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What is a fair tax rate? In my opinion, a fair tax rate is zero. Recognizing that we are deeply intertwined with our existing system, I will present a simple, albeit unrealistic, solution to the approximately 70,000 pages of complex gobbledygook.
This may not solve much, but it expresses my viewpoint, which aligns with the purpose of The Opinion Blog.
In my recent opinion article, Famous Tax Evaders Compared To Hunter Biden’s Slap On The Wrist, I asked: “Should the rich pay their fair share?” This is my answer. It’s imperfect, but that has never stopped me from putting my dribble out there.
The Only Honest Solution? A Fair Tax Rate
It’s hard to say ‘honest’ when the corrupt and powerful are stealing from citizens and using that money to help destroy America, but that’s for a different discussion.
With that said, the fairest solution I can see, given our situation, is to forget tax deductions and loopholes. Pick a percentage of personal income and steal the same from everyone.
If you pick 3%, a person earning $15,000 annually pays $450. If a person earns 5 million dollars a year, $150,000 is stolen from them.
- Standard deduction? Not needed.
- Married? So what?
- Own a house? Who cares?
- Took an investment loss? Tough luck.
- Donated to charity? You have my respect.
Life becomes simple. Business becomes simple.
What about businesses? The same percentage on income. Zero deductions or tax incentives. Whoa!
How many times should the same dollar be taxed?
At the risk of already complicating things, I do think businesses shouldn’t have to pay taxes on the payroll since that’s already being paid by their employees. This would be the only tax break for businesses — pay employees more.
What about incentives? What’s to keep businesses from moving to other states or countries? Easy – make life better in your state. Regarding moving production to other countries, profits increase, and the percentage remains the same. Businesses can decide if they’re still an American company, and customers can decide if that company deserves their business. That and the simple tax rate should be an incentive. How many accountants, lawyers, and advisors do you need to figure out three percent or whatever the rate is?
State Taxes
Since states get to steal, too, they should be limited to a sales tax. No income tax. No additional taxes on anything. Not fuel, cigarettes, tags, death, or property. Everyone pays the same percentage for things they purchase within that state and pays at the time of the purchase. Period.
Or, Maybe states can steal money from income and not be allowed to steal from purchases (sales tax). Either/or but not both. It’s disgusting how many times someone has to pay the government on the same dollar. They got you coming in and going out. If the dollar you earned makes money, they steal again. Die and have the nerve to hand over your hard-earned money that’s been chopped up by untrustworthy lawmakers to your loved one; the money can be subject to even more theft.
Other Tax?
In my buddy “Not Frank’s” voice, “Forget about it.” Just stop it already. Social Security? Grandfather everyone over a certain age and get rid of it. It should have never been in the hands of the government, to begin with. Property tax? Nope.
Those are my thoughts on a fair method of government theft. Is it realistic? Probably not. Could it ever happen? Not a chance.
Is 3% A Fair Tax Rate?
Well, with a $25,838,900,000,000 USD in GNI (2022), three percent is $775,167,000,000. A government of under 337 million people should be able to cover expenses with over 775 billion dollars. Stop sending money abroad, stop paying idiots to do nothing, stop paying other idiots to do stupid stuff, stop paying civil servants to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and stop controlling everything in our lives. Yeah, that should cover it with enough extra for roads, border protection, and even a park or two.
What About…?
Doesn’t matter. Sorry, no what-a-bouts allowed in this exercise. You’ll just have to figure it out.
Easy peasy, problem solved.
You’re welcome,
Brian
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Brian D. Hawkins is a late-blooming thought leader in his mind. So please don't disturb his happy thoughts. It's all he has.
Brian D. Hawkins has been a blogger for over twenty years, having written thousands of public articles on dozens of websites. He currently blogs for NextStepSurvival.com and his personal blog at TheOpinionBlog.com.
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