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Rath on 15 August 2011
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HappySqurriel said:
Rath said:
HappySqurriel said:
kowenicki said:
Warren is a bit old now and sometimes it shows...

But he is spot on here.

I earn very good money and I pay tax to reflect this... but here in the UK the people who earn many millions per year pay the same tax rate as me... how is that reasonable?

There should be a rate of tax for extremely high earners, yes it wont raise that much in the grand scheme of things but it is about sharing the pain isnt it? Capital gains tax is even worse here... it should be tiered now and the limit raised to aid the less well off investor trying to better their futures. Not that capital gains are much of a problem in the current climate!!


Why should there be a higher tax rate for those who earn more?

In the western world today after you earn enough to cover your needs the money people earn is spent to buy a variety of luxuries. Why should one individual pay higher taxes than another when they're both spending this excess money on luxuries?


So I'm taking it your ideal form of taxation would be everybody plays a certain set sum of money to the government no matter what their income is?

I prefer a modified flat tax system ... Every individual gets a certain portion of their income being tax exempt because it represents the amount a person needs to cover their basic needs, and after that all earnings are taxed at the same rate regardless of how much you make. 

To put numbers to it, suppose $25,000 was tax exempt and after that everyone pays 25% tax. If you earned $25,000 you would pay $0 in tax and have a 0% marginal tax rate; if you earned $50,000 you would pay $6,125 in taxes and have a marginal tax rate of 12.5%; and if you earned $125,000 you would pay $25,000 in tax and have a marginal tax rate of 20%.

No deductions, no loopholes, no tax credits just a simple calculation that can be done on the back of a business card in 5 minutes and adequately protects people from paying taxes on money they need to survive.


I fail to see how your view is consistent. You say you disagree with the rich paying more for the same government services but then you support a flat tax that would mean that the rich pay more overall?

 

"I know you're joking, but I suspect the massive resistance to a flat tax scheme is that it makes it much more difficult to bribe people or buy votes ...

If you notice a large portion of social programs are pushed by people who effectively say (by calling for higher taxes for people who earn a higher income) that these programs are not worth implementing if they had to pay for these programs themselves. With the other reforms I would implement it would be very difficult to sell social programs that the majority of people would not be paying for.

Essentially, if it meant that the tax rate would be increased from 25% to 30%, I doubt many progressive politicians would get much traction selling a universal day care program; but, as long as they can promise to tax the rich or pass on the debt to your great grandchildren, in the current system progressive politicans can be remarkably successful because they can promise anything without thinking of the costs."

Actually a lot of the people supporting progressive taxation and the welfare programs they can pay for are amongst the people who will be hit hardest by the progressive taxation.