Why we need a flat tax.

[akuma587]

Kasz216 said:

akuma587 said:
For all the time some of you guys spend arguing about tax rates being raised 2% or 3% you could have made hundreds of thousands of dollars by now.

And isn't it your duty as a citizen to pay taxes? I guess everyone loves to be patriotic until it comes time to actually do something tangible to support your country, like pay your taxes. Some of you act like the government anally rapes you when it does what it has the constitutional authority to do, tax you.

 

That's a silly arguement.  "The government has the ability to do it therefore it's right."

I've seen Mafoo argue that raising taxes is unconstitutional.

And I agree with you that the government should use that power responsibly.  The government should tax us as little as it can to maintain fiscal solvency and the government should spend as little as it can for the same reason.  But currently we are getting hit on both ends.  Tax revenues when adjusted for inflation, natural population growth, and GDP growth have plummeted since the Clinton years.  Spending has risen dramatically, though anyone who tells you that it is possible to run a balanced budget during a recession even if you want to while still maintaining a functional national government is fooling themselves.

The solution is pretty simple.  We need to cut spending and control the growth of spending.  We also need to raise taxes. 

High tax rates help control the economy from getting out of hand as well.  Low taxes are good during times of economic contraction, but high tax rates during good economic years prevents bubbles in the economy that result in economic crashes like the ones we just went through.  It controls the money supply and prevents overleveraging.