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  1. #101
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    A consumption tax is regressive in nature, because we empirically witness a decrease in the relative rate of consumption as income increases. Thus as income increases, the portion of taxes paid relative to income decreases. That is the definition of a regressive tax.

    The regressive nature of the tax can be mitigated, at least partially, by exempting certain goods and services (which it appears to attempt - the key becomes what we define as a "necessity") but you can never totally diminish it's regressive nature.

    With that said, regressive tax structures are not inherently bad. We utilize a lot of regressive taxes in this country with little debate or fanfare (and several portions of the existing tax code are effectively regressive, and probably not someone of the ones you think). But right off the bat a regressive tax structure will require a lot of explaining.

    Another thing with a VAT/consumption tax (which I don't point out to be a disqualifier, but rather something else to consider) is the effects it has on the relationship between supply and demand is more direct, and thus there is a greater exogenous influence on a free market equilibrium.
    Thx for the explanation. I see you point regarding the regressive nature of a VAT system. I guess I put too much emphasis on the prebate portion of the plan. It seemed, to me, to address the immediate concerns of an unequal burden.
    As for encouraging savings...Ive always thought that was a positive outcome unless its just rampant.

  2. #102
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    Where else do you suggest we address it?
    Addressing minimum wage standards is a good starting point.

  3. #103
    I don't really care... Yonivore's Avatar
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    Addressing minimum wage standards is a good starting point.
    How about eliminating a minimum wage standard?

  4. #104
    Veteran Th'Pusher's Avatar
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    How about eliminating a minimum wage standard?
    God bless. Enough with the libertarian bull . There is a reason it has never been tried in the real world. I'm going to start calling you Don Quixote.

  5. #105
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    How about eliminating a minimum wage standard?
    Foxconn? I'll pass.

  6. #106
    Veteran Th'Pusher's Avatar
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    Foxconn? I'll pass.
    yoni wouldn't. He'd prefer to continue to puppeteer Adam Smith's visibly dead invisible hand of the market.

  7. #107
    I don't really care... Yonivore's Avatar
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    Foxconn? I'll pass.
    You can't get Americans to work for the law-enforced minimum wage, now. What makes you think there'll be a Foxconn if you abolish the minimum wage?

    I don't buy it. Most starting wages are now above minimum wage because that's what the market demands. I don't see that changing if you remove a floor on which hardly anyone is standing.

  8. #108
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    How about eliminating a minimum wage standard?
    God bless. Enough with the libertarian bull . There is a reason it has never been tried in the real world. I'm going to start calling you Don Quixote.
    Why bother having a minimum wage when you liberals love illegal aliens taking our jobs anyway?

  9. #109
    Rising above the Fray spursncowboys's Avatar
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    Okay, so I decided to start a new thread devoted specifically to the discussion and philosophy of tax reforms. Specially, I wanted to remove it from any thread that deals with any specific candidate or story. I think this discussion should exist outside of the ideas of Obama and Romney, or anyone else, making it a purely philosophical discussion of what the ideal tax policy should be.

    One thing that is critically lacking from the current tax policy debate, and something I've complained about on this forum and elsewhere, is that the debate lacks any objective. What is it we are trying to achieve with our tax policy? Certainly it is more nuanced than picking one objective and going in that direction, but so many arguments conflate arguments based on objectives that are otherwise in conflict with one another.

    So, what is the objective of our tax policy? Here are some possible objectives that a tax policy can achieve:

    1) Revenue Maximization (which is not necessarily the same as Rate Maximization)
    2) Economic Growth
    3) Income Equality
    4) "Fairness" (I couldn't think of a better word for this - but essentially the idea that everyone should pay the same % of their income in taxes)
    5) Fiscal Stability
    6) Rate Minimization (which is not necessarily the same as Revenue Minimization)

    The problem is that each of the potential objectives carries vastly different approaches for achieving success.

    So, what are we trying to do here?
    Great thread. Although I haven't read through it yet. I don't know if it got railroaded.

    A big idea of taxes IMO for me is that if you take from someone in the name of taxes, it should go to benefiting every citizen, or tax payer.
    I disagree with the idea of taking from everyone and giving to a specific group or subgroup

  10. #110
    Veteran Th'Pusher's Avatar
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    You can't get Americans to work for the law-enforced minimum wage, now. What makes you think there'll be a Foxconn if you abolish the minimum wage?

    I don't buy it. Most starting wages are now above minimum wage because that's what the market demands. I don't see that changing if you remove a floor on which hardly anyone is standing.
    If no one is being paid the minimum wage, then why get rid of it? You're suggesting the market already dictated the law ineffectual. Old laws sit on the books all the time. Why do you want to waste government time and resources on abolishing laws the free market has already effective abolished?

