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Forums - Politics - Should the US adopt a VAT tax?

 

Should the US Government institute a VAT tax?

Yes, a VAT tax would get the US out of debt 13 29.55%
 
No, I don't care about t... 6 13.64%
 
I live in another country... 12 27.27%
 
I live in another country... 13 29.55%
 
Total:44
MrBubbles on 06 August 2011

theoretically it wouldnt be so bad....

...

but this is the US government we are talking about....in case you havent noticed they are crazy and have no concept of fiscal responsibility (this is not a political position as some seem to think, its about sanity and having a balanced budget).
why send even more money to a bunch of yahoos who dont properly handle the abundance of money they are entrusted with now?



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Kantor on 06 August 2011

Absolutely. It's the fairest tax possible. Instead of de-incentivising working (which you definitely don't want to do) it doesn't really de-incentivise anything. Think about it: You're buying a nice $1000 TV. Does paying an extra $50 on top of that convince you that, actually, it's too expensive? The same applies for paying an extra $2.50 on a $50 pair of shoes.



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Troll_Whisperer on 06 August 2011

I thought they already had it, but with some other name.

Like, I heard that in the USA prices don't include taxes, so if you buy a PS3 it will be $299 plus taxes.

Am I wrong?



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badgenome on 06 August 2011
Troll_Whisperer said:

Like, I heard that in the USA prices don't include taxes, so if you buy a PS3 it will be $299 plus taxes.

Am I wrong?

Right, because sales tax varies from state to state.



Troll_Whisperer on 06 August 2011
badgenome said:
Troll_Whisperer said:

Like, I heard that in the USA prices don't include taxes, so if you buy a PS3 it will be $299 plus taxes.

Am I wrong?

Right, because sales tax varies from state to state.

That's what I thought.



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kanjitech18 on 06 August 2011

Honestly, it wouldn't go anywhere at this point. Not because of its a bad idea but the current politics wouldn't pass it. Obama can't introduce something like that without taking flak. Republicans can't without egg on their face, especially those from the Tea Party movement. Adding taxes would, simply put, piss too many people off. "What?! We're getting another tax?!" Wouldn't be a good outcome, even if it does help.



Viper1 on 07 August 2011
Joelcool7 said:
Viper1 said:

We do have states with sales tax, fellas. Some as high as 10.25%. In fact, only 5 out of the 50 don't. Plus we tend to have county and city sales taxes on top of that.


State taxes is not a VAT tax. We here in Canada have always had provincial taxes sometimes up to 10% in the past as well. The VAT is on top of that its a country federal tax which funds the federal Government. Each State having a tax doesn't mean that a VAT tax isn't needed. Now I understand in area's with 10% state tax you'd be reluctant to have another tax added onto that. However desperate times call for desperate measures the US Gov is drowning in debt and such a tax could save your country.

Everyone hates taxes, but nobody can deny that the GST in Canada and VAT taxes in other countries has helped those countries through this recession where the US has been hit really bad. Just look at how well Canada did or many of the other VAT tax countries, sure some didn't fair that well but the tax has helped many of our countries immensley.

The US could really use a federal VAT tax!

I understand the difference, just keep in mind that if no states had state sales taxes, those states would push to get that lost revenue from the federal government which means the regular taxes would pay for it instead.  Therefore, it works like VAT, only indirectly and at the state level.

As for desperate times requiring desperate measures, why tax instead of cut?   Taxation is already crazy, spending is even crazier.  Taxing just to give them more money to spend with?  That batshit nucking futty.  The government would never use a tax to pay down the debt...they'd just spend it.



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Joelcool7 on 07 August 2011
Viper1 said:
Joelcool7 said:
Viper1 said:

We do have states with sales tax, fellas. Some as high as 10.25%. In fact, only 5 out of the 50 don't. Plus we tend to have county and city sales taxes on top of that.


State taxes is not a VAT tax. We here in Canada have always had provincial taxes sometimes up to 10% in the past as well. The VAT is on top of that its a country federal tax which funds the federal Government. Each State having a tax doesn't mean that a VAT tax isn't needed. Now I understand in area's with 10% state tax you'd be reluctant to have another tax added onto that. However desperate times call for desperate measures the US Gov is drowning in debt and such a tax could save your country.

