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RE: In Defense of Taxation

in #philosophy7 years ago

I loved every minute of this article. I also have no issues with paying a fair share of tax, it is the only way that society can operate.

For me, I like to challenge what is a public good now and what should not be a public good. I can't avoid taxes but I would like to see spending to go down in order to lower the taxes ( one possible way to offset revenue reduction in your formula as discussed above).

There's so much pointless spending at Federal and State level, very complex tax code and not enough clear guidance it leaves room for interpretation and sometimes people take the most aggressive interpretation. The combination of this contributes to the deficit.

I also worry about taxing to death stimulators of the economy. I understand the need for a marginal rate but I think when you count state taxes on top of federal taxes people are giving up more than half of what they make it's overkill. Don't give me wrong I do not shed a tear for the high net worth individual, I just would like to see the government stimulate spending on jobs that benefit the normal 99% (the rich will always be ok).

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Thanks.

I agree on spending, more or less. As I mentioned, everyone has spending cuts they'd like to see. The problem in a democracy (or more accurately, a republic) is agreeing on them. Although I suppose you can find agreement even then in government waste. No one wants to see their tax dollars go nowhere.

My next article, as I mentioned, will be on complex tax codes. I don't know if I can defend the entirety of the current US tax code with a straight face, but I can at least argue any fair tax code is inevitably complex. (Unless we're talking FairTax, but I don't have the chops to talk about that.)

I have some hope that the GOP/Trump tax reform (if it actually happens) will reduce some complexity, and hopefully make life easier for businesses. For example, I'd personally love full expensing, and treating capital gains as normal income (but deducting half) would make the math much simpler. Although most people probably just use tax software at this point.