Say Anything Blog

Slider at the knees.  Strike Two!!!

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

This is all I needed to read from Mitt:

We all can dream about a much simpler, fairer, flatter system.

IMO, the real problem with the “tax system” is the quantity of govt spending.  No “tax system” is going to be any good at this level.  The govt simply spends too much of our money, and we get little or nothing for it.  That’s the real problem.

If you don’t know by now, don’t mess with it.

R108,

Hear, Hear!

I thought that some one would attempt to defend Mitt… I’m really glad that no one has.

“I’m probably not going to be recommending throwing out the code and starting over,” the Republican said during a meeting with Des Moines Register editors and reporters. “We all can dream about a much simpler, fairer, flatter system.

“I look to say, ‘Can we make the tax rates lower for all Americans?’ Can we make the tax on savings, particularly on middle-income Americans, disappear?”

I am going to.  Not him personally, but the idea of a flat tax being less than appealing as a solution.

Currently, we all know that tax rates and the way that the redistribution system is set up sucks.  We have seen that the simple act of lowering marginal tax rates produces increased revenue.  The capital markets as well as our entire economic system is based on stability of taxation, not necessarily “fairness”.  People know what to expect from the taxman, but when the loopholes go away and the system radically changes, vast amounts of wealth and stability get lost.

By flat tax, do you mean that dividends and capital gains are taxed at the same rate as wages?  That social security taxes are charged on all income above $85k +/- that is the current threshold?  That there are no deductions for household size, medical bills, health insurance, retirement contributions?

We are vastly better off with a do nothing President and a do nothing Congress.  Growth continues at a 2-3% clip.  Better yet, we are even better off when we simple lower tax rates across the board by a percent or two.  That spurs the economy along.  If we start playing around with the tax system, we allow Congress to spend years completely rewriting it and sticking new pork in there.

I like idealism as much as the next guy, but let’s have a dose of realism.  This isn’t about tax cuts, this is about massive upheavle of our entire economic climate and expect that if we do that, it will be designed to benefit the poor even more at the expense of the rich.

BTW, do we all like the current economic climate?  3-4% GDP growth, lower marginal tax rates (2003 tax cuts), economic expansion, low unemployment, etc.?

I am all about making minor incremental improvements and believe that they will benefit the system, but overhaul is not in our best interest.  It does not affect the 50% of people that pay zero in taxes already and instead of opening up the economy for investment, it will scare off capital investment.  People will stick money into bonds and wait out Congressional action, or better yet, bury it under matresses to see how the stock market, real estate market, etc., respond.  It will create nervousness and that is the enemy of the little man.

I would be in favor of a national sales tax (food and other household items exempted) if the other taxes would go away, but you know that won’t happen and we would end up with just another tax.

The Supreme Court is a bunch of black robed tyrants

Justin...I like it alot! Too bad for the dems… Thanks for that little tidbit.