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DanaC 10-16-2011 03:50 AM

What do you mean by 'fantasy person'?

henry quirk 10-18-2011 01:33 PM

Lamplighter
 
In post #211, you asked some questions…in post #214, I answered (assuming you'd respond).

Care to continue the conversation?

Lamplighter 10-18-2011 02:06 PM

Yes, I should have replied, but the thread sort of drifted and I got lazy.

OK, I just found a second rope, for me - please be gentle

I realize you don't like others interpreting your posts,
but this is what I think you've said
Quote:

Henry Quirk's POS Taxation Law is "transaction-based",
and replaces all other forms of taxation and revenue,
with no exemptions or loopholes

Taxation must be simple, all inclusive,
at equal rates on all types of transactions,
and not progressive:

No income tax
No capital gains tax
No payroll tax
No special taxes

Each transaction tax is based on the full value of the item being sold
New and used items, food, rent, utilities are taxed on the full value of the item
All business-to-business transactions are taxed on the full value of the item
All services are taxed on the full value of the object of the service
Each subunit of a compound transaction is taxed on the full value of the item
For discussion, assume a 10% transaction tax rate
- here are a few examples of long range consequences.

(A) Unending uber-iinflation:
All consumer goods accumulate multiple (10%) increments of extra costs
----------farmer ->co-op->x*(transporters->wholesalers)->
.........................................y*(transporters->distributers)->retailer->buyer

(B) Loss of public health (i.e., "living is regressive")
No payroll taxes = no Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid
----------Hospitals/doctors loose Medicare and Medicaid - become private/insurance pay only
----------Hospitals/doctors refuse / stop services for patients with inadequate resources
----------Individuals must cover full costs of lifelong medical and emergency services
----------Each individual must accumulate adequate wealth for pay-as-you-go till death

(C) Business grinds to a halt
No capital gains taxes = Both "buy" and "sell" transactions are taxed at full current value
e.g., if Stock/bond value = $100 / share
----------Stocks must appreciate in value at least 11% before buyer "breaks even"
------------Buyer pays 10% on current stock value (value is now $90)
------------Buyer pays 10% on dividends over time
------------Buyer (now Seller) pays 10% on increased value of stock ($10)
------------Or, Buyer (now Seller) pays 10% on decreased value of stock, ($9)

----------Corporate bonds lose 10% value when issued and/or redeemed
----------Corporate bonds must pay more than $10 interest for buyer to "break even"

(D) Real Estate becomes unaffordable
Real Estate transactions are taxed by each subunit level at full value of property
---------- Seller pays 10% tax on current value of property
---------- Seller's Realtor adds extra 10% on current value of property
---------- Seller pays off mortgage and bank assesses an extra 10% on current balance

---------- Buyers appraiser bills extra 10% of current value of property
---------- Title insurance bills extra 10% of current value of property
---------- Mortgage insurance bills extra 10% of current value of property
---------- Bank issues mortgage with extra 10% of current balance or loan
---------- Buyers Realtor pays 10% of current value of property

Would such effects of a ubiquitous transaction tax be OK by you ?

Lamplighter 10-18-2011 08:32 PM

OK, I admit to holding an overwhelming bias against Fox News, and
unless there's a cataclysmic event, I'll not be voting the Republican ticket.

Having said that, can someone explain why Fox News is carrying
such a critical article on Herman Cain's 999 plan
Is Fox supporting Romney or some other Republican"

Fox News
Published October 18, 2011
| Associated Press
Study: Cain Tax Plan Raises Taxes on 84 Percent
Quote:

Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan would raise taxes on 84 percent of U.S. households,
according to an independent analysis released Tuesday, contradicting claims
by the Republican presidential candidate that most Americans would see a tax cut.

The Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, says low- and middle-income families
would be hit hardest, with households making between $10,000 and $20,000
seeing their taxes increase by nearly 950 percent.

"You're talking a $2,700 tax increase for people with incomes between $10,000 and $20,000,"
said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. "That's huge."

Households with the highest incomes, however, would get big tax cuts.
Those making more than $1 million a year would see their taxes cut
nearly in half, on average, according to the analysis.
Among those in the middle, households making between $40,000 and $50,000
would see their taxes increase by an average of $4,400, the report said.
Those making between $50,000 and $75,000 would see their annual tax bill go up by an average of $4,326.

"It's very, very regressive compared to the current system,
and that's largely because we're exempting capital gains,
and we're taxing your spending with the sales tax," Williams said.
"People at the top end don't spend all their money and they get a lot of capital
<snip>
.
I know the Brookings Institute is a relatively liberal think-tank and the Urban Institute probably is also.
I'm just suspicious and or befuddled when such an article is published by Fox.

