Please note most of (" Brian A. MacNeish") post’s are his own and many have nothing to do with facts or real life .
Many Canadians do not think the way he does and I and many others on this forum do not agree with much of what he posts.
Remember this is an open forum take some of what you read with a heavy dose of salt .
Maybe, most of your friends…the ones that avoid the poor and have no conscience!!
Does what I say from true experiences bother you that much, Roy? Get out of your cocoon!!
How do you see the poor, Roy? When have you last worked with or around poor people?
Why don’t you take this topic up with Warren Buffet…he believes the rich are not paying enough taxes and is giving his $$$$$ to charities!!
So you must have bought your PV solar system them??
Did you get the $50, 60, 70 or 80 thousand system? The bigger the better…isn’t that how it goes?
The truth is in the middle …between what Warren Buffet says…
and Nick Gromicko…
If you want to be rich you have to do what rich people do to not only make money but to keep it (from the government, lawsuits, etc.). They do it through effectively using Trusts, corporations and partnerships. They don’t keep their money in the bank, drawing a paltry 1 or 2% like many people do thinking they are going to one day have enough to lay on the beach and live the good life. They teach their children how to do it as well.
Lots of folks want to blame the rich for all the ills of the world and I am sure there is “some” validity to some of it but they are simply using the laws already there and have been right there under our noses for decades or longer whereas the average citizens can’t tell you how much money they got in their wallets let alone their savings or investments. They get a couple hundred dollars back from IRS and think they are doing great, go out and piss it away immediately. I personally know people who will pay off a credit card then go out and “celebrate” it by putting more debt on their credit cards. Americans have become financial idiots and it shows in our Government best. Borrowing money to spend your way out of debt is a Fool’s errand and only an imbecile would believe that would work, I don’t care which Party you belong to. The career politicians have put us in this predicament and are unwilling to do what needs to be done to correct it.
If you want to know how the really rich do it, find this book and read it, then do what it says to do. I found mine on Amazon for a couple dollar used.
Creating Your Financial Fortress by Jay W. Mitton
I wish…
I still think the fair tax makes the most sense. Throw out all other taxes. Pay a fixed percentage on everything you purchase and possibly even services. If you’re not buying anything, you’re not paying. That way if you purchase a lot, you’re paying in, if you’re saving, you’re not paying anything. At some point all the money gets spent. Closes any possible loops holes and we don’t lose all the money that the IRS costs us each year.
Why not go this route? Am I missing something?
Many countries in the world have a consumer tax.
In Canada it is called a good and service tax ( GST ) 13% on most none food purchases and Labour Home inspection as an example is $400;00 for inspection +$52;00.
The UK call it a Vatax value added Tax .
We have been told the USA soon could do the same thing
I think a flat tax would be a good idea.
I have no idea though, if it would raise enough revenue to operate the government at even close to the current level. Not that the guvmint SHOULD be operating at the inflated levels they are now at.
But I digress…
**10 Pros and Cons for a Fair Tax
**The idea behind the fair tax is to eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. There are some strong opinions on both sides of the fair tax issue so I thought I’d share a few of the pros and cons. It is not a flat tax, though I think that would be more fair than our current system as well.
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Pro: The fair tax is much easier to understand than the current convoluted tax income tax system. When an entire industry (tax accountants) has been created to understand paying taxes, there is a problem. The picture below is Representative John Linder holding the 132 page Fair Tax Act in contrast to over 60,000 pages of U.S. tax code.
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Con: That industry would be completely destroyed, and many jobs in the IRS would be lost. There would still be jobs to work on taking in the money, but many less than what is needed currently.
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Pro: Transparency. Transparency in government is always a good thing. With over 60,000 pages in the current tax code, most people have no idea what is in it. What happens is the people who have more money pay accountants to find loop holes that get them out of paying taxes. Poorer people can’t afford the accountant so they just end up paying the base rate. With the fair tax it is easy to see that everyone pays the same rate on the things they buy.
http://geekpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/taxcode.jpg4. Con: The sales tax would have to be pretty high to stay revenue neutral, i.e. bring in the same revenue for government as the current system. The bill that is currently in Congress is at 30% and independent groups have said the number is probably closer to 34%. This is a pretty large amount of money added to each thing we buy. This is especially true when you think of big ticket items. A $20,000 car suddenly cost $26,000. For somebody who has been saving under the current tax code, this would be a hard hit. -
Pro: With a national sales tax, there would no longer be a tax on investments. This would obviously be really great for the stock market. There would be a lot of money that would come in from the sidelines and help turn the markets around. It would also encourage venture capital to invest in entrepreneurs to help fuel the American dream. Many jobs could be created with this new influx of capital.
