More Taxes On the Way...

[cdunn]

If the government taxes a factory that makes widgets at 10%, it collects a certain amount of taxes. Say a million widgets at a buck a year @ 10%, so it collects $100,000.

One could say that it can double that tax to 20% and collect $200,000, but it may not work out that well. The widget-maker may not be able to absorb that additional tax out of gross profits, so it raises prices. Raise them sufficiently, and people buy fewer of them. Tax revenue may actually fall. This is fact - the government uses the same argument to suggest that excessive taxes on 'sins' such as alcohol and tobacco are actually intended to discourage use.

One could also that the position that if widgets are popular, lower taxes might result in lower prices to consumers (especially in the presence of competition), and more widgets are sold. Lowering the tax to 5% would result in revenue to the government of $50,000 instead of $100,000, but only if sales stay flat. If they go up due to being less expensive to consumers, revenue may keep pace or even exceed the monies collected at the 10% rate.

This is not always the case, but it can and does happen.

Thus, increasing government revenue does not necessarily require a tax increase. The government itself depends upon the fact that burdensome taxes REDUCE consumption (and thus revenue), but many seem to deny the fact that the opposite it also true - lower taxes can INCREASE consumption and thus revenue.

This is a basic fact of economics that Democrats have seemed utterly incapable of grasping. They usually hoot such statements down, as if pretending rain doesn't exist keeps people from getting wet.

Yes, surfing the peak of the cost vs demand curve is complex work. But this only reflects the ease and willingness with which we bear the taxation. After all, those same states that are working with the federals to collect the taxes you already owe them could very well shrug, drop sales tax completely, and tax the **** out of your income directly, and tax the **** out of your business's profits. This hurts you, but remember, every dollar they take from you is a dollar of (taxable!) job for someone else, so it doesn't exactly leave the macro economy.

It still remains that ALL government spending must come with accompanying revenue, either immediately, or in the future, with interest. Every single dollar spent by the government today results, somewhere, and somewhen, well in excess of $1 of taxation that comes, at some point, to rest on you. It might be sales tax on you, it might be taxes on the business you buy from, it might be income taxes on you. All if it, however, is in the name of some service for you. If you want your overall taxation load to come down, then, again, I ask: what do you want the government to stop doing?

 

[Bill Mattocks]

If you want your overall taxation load to come down, then, again, I ask: what do you want the government to stop doing?

It's a false argument. If my total tax load is $100K per annum, and I gross $101K, that's a problem. If I gross $250K, not as much of a problem.

It is also a false argument to suggest that a dollar taken from me in taxation results in a dollar spent, and thus makes it a zero-sum game. A bridge built with tax dollars benefits all who drive upon it, or who gain teh benefit of commerce that passes over it.

When the end result - or the actual goal - is redistribution of wealth based upon some scenario in which I am the 'bad guy' for making money in excess of my needs, while some 'good guy' who chooses not to work for a living or complete their education benefits, that is not a zero-sum game for me - in the macro sense, as seen from space, perhaps. But for me, it's not only a dollar out of my pocket, it's a dollar put to work against me, making my remaining dollars less valuable. Involuntary redistribution of wealth is not taxation, it is theft. Referring to it as taxation as if it provides me with a service or benefit is an invalid position.

In any case, tax as a percentage of my available income does matter to me. I am not interested in my 'tax load', I am interested in the percentage of my income I do not get to keep.

As to what I want the government to stop doing, it depends entirely on the subject and the government you're talking about. I'd like the federal government to go into hibernation, but that's not likely.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Your Tax Dollars at work:

Funding:
American Insurance Group
Analog-to-Digital Convertor Boxes
General Motors
Save the F-22 Charity Caucus
Goldman Sachs

Building a Nuclear Reactor in Iran

International Atomic Energy Agency’s Department of Technical Cooperation (TC), whose mission is to help nations develop “peaceful” applications of nuclear technology. About 25 percent of the TC’s $80-million annual budget is provided by the U.S. State Department.

From 1997 through 2007, GAO said in a March 31 report, TC provided $55 million in aid to four nations—Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba—that State lists as sponsors of terror.