Happy Monkey 10-18-2011 08:36 PM

Grover Norquist came out against 999, so it's open season on it for Fox.

Lamplighter 10-18-2011 09:00 PM

HM, Thanks for putting me onto this
I was incredulous on first reading of your post, it was too much to believe.
But now I think you are right. I found this article...

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/2332...-tapeworms.htm
By Maggie Astor | October 18, 2011 10:49 AM EDT

Grover Norquist: Herman Cain's '9-9-9' Plan is Like 'Having Tapeworms'
Quote:

..."Eventually, he [Cain] wants to swap out all three of those taxes
in favor of a single consumption tax, or "fair tax,"
but given how difficult it is to revamp the tax code even once,
the 9-9-9 structure would probably be in place for a long time --
and the rates wouldn't necessarily stay at 9 percent.

That, Norquist says, is the fatal flaw in the 9-9-9 plan:
Instead of having one tax that could increase, we would have three.
"It gives you three taxes, all of which could grow," he told CNN.
"You will have put three needles in your arm to draw blood instead of one."
<snip>
"To put tapeworms in your tummy to try and maintain your weight --
they may have their own idea about their growth patterns and
what they want to do," he said. "Creating new taxes is a very dangerous project."
.
It's almost delicious watching the Republican Party eat their own children.
.

classicman 10-18-2011 11:41 PM

History of the Income Tax in the United States
 
Quote:

The nation had few taxes in its early history. From 1791 to 1802, the United States government was supported by internal taxes on distilled spirits, carriages, refined sugar, tobacco and snuff, property sold at auction, corporate bonds, and slaves. The high cost of the War of 1812 brought about the nation's first sales taxes on gold, silverware, jewelry, and watches. In 1817, however, Congress did away with all internal taxes, relying on tariffs on imported goods to provide sufficient funds for running the government.

In 1862, in order to support the Civil War effort, Congress enacted the nation's first income tax law. It was a forerunner of our modern income tax in that it was based on the principles of graduated, or progressive, taxation and of withholding income at the source. During the Civil War, a person earning from $600 to $10,000 per year paid tax at the rate of 3%. Those with incomes of more than $10,000 paid taxes at a higher rate. Additional sales and excise taxes were added, and an “inheritance” tax also made its debut. In 1866, internal revenue collections reached their highest point in the nation's 90-year history—more than $310 million, an amount not reached again until 1911.

The Act of 1862 established the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The Commissioner was given the power to assess, levy, and collect taxes, and the right to enforce the tax laws through seizure of property and income and through prosecution. The powers and authority remain very much the same today.

In 1868, Congress again focused its taxation efforts on tobacco and distilled spirits and eliminated the income tax in 1872. It had a short-lived revival in 1894 and 1895. In the latter year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the income tax was unconstitutional because it was not apportioned among the states in conformity with the Constitution.
continued here
Pretty cool read

Lamplighter 10-19-2011 12:34 AM

And then things began to change...

By the beginning of the 19th century, government policy on both sides of the Atlantic began to change,
reflecting the growing popularity of the proposition that corporations were riding the economic wave of the future.

In 1819, the U.S. Supreme Court granted corporations a plethora of rights
they had not previously recognized or enjoyed.[13]
Corporate charters were deemed "inviolable",
and not subject to arbitrary amendment or abolition by state governments.[14]
The Corporation as a whole was labeled an "artificial person," possessing both individuality and immortality.[15]

@Wikipedia


Today, corporations are people. I know this because Mitt said so.

DanaC 10-19-2011 02:26 AM

Hmm 1819. That's when the UK was enacting all sorts of anti-worker legislation and actively against perquisites and 'traditional' artisanal rights.

The pendulum was swinging during this period away from workers and towards employers in several important ways.

Spexxvet 10-19-2011 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamplighter (Post 764961)
Having said that, can someone explain why Fox News is carrying
such a critical article on Herman Cain's 999 plan
Is Fox supporting Romney or some other Republican"

Because he's black, of course. :rolleyes:

Quote:

In 1862, in order to support the Civil War effort, Congress enacted the nation's first income tax law.
OMFG! A repubican initiated the income tax in the US! God damn them to hell, those dirty damn tax creators!

henry quirk 10-19-2011 10:31 AM

"Would such effects of a ubiquitous transaction tax be OK by you?"

Lamp, I get befuzzled when I look at graphs and charts and bulleted lists and whatnot...also: big blocks of text 'loop de loop' me (I imagine I have all manner of neurological dysfunction I could blame this on).

Gimme a little time and I'll respond...just need a little time to 'see' the information first (in my head).

Patience, please... ;)

henry quirk 10-19-2011 02:22 PM

Lamp, I like the conciseness of your summation of my point of purchase tax.

