Tidewater said:

I was chatting with someone at work today and I said something that might lead to a good idea.
Total the tax dollars you sent to federal, state and local. Then allow the taxpayer to shift $1,000 of the total from any once to any other level of government. As long as the total comes out to what it was to begin with.
Me personally, I would shift the entire $1,000 from federal to my city (cities in Virginia are (almost) entirely independent of the counties where they lay, so many city is my county).
My city spends like a tightfisted bunch and I would like to pay cops, teachers, garbage collectors, & firefighters more.
The federal government can stand to lose some weight.
Thoughts?

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Go Bama said:

I would give it locally. Our city got sued a few years back and the coffers are empty.

When you own a business, taxes are tough. Property taxes, tangible personal property taxes, payroll taxes, professional privilege tax, license fees, x-ray registration, quarterly estimated taxes, state taxes and probably others that are slipping my mind right now. When there is also an inventory to maintain cash flow becomes a serious problem at times.

So if we we want European benefits and the higher tax rates, I’ll just retire. The reason I never vote for Democrats is because as a rule, they want to provide more government services which I cannot afford to pay for. I suspect a lot of small businesses are at the brink of being tapped out. I’m fortunate to be at the end of my career because I didn’t enjoy working for a larger corporation. The quality of care suffered greatly.

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MAKING TAXES FUN

As President, I will…

• Create a federal holiday on the date taxes are due.
• Provide a report to every taxpayer with a breakdown of where their tax dollars go (Social Security, military, medical research, etc.) with shared video stories of what their tax money makes possible.
• Allow each American to direct 1% of their taxes to a specific project, department or activity of government (e.g. Veterans Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, etc.).
• Bring 2 taxpayers who filed their taxes early from each state to a celebration at the White House with members of Congress on Revenue Day.

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92tide said:

this year was our first to have to deal with the quarterly estimated taxes. it is a pain.

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TIDE-HSV said:

That's the way I've had to pay my taxes for my entire adult life, as I did yesterday. The last time I had taxes withheld from a paycheck was May, 1963...

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Go Bama said:

I would give it locally. Our city got sued a few years back and the coffers are empty.

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Tidewater said:

I was chatting with someone at work today and I said something that might lead to a good idea.
Total the tax dollars you sent to federal, state and local. Then allow the taxpayer to shift $1,000 of the total from any once to any other level of government. As long as the total comes out to what it was to begin with.
Me personally, I would shift the entire $1,000 from federal to my city (cities in Virginia are (almost) entirely independent of the counties where they lay, so many city is my county).
My city spends like a tightfisted bunch and I would like to pay cops, teachers, garbage collectors, & firefighters more.
The federal government can stand to lose some weight.
Thoughts?

Click to expand...

rjtide said:

how about replacing the entire concept of federal and state income taxes and enact the equivalent of a VAT....value added tax? Everyone who consumes ANYTHING gets taxed at a flat 15-17%? No one is immune from it. No more income taxes. No more separate sales tax. Add a VAT and keep property taxes. Keep property taxes local. Split the VAT where the feds keep half, state/local split the other half. I'd be interested in seeing how much it money it would generate.

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CharminTide said:

VAT taxes are horribly regressive and should never replace the income tax to become the primary mode of collecting revenue. For a simplistic illustration: flat consumption taxes affect 100% of income for poor people, 80% of income for the middle class, and <10% of income for the rich. The disparate socioeconomic effects should be obvious.

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What is the Progressive Consumption Tax?

An Analysis of Senator Cardin’s Progressive Consumption Tax

CharminTide said:

VAT taxes are horribly regressive and should never replace the income tax to become the primary mode of collecting revenue. For a simplistic illustration: flat consumption taxes affect 100% of income for poor people, 80% of income for the middle class, and <10% of income for the rich. The disparate socioeconomic effects should be obvious.

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RollTide_HTTR said:

You could probably structure a progressive VAT tax.

Ben Cardin, one of Maryland's senators, has a plan that he calls "Progressive Consumption Tax." Idk if he is still pushing it or not. I haven't looked into it too much though it does sound interesting.

Here is some info from 2015...

What is the Progressive Consumption Tax?

An Analysis of Senator Cardin’s Progressive Consumption Tax

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CharminTide said:

And like 92 said, the federal budget may noticeably diminish during recessions when individual spending is down, which may be problematic. Still, it's interesting.

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