6: Con: Along the same lines as number 4, the large sales tax would discourage people from buying things. Our economy is very heavily dependent on consumers, and a large sales tax would probably make some people spend less on things, save more, and pay off debt. Now, personally I would take almost all of that as a pro. In the long term it would be a benefit, with more people out of debt they could really stimulate the economy as opposed to spending money they don’t have which got us into the current mess. However, in the short term reducing consumer spending could have some impact, and this is an argument anyone against the fair tax will probably give.
7: Pro: The fair tax would hopefully increase productivity in our country. Currently, we have an income tax that gets progressively more burdensome the more money you make. This reduces the incentive to work harder and be productive the higher you move up the ladder. Taxing consumption makes a lot more sense than taxing production.
8: Con: The fair tax increases entitlements. From Wikipedia:
Under the FairTax, family households of lawful U.S. residents would receive a “Family Consumption Allowance” (FCA) based on family size (regardless of income) that is equal to the estimated total FairTax paid on poverty level spending according to the poverty guidelines published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services … Opponents of the plan criticize this tax rebate due to its costs. Economists at the Beacon Hill Institute estimated the overall rebate cost to be $489 billion (assuming 100 percent participation). In addition, economist Bruce Bartlett has argued that the rebate would create a large opportunity for fraud, treats children disparately, and would constitute a welfare payment regardless of need. -
Pro: A huge pro of the fair tax is it would significantly broaden the tax base. Illegal activity (such as selling drugs) that creates large amounts of income would now get taxed. Under the current system we just get lots of rich drug dealers. Under this system they now get taxed every time they buy something. Along the same lines, this would also tax illegal immigrants. This would go a long way towards solving the illegal immigration problem.
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Con: Opponents of the fair tax claim it could create an underground economy of people trying to evade taxes. Under a sales tax, intermediate goods that are a part of production would not be taxed. This creates potential for businesses to claim something is an intermediate good when really it is the end product that should be taxed. This would however constitute evasion and the bookkeeping that would be mandated for businesses should prevent most of this.
Overall I think the pros significantly outweigh the cons for the fair tax. I think the idea of taxing consumption instead of production makes a lot of sense, and taxing illegal activities and illegal immigrants sounds great to me. However, nothing here can solve the real problem that we have. The thing that needs changed is the out of control spending habits of our government. Until that is curbed, how we pay taxes isn’t the big issue.
Yes, it would remove the reason for the leftist’s constant bleating about not taxing the rich enough.
Leftist abhor a level or fair tax system as they have no interest in fairness.
They desire a political wedge issue to buy votes with and attacking “the rich”( a sliding scale depending on their need for votes) while claiming to help the poor is just their ticket to remain in power over all of us.
IMHO of course.
Yeah, there’s always pros & cons to everything. I read there’s over 300 billion dollars that don’t get collected each year. Not having an IRS can’t be that bad! That downside would be the accountants losing work. I could see the government imposing lots of ‘fees’ though…
Roy, you still have an income tax too though ? Fair tax replaces all other taxes. There is just one tax.
Yes We still have an Income tax .
I have been told if the underground Group paid their proper taxes we the legitimate tax payer would pay a lot less.
I have also been told that Italy and Greece would not be in the problem they are now if the underground paid taxes
If a country chooses to tax at ridiculous rates people will make a game out of tax avoidance schemes.
In the U.S. Federal taxes beyond 20% of GDP just never show up in the coffers of the Fed. despite wildly varying tax rates.
No idea on how good or bad their system is .
All I know is these countries seem to continually to be in turmoil.
Canada seems to have managed to come out of these last few years very well .
You’ll have to wait until you’ve reached the “privileged” top 1% bracket…just a few more years. :mrgreen:
Canada is energy rich, benefits from it’s relationship and proximity to the U.S. and does not have to expend a large percentage of their budget on defending the rest of the world.
(List of countries with highest military expenditures - Wikipedia)
Canada is the largest supplier of Oil to USA Canada is always there for the USA when needed .
We need each other .
Canada has about 10% of the population the USA has and Canada Has a larger country to take care of with a lot less population
You unfortunately seem to continually find fault with Both Countries
That’s the trick with the fair tax. You pay when you purchase so people have a much harder time getting around the system.
Doh, I have to wait! :shock: :eek: