re: PoliBoard: Teach me why a flat tax is bad.

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Those that produce and create wealth or benefits to society should have to pay/subsidize those who don't.

Therefore a flat tax is unfair because of the truth from the first statement A flat tax would cause those that don't produce and or create benefits to society to actually have to pay something.

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Shouldn't we just kick these particular individuals out of our society and not subsidize their inability to bring anything to the table?

Bunch of nonsense

ABOLISH income tax altogether and go to a combination sales tax, wealth tax. Then institute a universal basic income.Getting rid of all forms of welfare, including social security and medicare/medicaid. Also make all local and state taxes illegal.

Exclude food, utilities, rent/mortgage from this sales tax.

American's spend $10.7T shopping last year. Subtract let's say $1B as food purchases.

That's $9.5T in spending. Taxed at 30% . That's 3T
in sales tax.

Then you add in a wealth tax. 10% of anyone's net worth over $100M. Not an income tax, a net worth tax of 1% taxed each year. The aggregate net worth of this group of people is roughly %6.5T . Or roughly $600B in tax revenue each year. So now you have roughly $7.2T.

How do states have any revenue you might ask? Simple, they split sales tax collected in their state 50/50 with the federal government. Wealth tax is strictly the federal governments. They can split it among cities in their states however they wish, but no locality or state may charge taxes of any sort.

So, that 30% in taxes when you say go out to eat, or go to a movie won't be near as painful when you realize you aren't paying income tax, you aren't being penalized by a pyramid scheme of a retirement plan that must be its very design eventually fail, you aren't being nickle and dimed by local state, and federal taxes. You simply pay the 30% income tax and then if you are fortunate enough to have a net worth of $100M or more, you pay an additional 10% of that to the federal government.

I mean who's going to feel sorry for a guy who has to cut a net worth check to the government for $1B because his net worth is $10B? Not me.

My plan would basically eliminate our entire tax code and replace with the postcard plan:

1) 17% on all income after $30,000

2) 17% on all capital gains after $10,000 the only exception being the sale of the primary home so long as those profits are reinvested in a primary home within two years.

3) 17% on all corporate net income after $15,000

That's it. No other federal taxes.

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How so?

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Because the Fair Tax plan calls for the subsidization of necessary goods by the government. Basically, thousands upon thousands of vouchers for food, clothing, medicine, and housing.

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Shouldn't we just kick these particular individuals out of our society and not subsidize their inability to bring anything to the table?

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No!

As a society(in other words laws government and such) We should just let Natural selection work.

If individuals by their own moral compass, decide to part with their own production to help out the leaches of society, then it is their money so why not.

That sounds great in theory, but I ask you, what is income? More specifically, what ISN'T income?

Sorry, I did not see an argument for a flat tax in your post. I saw an argument for raising revenue.

I think what you are missing:

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Let's say that the average income per citizen is 60k/yr

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Now later you correct this, but for this purpose it's fine. That 60k (or whatever) is total income not TAXABLE income. A flat tax, to me, means one (maybe two) brackets.

You are eliminated every possible exemption. Which arguments can be made for and against. But you can do the same thing with a progressive tax bracket system.

A flat tax system and a "cleaner" (fewer exemptions, lower rates) tax system are compatible, but you don't need one to get the other.

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I'd be fine with your plan but how do we keep politicians from tacking on special deduction, exemptions and rates over the years where we wind up right where we are today?

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Only way it would work would be Constitutional Amendment that specifically forbade the above. And that Amendment would have to come from the States due to my "insufficient opportunities for graft" comment above.

Can't do class warfare with a flat tax, baw.

Moose out front should have told you.