, it can’t be a vehicle to invest into mom & pop biz. I am the shareholder. I’m not saying it’s righteous or not, I’m saying I’m playing a game I’m not in control of. Unless I don’t play the game, which means no dental, no deodorant. (Reminds me I gotta schedule a cleaning). I think Howard Hughes said something to the effect of “I am merely a private citizen, you are the lawmaker.”

 

[WVTXn]

I have proposed that employees just get paid after tax. The person who now thinks he gets paid $100,000 but only takes home $80k just gets paid $80k and doesn’t have to do taxes. The company pays all that out and the employee doesn’t have to worry about April 15. Of course some people think that is a horrible idea because they want people to think they are getting screwed. Seems to be working.

So you’re suggesting a Flat tax in which my employer is also my accountant?

 

[noharleyyet]

 

[SAJ-99]

So you’re suggesting a Flat tax in which my employer is also my accountant?

Not sure how you came up with that. No, not a flat tax. It would need to remain graduated. Your employer knows how much you earned and can tax you the appropriate amount as your income increases through the year. The whole "guess what your deductions and withholdings should be" causes most of the angst at tax time. Yes, there are some holes and it would also be easier if we get rid of a bunch of deductions which cause the ultimate tax to differ. I kind of thought the goal was to simplify the tax code then realized it was mostly about people fighting to tax the other but not themselves.

 

[homers]

Spending at federal level is out of control and far exceeds inflation. Both parties to blame. Many state are out of control as well and have huge unfunded liabilities.

Just think if the government didn’t take 50% of what you earned. How much better would our living standard be in they “only” took 25%? That’s a lot of extra money in the pocket.

Politicians only look at one side of the equation. We need more money! We need to raise the minimum wage! Etc

 

[Forkyfinder]

I kind of thought the goal was to simplify the tax code then realized it was mostly about people fighting to tax the other but not themselves.

Are you referring to comments like "it would be a move in the right direction" when you say that?

Quadruple corporate taxes - that seems like a potentially bad idea, but for the sake of argument - you realize thats not even enough to make the US break even?

But tt certainly would move in the right direction.

I thought the goal of the thread was about the cumalative tax burden. My point has been that even with the heavy burden we are still coming up well short of what we "need" to break even and that we have more of a spending problem than a revenue problem.

 

[SAJ-99]

Are you referring to comments like "it would be a move in the right direction" when you say that?

Not sure I understand the ? I'm open to a lot of ideas if they lead to a better fiscal situation for us all. Even if that means higher taxes for me (don't tell my wife I said that).

I thought the goal of the thread was about the cumalative tax burden. My point has been that even with the heavy burden we are still coming up well short of what we "need" to break even and that we have more of a spending problem than a revenue problem.

Who is we? The individual or the collective we/government? Collectively we have a revenue problem. If you want start listing out spending cuts we can discuss and debate those. DOGE, in all its glory and incompetence did a good job of proving where the problem is. Part of that discussion on your cuts will be about the beneficiaries and how they might view those "spending cuts".