Instead of talking about whether we ought to extend the tax cuts initiated under President Bush, a debate in which the whole essence is whether the very richest people in the nation deserve to keep their advantage, we ought to be talking about the tax code itself.
Our tax code is a monster created by several decades of screwing around with it. It is understandable that some people want to toss the whole thing out and initiate a flat tax. A flat tax--the same rate for everybody--sounds fair, although about ten seconds of thinking about it demonstrate that it is not. If the flat tax were 20%, let us say, that would mean that a person trying to buy groceries and pay rent on a $2000. a month income would have to pay $400. in taxes. Do you want to try to live on $1600. a month? At the same time, a persons earning $20,000. a month ($120 thousand a year) would pay $4000. a month in taxes, and have $16,000. left for the car payment, and a night out.
A Tax system that would take income away from a person who does not earn enough to live on is not a fair tax. It is just flat.
Obviously, people who earn a million dollars a year ought to pay, not only more in taxes, but at a higher rate. They have a huge advantage in how the income is distributed: they should have a large responsibility in how the bills are paid.
Debating what the tax code should look like distances the discussion just a little from particular built-in, added-on, special interest amendments tacked on over the years. Does it make sense to allow some family corporations making millions of dollars a year to file as "small business", and pay at a rate that was intended for honestly small businesses? Of course not!
A new tax code won't be perfect, but it is a chance to start over, and to think seriously about how we want to pay for the government services we want and need; how to pay for health care, how to pay for social security, how to pay for schools, and highways, and energy resources.
So let us kick the legs out from under the outworn arguments, and outworn politicians, who are hunkered down in Congress, and reframe the argument!
Our tax code is a monster created by several decades of screwing around with it. It is understandable that some people want to toss the whole thing out and initiate a flat tax. A flat tax--the same rate for everybody--sounds fair, although about ten seconds of thinking about it demonstrate that it is not. If the flat tax were 20%, let us say, that would mean that a person trying to buy groceries and pay rent on a $2000. a month income would have to pay $400. in taxes. Do you want to try to live on $1600. a month? At the same time, a persons earning $20,000. a month ($120 thousand a year) would pay $4000. a month in taxes, and have $16,000. left for the car payment, and a night out.
A Tax system that would take income away from a person who does not earn enough to live on is not a fair tax. It is just flat.
Obviously, people who earn a million dollars a year ought to pay, not only more in taxes, but at a higher rate. They have a huge advantage in how the income is distributed: they should have a large responsibility in how the bills are paid.
Debating what the tax code should look like distances the discussion just a little from particular built-in, added-on, special interest amendments tacked on over the years. Does it make sense to allow some family corporations making millions of dollars a year to file as "small business", and pay at a rate that was intended for honestly small businesses? Of course not!
A new tax code won't be perfect, but it is a chance to start over, and to think seriously about how we want to pay for the government services we want and need; how to pay for health care, how to pay for social security, how to pay for schools, and highways, and energy resources.
So let us kick the legs out from under the outworn arguments, and outworn politicians, who are hunkered down in Congress, and reframe the argument!
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