Comments on: Alan Greenspan, you’re my hero!

By: james

james — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:28:01 +0000

here is my idea on the Consumption Tax and how the republicans can get there mojo back
do you do the right thing – not smoke, eat right, go to school, not break the law, try to recycle
if you do these things and are poor that a problem for me
ask the average joe and the American people do the go to work and pay taxes to support people
who smoke, don’t eat right (see the movie supersize me – think of the extra heath cost (soon under obama
tax cost),dont go to school,etc
its time for people and American people to pay based on results and stop living beyond there means and having the
average hard working American pay for it
my plan
keep the income tax on people above 125,000 or so – that’s just a number i picked it can be debated and go up or down
then get rid of all other taxes – people and corp
then have a consumption tax on bad things
no tax on non processed food and recycled items, other good things that society can decide on.
tax fast food, smoking the most (i personally would legalize drugs (expect under 21, get caught selling or giving to kids life sentence) and taxes them the highest (call it the new death tax – to pay for there death and heath care cost) and require you to show you have 40 hr a week job to support the habit – because you never going to stop someone from using that wants to)
tax the rest of products a normal rate
instead of having a jail system like today for nonviolent offenders have weekend workcamps – if you steal or have a dui work weekends for a couple years (like 10 to 15) on a farm – that will have end illegals – if the farms and other low paying jobs are done by lawbreakers than the demand for illegals will dry up and stop both it and crime.
industry that provide high paying jobs (like auto that make high mpg cars) that we want here in the USA – don’t tax what they sell or what the buy to make the product
from the taxes from smoking, fast food, other consumption products give a reward for completing school or training for a new job
you the average Joe that does not smoke, eats rights, recycles and goes to school will pay less and have a better life
the coming baby boomers that are going to live the work force is going to mean either we start rewarding for recycle and doing the right things or lower are stardered of living

By: Dossy

Dossy — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:34:42 +0000

Poor people will have to learn to live within their means and spend less if they want to avoid paying less taxes. Rich people will have to do the same.

Today, rich people can get tax breaks and pay less taxes than poor people (from an absolute dollar amount perspective). This is just plain wrong.

Except for people who are born into money, those who are rich became rich because they knew how to save money. I’d love to see a tax reform such that people are incentivized to save money. That’s the true way to promote class elevation, encouraging people to do the things that will get them out of the lower-middle class, like saving money.

Many people who “spend all their income on basic necessities” have a far too broad definition of what “basic” means. That’s part of the problem with this country. We live in excess and people think they have an entitlement to what others have. This also needs to stop.

By: pete

pete — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 05:18:17 +0000

Unfortunately your reasons for wanting a consumption tax are the reason we shouldn’t have one. Think for a minute that you are a lower income person, all of your income has to be spent on the basic neccessities of life like food, clothes, shelter and expenses due to working (whcich would be taxed)- then you would be totally taxed on ALL your income. Then imagine that you are very wealthy, and you can invest or save or in laymens terms – make money on your money, you would be paying tax only on a small percentage of your income because you can afford to do what the poor cannot. This system will only make the rich become richer and keep the poor down and in the long run it creates class wars and recession because the lower and middle class are punished for trying to survive, and if they can spend less – they will. Remember the secret mantra of the rich – to get richer, you don’t have to have more money, you just have to make the poor have less!

By: Dossy

Dossy — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 19:37:39 +0000

FYI, there was a time when I started getting trackback spam, so I’d killed it. I’m turning it back on now but I don’t have the time to re-implement it with spam blocks in place, so if the spam starts up again, I might shut it down again.

By: Josh Ferguson

Josh Ferguson — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 19:06:52 +0000

Really good comments. I’m with you for the most part. I’m lean a little more towards the Fair Tax but anything in that direction is an improvement. I do fear a hybrid of income and sales tax. I think that would defeat the benefits and just prove to increase our taxes.

BTW, I linked to you in my post but your trackback doesn’t seem to be working. I get a 404 error.