What if everyone was taxed the same?

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

what's stopping the wealthy from getting a better deal on a tax shelter overseas and stashing the money there like they do now?

They won't out of the goodness of their heart. If there was a flat tax they would be so overwhelmed with how fair people treat them that they'll take it upon themselves to privately fund a middle class.

I think that's the gist of how Tea Party flat tax plans go. Ax (don't ask) Herman Cain.

[Jacob1983]

[LnGrrrR]

I mean, really, when did the notion of fair change from "everyone does what they can" to "everyone does the same"? I'm not saying either definition is "right", but conservatives seem to act like only the 2nd definition is valid. And as mentioned above, I think it's hilarious that if only we had a flat tax, rich people finally would feel like they weren't being overtaxed so they wouldn't try all kinds of shenanigans and backdoor deals to evade taxes.

Real wage separation has increased greatly over the past few decades, and our middle class has weakened. Is there anyone who DOESN'T think these two are correlated? Is there anyone here that would rather have more rich people (who you know, are reinvesting their money into foreign companies/wages for the most part) instead of the middle class (who has the most buying power)?

[coyotes_geek]

Anyone with a basic understanding of math doesn't need to try a flat tax to know how it would work. Wealth would concentrate at the top over time and the middle class would be destroyed unless you coupled the flat tax with a confiscatory estate tax rate.

Does wealth ac ulate at the top over time in countries that use a progressive tax system?

It also has been tried (qualifying it with "at least not to my knowledge" only means you're advocating a flat tax and your knowledge of historic flat tax usage is totally ignorant). Here's a link and image:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_tax


The dark green represents countries with a flat tax. If only we had the strong middle class Eastern Europe, Madagascar and Saudi Arabia have.

I'm guessing decades of communism (actual communism, not the fake red team outrage kind) has more to do with the plight of the middle class in eastern europe than their use of a flat tax does.

lol ignoring the reason why I brought up the 30% of this country that's dirt poor but thinks lowering the rich's taxes will raise their wealth (hint: it has something to do with the re ed notion that people actually have a clue about how taxes in this country work)

Go to a flat tax and anyone who can do math at a 7th grade level will know everything there is to know about how taxes in this country work.

If there's no preferential treatment with a flat tax, why do you suppose rich people love the idea so much? Must be the current big mean confiscatory tax policy, those richers have it so tough

If rich people loved a flat tax so much, we'd have a flat tax.

If you understand basic math it's not melodramatic at all. A highly progressive tax code is the only way to create a middle class that can sustain control over a high percentage of the country's total wealth over time.

Care to cite examples?

That's empirical evidence that higher marginal rates leads to investment in politicians. That's not in any way empirical evidence a flat tax will lower investment in politicians. But idk why I'm arguing, Saudi Arabia proves how much a flat tax keeps the rich away from influencing government.

Saudi Arabia being a very relevant example to use here, what with them being a democracy and all...

Multi-billionaires with more wealth than they'll ever need pour millions into politics just to have that much more wealth. If there's the tiniest incentive for them the rich will try to influence Washington, and I fail to see how a flat tax removes any incentives, unless you're an idiot and you think a flat tax will magically make Americans informed thinkers who pay attention to proposed tax law.

You for example claim a flat tax "hasn't been tried" while you argue for it in spite of the fact it's the tax system primarily used in Eastern Europe. I'd say you're a shining example of Americans being ignorant and misinformed when it comes to taxes.

As mentioned earlier, eastern europe has issues that go far beyond their use of a flat tax.

I feel like this is something you'd find in an Ayn Rand book.

Wouldn't know. Never read her.

People get fooled NOW with trickle down bull ; they'd just be fooled into revoting for it. Additionally, you don't think Congress would run some sort of "You secretly give me this kickback, I'll give you that one"?

1 million low info/income voters is probably about equal to 1 high income voter, to be honest. Money rules.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, Congress' desire to play that kickback game is reason why we're never going to have a flat tax.

what's stopping the wealthy from getting a better deal on a tax shelter overseas and stashing the money there like they do now?

Nothing.