Everyone hates taxes, but nobody can deny that the GST in Canada and VAT taxes in other countries has helped those countries through this recession where the US has been hit really bad. Just look at how well Canada did or many of the other VAT tax countries, sure some didn't fair that well but the tax has helped many of our countries immensley.

The US could really use a federal VAT tax!

I understand the difference, just keep in mind that if no states had state sales taxes, those states would push to get that lost revenue from the federal government which means the regular taxes would pay for it instead.  Therefore, it works like VAT, only indirectly and at the state level.

As for desperate times requiring desperate measures, why tax instead of cut?   Taxation is already crazy, spending is even crazier.  Taxing just to give them more money to spend with?  That batshit nucking futty.  The government would never use a tax to pay down the debt...they'd just spend it.


I wonder what the American people would say if suddenly public transit, education and other services were cut to help pay off the debt. The US Government is too worried about being re-elected to do anything whether it be add taxes or cut existing services. nearly 15-trillion dollars is far to much for the US to raise by just cutting back. The country is growing and the amount of people dependant on the services is growing.

Also while I guess some states may have high taxes others don't. The US Gov needs to bring in money and they need to do so fast. They can't just continue going into debt. Desperate measures are needed to ensure the US doesn't go down. A little tax like 5% wouldn't kill America and it would probably be prefered by American's rather then cutting back spending by 5-trillion dollars or more.

In the end I doubt American's will take either cuts nor tax raises without whining and complaining. But theirs a reason us VAT countries aren't suffering as bad as America. As for the American Government blowing all of its money without paying off taxes, you may be right but I have a feeling that the rest of the world is going to run out of patience and the US will have no choice but to pay back its debt!



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Final-Fan on 07 August 2011
Kasz216 said:

I would replace the corporate tax with a corporate vat. That way we tax all companies who do business here, rather then just the ones who are nice enough to locate here and create jobs here.

I hadn't thought of it that way.  At a glance, it does seem like handling corporate taxes by VAT is a good idea.  But for personal taxes, I think income taxes are fine -- except, of course, that the tax code needs simplifying, but that's a different topic.

[edit:  but wait, how would that even work?  A VAT is a sales tax.]



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Viper1 on 07 August 2011
Joelcool7 said:
Viper1 said:

I understand the difference, just keep in mind that if no states had state sales taxes, those states would push to get that lost revenue from the federal government which means the regular taxes would pay for it instead.  Therefore, it works like VAT, only indirectly and at the state level.

As for desperate times requiring desperate measures, why tax instead of cut?   Taxation is already crazy, spending is even crazier.  Taxing just to give them more money to spend with?  That batshit nucking futty.  The government would never use a tax to pay down the debt...they'd just spend it.


I wonder what the American people would say if suddenly public transit, education and other services were cut to help pay off the debt. The US Government is too worried about being re-elected to do anything whether it be add taxes or cut existing services. nearly 15-trillion dollars is far to much for the US to raise by just cutting back. The country is growing and the amount of people dependant on the services is growing.

Also while I guess some states may have high taxes others don't. The US Gov needs to bring in money and they need to do so fast. They can't just continue going into debt. Desperate measures are needed to ensure the US doesn't go down. A little tax like 5% wouldn't kill America and it would probably be prefered by American's rather then cutting back spending by 5-trillion dollars or more.

In the end I doubt American's will take either cuts nor tax raises without whining and complaining. But theirs a reason us VAT countries aren't suffering as bad as America. As for the American Government blowing all of its money without paying off taxes, you may be right but I have a feeling that the rest of the world is going to run out of patience and the US will have no choice but to pay back its debt!

Joe, here's the plan.  Freeze all current spending levels.   Cut 1% off the top of everything every year for 5 years.  The budget is now balanced and we start paying down the debt.

No increase in taxes, and I'm certain people would prefer a 1% reduction in spending over 5% increase in taxes.

 

VAT coutnries aren't suffering as bad as America?  Are you sure of that?   Go look at a debt to GDP chart.  Ireland, Belgium, Iceland, Italy and Greece all have a higher debt to GDP than the US.  Following right on the heels of the US are: France, Portugal, Canada and the UK.



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