  11. #111
    Board Man Comes Home Clipper Nation's Avatar
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    I don't think it is better. If you do, donate to the cause, but as with most libertarian ideals, this plan is quixotic and untenable.
    The fair tax plan is hardly a libertarian ideal... replacing income taxes with consumption taxes doesn't solve anything, it just gives the government a different method of confiscating the money you rightfully earned, tbh....

    My solution is FAR more libertarian: no income tax, abolish the IRS, repeal the 16th Amendment.... taxes should not be used as a way to punish hard work, and it's not the federal government's place to do that anyway....

  12. #112
    Veteran Th'Pusher's Avatar
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    The fair tax plan is hardly a libertarian ideal... replacing income taxes with consumption taxes doesn't solve anything, it just gives the government a different method of confiscating the money you rightfully earned, tbh....

    My solution is FAR more libertarian: no income tax, abolish the IRS, repeal the 16th Amendment.... taxes should not be used as a way to punish hard work, and it's not the federal government's place to do that anyway....
    Well thats even more quixotic and untenable. Never going to happen. Join us all in 2012. The majority of Americans have evolved past the Madisonian model of Government. We're not going backwards.

  13. #113
    I don't really care... Yonivore's Avatar
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    The fair tax plan is hardly a libertarian ideal... replacing income taxes with consumption taxes doesn't solve anything, it just gives the government a different method of confiscating the money you rightfully earned, tbh....

    My solution is FAR more libertarian: no income tax, abolish the IRS, repeal the 16th Amendment.... taxes should not be used as a way to punish hard work, and it's not the federal government's place to do that anyway....
    And the federal government operates on...?

  14. #114
    Board Man Comes Home Clipper Nation's Avatar
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    And the federal government operates on...?
    Excise taxes, highway tolls, tariffs, user fees, etc.... taxes that exist for a purpose other than simply confiscating what you earned, tbh....

    Also, again, if we got rid of the income tax today and replaced it with nothing, the federal budget would only revert back to the mid-1990s..... not too unreasonable, really.....

  15. #115
    Board Man Comes Home Clipper Nation's Avatar
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    Well thats even more quixotic and untenable. Never going to happen. Join us all in 2012. The majority of Americans have evolved past the Madisonian model of Government. We're not going backwards.
    Except that our current model of government is a devolution - a bloated, arrogant, corrupt mess that warmongers in foreign countries, steals our wealth and civil liberties, and has no respect for our Cons ution..... some people might complain at first that the government isn't doing everything for them anymore, but I think most people would end up loving liberty, tbh.....

  16. #116
    Veteran Th'Pusher's Avatar
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    Except that our current model of government is a devolution - a bloated, arrogant, corrupt mess that warmongers in foreign countries, steals our wealth and civil liberties, and has no respect for our Cons ution..... some people might complain at first that the government isn't doing everything for them anymore, but I think most people would end up loving liberty, tbh.....
    That must be why Ron Paul did so well in the Republican primaries tbh. We have evolved.

  17. #117
    Board Man Comes Home Clipper Nation's Avatar
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    That must be why Ron Paul did so well in the Republican primaries tbh. We have evolved.
    Still eligible for nomination in Tampa... Ron bless

  18. #118
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    There is a remedy that fixes profit shifting, adopts a territorial tax, and solidifies tax revenue, by adapting a variation of the corporate tax system already used at the state level.

    This approach is called “sales factor apportionment” (SFA). Here’s how it works. SFA would apportion U.S. corporate tax on worldwide company income based upon the ratio of U.S. sales to worldwide sales. Despite the complex name, the principle is very simple. SFA disregards all internal corporate transfer pricing between subsidiaries, so a “sale” to a true customer outside the company is all that matters. In other words, the internal profit shifting in our RGC example becomes not only useless but stupid, as it lacks a business rationale. SFA also achieves the Republicans’ territoriality goal in a way that is good for the country while achieving the Democrats’ goal of eliminating tax avoidance and maintaining tax revenue. In fact, the U.S. states adopted this system long ago, to avoid artificial income shifting from high-tax to low-tax states. So it is hardly an alien concept, because U.S. companies already comply with it.


    The U.S. corporate tax rate is indeed high among developed economies, but is so ineffective that it collects less revenue as a percent of GDP than foreign countries with lower tax rates. SFA ends the charade.
    http://prospect.org/article/progress...-never-heard-0

  19. #119
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    Sales factor apportionment is the only reliable way to eliminate fiction layered upon fiction—because it only considers income from real sales to real third parties from any part of the consolidated company.

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