I reproduce it here with minor tweaking and one question.

-----

Henry Quirk's point of purchase tax is "transaction-based", and replaces all other forms of taxation and revenue, with no exemptions or loopholes.

Taxation is simple, all inclusive, at equal rates on all types of transactions, and not progressive:

No income tax
No capital gains tax
No payroll tax
No special taxes

Each transaction tax is based on the current value of the item or service being sold.

New and used items, food, rent, utilities are taxed on the current value of the item or service.

All business-to-business transactions are taxed on the current value of the item or service.

All services are taxed on the current value of the service.

-----

"Each subunit of a compound transaction is taxed on the full value of the item"

Why? Seems to me every 'sub-unit' is still integral to the overall transaction, so, there would only be one tax on the aggregated costs.

#

"All consumer goods accumulate multiple (10%) increments of extra costs."

Sure. No different, I think, than the accumulated costs of regulation and the accumulated costs for materials, labor, machinery, etc. (without, of course, any other, current, taxes added to the mix).

Don't see why it would lead to "uber-inflation".

#

"no Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid"

Not in the present forms, no.

All three should be voluntary (gov-sponsored with funds drawn from a pooled account)...one should only draw out what one puts in (though in a voluntary version, whatever the participants agree to is fine by me)...no one should pay for another (unless, again, as a function of a voluntary system, he or she agrees to do just that).

#

"Both "buy" and "sell" transactions are taxed at full current value"

I may be misunderstanding you here, but, on the chance I'm not: No, as a point of purchase tax, the purchaser of the item or service pays the tax...only 'buy' is taxed.

As I say: I may be misunderstanding you here.

In any event: can't see how the point of purchase tax would encourage stagnation of business. What most certainly would put the brakes on business (especially those without any real product or service) is the loss of loophole, exemption, and exception.

#

"Real Estate transactions are taxed by each subunit level at full value of property"

Sure. Each sub-unit (in this case) is a legit and independent transaction, a tax absorbed by the purchaser and passed along to the buyer, but never at 'full value'. 'Current Value' is the baseline. And with 'property' especially, current value is dependent on a variety of factors largely of the control of buyers and sellers.

What's prime today may be ghetto ten years down the road.

#

"Would such effects of a ubiquitous transaction tax be OK by you?"

Since I don't see the effects in the same dire light as you, yeah, I'm okay with the effects.

Fundamentally: prices WOULD go up on just about everything, gov-revenue WOULD go down, and every one takes a hit.

A few of the long-term benefits: more folks will self-rely ('cause gov can't take care of you no more!); fewer businesses (based solely on speculation) will grow to gargantuan size; fewer folks (here and abroad) will achieve uber-rich status, but more will 'make it'; folks will reassess what is a 'need' (a necessity) and what is a 'want' (a scratch to be itched).

Not seeing the downside to the downsize... ;)

henry quirk 10-19-2011 02:57 PM

Again (because there may be some confusion about what and who is taxed under my point of purchase tax): the purchaser pays the tax (not the seller); the tax is on product (a lamp, for example) and service (the service a bank provides, for example, in servicing one's finances, not on the amount itself).

The lamp example is clear but the banking one perhaps not so much.

At ACR bank, checking/savings accounts are offered. Joe deposits 1 million to his account while Jack deposits 500. Both men will pay the exact same tax because they pay it on the account service (which is perhaps a monthly charge), not the amount in the account.

Each time either man draws from his account (if the bank charges for such things) there is a tax paid, not on the amount drawn but only on the service.

If the bank, as Joe's proxy, invests some of Joe's money, Joe will pay a tax on the investment service *fee itself, not on money being risked.




*Now, the fee itself may be tied to the amount being risked, but that's the sphere of 'buyer beware' and not taxation.

Lamplighter 10-19-2011 03:24 PM

HQ, I'll send you a PM because my reply was getting too long.

But please distinguish between the selling of a $10 lamp and
the selling of a $10,000,000 bond, each with a 10% transaction tax
based on their "full value"

Likewise, when that $10M bond is divided among investors,
how the underwriter (bank) could resell $1K subunits to investors
without applying a 10% transaction tax to each, or a 10% devaluation,
based on bond's full subunit value.

henry quirk 10-19-2011 03:42 PM

"HQ, I'll send you a PM because my reply was getting too long."

Okay.

#

"But please distinguish between the selling of a $10 lamp and the selling of a $10,000,000 bond, each with a 10% transaction tax based on their "full value".

Not much to distinguish: If I buy a ten dollar lamp, I pay the tax on the current value of the lamp (10 today, maybe only 7 & half tomorrow).

If I buy a 10 million bond, I pay the tax on the current value of the bond (always 10 million, but with the value of each dollar going up and down as 'forces' dictate).