Your Tax Dollars at Work: Citi Buys New Corporate Jet (Updated: Defends Purchase)

Your Tax Dollars at Work: iPhones for Congress

Your Tax Dollars at Work: $42 Million Just to Mail Out Tax Rebate Reminder Letters

http://www.usataxdollars.com/

 

[celtic_crippler]

It's like deja-vu all over again...

I could swear we did the taxation without representation dance already in our history...

Guess we didn't learn from that, eh? Our leadership doesn't seem to know anything about history...and they apparently don't watch BSG either. lol

...or maybe they do? Come to think of it...isn't the administration attempting some sort of gun ban as they find new ways to tax us to death? Hmmmm....

 

[Gordon Nore]

Your Tax Dollars at Work: iPhones for Congress

There's going to be iPhones sitting in desk drawers. I have trouble picturing some of the grey beards of Congress even knowing what they are, let alone recognizing the responsibility associated with carrying a device that can hold private information. It's so silly. If a congress member wants a phone, he or she can take it out of their administrative budget.

 

[crushing]

There's going to be iPhones sitting in desk drawers. I have trouble picturing some of the grey beards of Congress even knowing what they are, let alone recognizing the responsibility associated with carrying a device that can hold private information. It's so silly. If a congress member wants a phone, he or she can take it out of their administrative budget.

Let them know they can use the series of tubes called the Interwebs with the iPhone and they will be all over it!

 

[Empty Hands]

I could swear we did the taxation without representation dance already in our history...

You do have representation. If you don't like the job they are doing, give the job to someone else. Repeat as necessary.

 

[Sukerkin]

It doesn't, but, he got to call republicans names.

And the prize for bare faced cheek goes to ... I really don't know how you have the nerve to say something like that; at least not without an ironic smiley.

 

[Thesemindz]

If you want your overall taxation load to come down, then, again, I ask: what do you want the government to stop doing?

Everything.


-Rob

 

[JDenver]

I couldn't resist.

With great respect, I'll tell you that, as a Canadian, I'm finding your discussion on taxes very entertaining.

 

[Thesemindz]

I couldn't resist.

With great respect, I'll tell you that, as a Canadian, I'm finding your discussion on taxes very entertaining.

With great respect, I'll tell you that, as an American, I'm finding your "country" very entertaining.

I couldn't resist.


-Rob

 

[JDenver]

You can take what I say in many ways. The most evident is that we are taxed far more heavily than Americans are, so I like reading about tax issues from an American perspective.

So, the tone of your reply is very odd to me.

 

[Thesemindz]

You can take what I say in many ways. The most evident is that we are taxed far more heavily than Americans are, so I like reading about tax issues from an American perspective.

So, the tone of your reply is very odd to me.

It was a joke.


-Rob

 

[jetboatdeath]

So, the tone of your reply is very odd to me.

Weird ...
Thesemindz?
how do you type with tone?

 

[Cryozombie]

Weird ...
Thesemindz?
how do you type with tone?

Its the opposite of typing with "pulse". There is a setting on the bottom of your computer.

 

[Thesemindz]

Weird ...
Thesemindz?
how do you type with tone?

Actually, it's available on all PC computers. If you hit alt and the F4 key at the same time, it will open up a window offering you the "type with tone" option.

Try it.


-Rob


(another joke)

 

[jetboatdeath]

Nice try i used to tell customers that little "trick" LOL

 

[Gordon Nore]

Actually, it's available on all PC computers. If you hit alt and the F4 key at the same time, it will open up a window offering you the "type with tone" option.

Try it.


-Rob


(another joke)

You got me. I couldn't figure out why my browser kept closing. Kinda' like tricks contractors play on apprentices: Go down to the truck and grab me the left-handed wrench.

 

[Thesemindz]

You got me. I couldn't figure out why my browser kept closing. Kinda' like tricks contractors play on apprentices: Go down to the truck and grab me the left-handed wrench.

Sorry, I hope it wasn't too inconvenient.

But now you have a great trick to play on someone else!


-Rob