#

"when that $10M bond is divided among investors, how (can) the underwriter (bank) resell $1K subunits to investors without applying a 10% transaction tax to each, or a 10% devaluation, based on bond's full subunit value?

He can't (this is your "compound transaction", yes?) and in your question I see where my misunderstanding was. I don't view the 1 thousand dollar allotments as sub-units but as independent transactions, with the purchase of each as taxable.

Lamplighter 10-19-2011 04:07 PM

HG, the settings on your Profile will not let me send a PM to you.
If you don't wish to change your profile, I'll try to pare down my own response and post it here. Let me know which way...

TheMercenary 10-23-2011 04:37 PM

Who really pays...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/econom...ent/50676912/1

classicman 10-23-2011 06:18 PM

and what is your conclusion after reading that article?

TheMercenary 10-26-2011 08:43 PM

That Big V is full of ideological bull shit and has no idea what he is talking about....

SamIam 10-26-2011 09:34 PM

My conclusion is that, as usual, Merc ignores or skips over anything that doesn't fit in with his ideology. Like this from Merc's link:

Quote:

Q: But $30,000's not a big income — is most of that growth among nonpayers coming near the bottom of that scale?

A: Much of it is — the number of nontaxable returns for filers with incomes of $30,000-$40,000 went from about 85,000 — about a third of 1% of the total — to 4.8 million, or 8% of the total, by 2009. That's an increase of more than 5,000%. (By way of comparison, the overall number of tax returns went up by about 17%, and the total number of nontaxable returns doubled in that time.)

But the percentage increase was even bigger for higher wage earners. Nontaxable returns from people with income between $75,000 and $100,000 went from 4,025 in 1996 to 476,624 in 2009 — an increase of almost 12,000%. More than 1,400 millionaires didn't pay income taxes in 2009, either.
(emphasis my own)

So what about that, Merc? What's with this 12,000% increase of well off slackers who live in this country, yet don't pay their taxes? And, never mind them, what about the parasitic 1,400 millionaires who didn't pay anything either? Should these people be allowed to drive on the Interstates? Should our military protect them or should we just go ahead and send that 1,400 to Afganistan so that they can finally make some contribution to this country? And what makes them any different from the illegals who pay no taxes?

Hmmmmmmm? Inquiring minds want to know. :eyebrow:

TheMercenary 10-29-2011 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamIam (Post 767005)
Inquiring minds want to know.

I support flattening the tax code, lowering the rate for all, and elimination of nearly all deductions. Including mortgage interests. The only one I would support would be charitable deductions. Everyone will pay federal income tax, there will not be 53% who pay most all of the taxes. There will not be 47% who pay little to no Federal income tax. People should be allowed to make as much as they want legally within the system. No one should not pay anything, millionaires as well as the 47% who paid no federal income tax. The only exception should be made for those at or below the Poverty Threshold, and I would limit the number of people where that number would stop going up. But, hey, be glad I am not King.:eek::D

No one has a Constitutional right to redistribute wealth, as Obama and his supporters would love to do.;)

tw 10-29-2011 10:53 AM

Let's just flatten the tax code. Then a whole economy dependent on tax credits, tax deductions, etc will somehow magically survive the shock without bankruptcy and insolvency.

Or we do the smart thing. Slowly take apart the actual problems with the tax code that makes it so complex. That enriches the elite. But that means special interests much admit they are the problem. The richest are too greedy to advance America. After all, the purpose of life is to enrich yourself at the expense of all others. The purpose of a corporation is only its profits. Screw the product. Screw America. That is the purpose of life - according to those who converted a working tax code into a morass of special exemptions - especially for the rich.

Tax code worked so much better in the 1990s. What changed? That is the #1 problem.

henry quirk 10-31-2011 03:56 PM

"Let's just flatten the tax code. Then a whole economy dependent on tax credits, tax deductions, etc will somehow magically survive the shock without bankruptcy and insolvency."


No. Let's abolish the tax code (and taxation, and, the mechanism of governance that depends on taxation) then watch the whole economy collapse.

Time for a little *chaos, I think.

Scores of folks who cannot or who will not self-rely and -defend go bye-bye.

Oh, the cruelty! The inhumanity!

What a monster you are, Quirk! Lacking in all semblance of compassion...pffftt!

Seven billion folks on the planet and at least two-thirds of 'em are just taking up space.

Again: apocalypse NOW!

*shrug*










*The REAL stuff, not the namby-pamby, sanitized, crap everyone is afraid of for no good reason.

I'm talking about Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse shit...disease, cannibalism, raging fires, multiples of violence (and violence! and VIOLENCE!!).

Let’s see 'occupants' worry about 'haves' and 'have-nots' THEN... ;)


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