Comment on 'Go woke, go broke'
wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 11 months agoFirst off, this only makes any kind of sense if you take the view that people are poor because of bad choices,
due to the length, I am just taking snippets. I believe you should have some skin in the game to vote. When people can vote for more, but don’t have to pay for it. It dooms the system. We have a serious issue with overspending in this country. You will hear the left scream, we need to tax people more. Even if we took all the wealth (Not income) from the top people in America, that wouldn’t even cover a year of expenditures. That is how bad our spending problem is. As such, if someone can’t manage to own property or whatever criteria we use, they shouldn’t be deciding how to set direction for the country. That is why we are spending more than we bring in each year as it is.
It’s a complicated question; as that Cato article also points out by noting that their findings are in direct opposition to findings from other organisations,
It is a very complicated issue. As Cato points out it’s not a fair comparison since they are trying to mimic the same numbers which isn’t the same lifetstyle. A 243K home in Texas may be reasonable but that won’t even buy you a home in the majority of California.
I would say the “effective” tax rate is higher in Texas and other red states, for the poor
That would be hard to judge. The poor pay fewer taxes in general but they do pay indirectly property taxes if they are renting. The poor can get food stamps to help with food, reduce electricity or gas depending on the state, and housing vouchers to help with housing. Now I would like to see many of those removed and replaced with a true living wage as I don’t think people should depend on the government. I think most people would rather earn their living than be given a handout.
I support a wealth tax (on people Wealth taxes can only be done by states but they will only drive the wealthy away. On a federal level, they cannot be implemented because the Constitution does not allow it. I assume you are not American since you used the phrase mate and that means something different in American English. Income taxation required a constitutional amendment to implement and it limits how we can be taxed. Remember we are a country that rebelled over a small tea tax. I am against any sort of wealth tax as now we are taxing people on income that is not earned and then taxed again when it is realized. It is just a really bad idea and would do more harm than good. There are better ways to capture the money through legal taxation such as increasing the capital gains, preventing the billionaire loans, or increasing estate taxes. Let’s take Elon Musk as an example, on paper he is worth billions, but he is cash-poor. His annual salary is less than mine. The only way he can get income is by selling his stocks which is why he lives off loans. If we pretend that was real cash and tax him, when his stock drops, are we going to refund him money the next year? That is why wealth taxes fall apart quickly since the rules would be unfair and it would discourage investment.
And if you don’t think I’m right about the importance of the infrastructure In infrastructure is paid for my fuel taxes, other fees, and use fees. We have let it decline and that is a shame.
If you vote Republican, it doesn’t matter how you feel about reproductive care personally. “Her body, her choice” is one of those “blue ideas” you hold in such disdain.
I lean more towards Haley as she is the only one who wants to compromise on abortion. I will admit that is where I disagree with the Republican stance since that is the religious right pushing the anti-abortion agenda.
I think we might actually even agree on taxes, if we sat down and hashed it out.
I would like to see a flat tax. Maybe with a slight progressive take on it. That would be ‘fair’ but would also tax the high income earners more. Our current system is overly complex and favors those who can higher accountants and lawyers to do their taxes. It should be much simpler and we would capture more revenue.
I also would like to see better regulations around PE, VC, and hedge funds. The tax system should reward those who create good paying jobs, and punish those who destroy value. Companies that lay people off should be penalized and to provide stability to the economy.
if you vote Democrat, it doesn’t matter how you personally feel about (for example) war crimes or genocide being committed in Gaza.
I am glad Israel is finally crushing Hamas since the Palestinians have waged genocide on the Israelis for years. You would think the world would have learned after the holocaust to stop trying to kill the Jews, but they haven’t. I am not Jewish but I respect their right to self-defense. Israel will finally be able to stop the war crimes against them and that is a good thing. The region needs stability.
Wintermute in Neuromancer
I have to say Kudos to you, most people do not get the reference or don’t get the deeper context.
voracitude@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah, I get wordy in the pursuit of accuracy. Also, it is a fairly complex and broad discussion we’re having, which doesn’t help. Also also, I’m not not American, but as with most things (foreshadowing!) it’s not that simple ;p
What do you call living in the country and paying taxes? Being affected by policy and law is skin in the game.
I can agree there are other ways than a wealth tax, and definitely agree that a living wage is better. I don’t think flat taxes work unless income and costs are also flat, but things just aren’t that simple in reality. Reading your thoughts on eliminating the income tax, you’re basically agreeing with “No taxation without representation” but from the other direction than usual. “Yes, you shouldn’t be taxed, and also you get no representation”. I disagree, of course; you’re advocating for the creation of a silent underclass and I value equality far too much for that. It’s just not good enough in practise because people with power tend to develop a penchant for persecution, and nobody should be voiceless as long as that’s a fact.
I think you’re right, closing loopholes (on companies offshoring profits to tax havens, as much or more than on very high earning individuals) would fix a lot of the cash flow issues the country faces, and a true living wage would obviate the need for a lot of social safety nets. Though I don’t think they should be removed entirely; the pandemic proved we need reserves. But it won’t cost near as much with fewer people needing them thanks to a living wage.
Essentially we can’t take care of each other when we can barely afford to take care of ourselves, and having the government do it leads to things like Deep Space 9’s Bell Riots. I’ve often said I see San Francisco going exactly that way if they can’t figure out homelessness (LA is gonna be more like “Escape From LA”, probably).
Wanna hear something funny? I had a whole section comparing the demographics of California and Texas that I deleted before posting, saying exactly what you did (but with citations), because it was already a novella.
I think you’ll like this: I’ve long been a proponent of creating a business arm of the government to monetise public research and infrastructure, fund public programmes, and/or rebate a portion to the American taxpayer every year. I think Australia had exactly the right idea with the CSIRO, and Norway with their “public pension” fund investing their oil profits. Alongside closing tax loopholes, it very nicely resolves a lot of cash flow questions like the ones you’re raising, for funding a lot of the social policy I propose.
I am fine with crushing Hamas, they’ve committed atrocities and war crimes too; they have outright said they’ll never stop so they must be stopped. The problem is that Palestinians are not Hamas, and the Israeli government doesn’t give a shit. They want the land and they will commit genocide to get it, Netanyahu said as much, and Biden is spending my tax dollars to help fund it. Neither government is right, and the people are suffering, and it’s terrible. I agree the region needs stability, stability means less suffering, but it’s too bloody messy. I firmly believe we should stay the fuck out of the Middle East.
wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I didn’t mean that as a slight but some things are cultural and unless you are from the culture, it’s hard to understand the nuance. Anti-taxation is a very American topic. Now I do support taxation but it has become excessive for many people. Our tax rate is quickly surpassing our peers, but we are not getting what our peers get for their tax dollars. The money is just being pissed away and that is not a good use of anyone’s money.
A majority are not paying taxes.
Let’s look at a common lilberal myth that the rich do not pay their fair share.
taxfoundation.org/…/federal-income-tax-data-2021/
As you will see, we have a progressive tax system where the rich are paying more than their fair share. That goes back to the spending problem I mentioned. As a conservative, I want to simplify the system and reduce the spending. I only want the government involved when it makes sense. Our government is highly inefficient and the only thing it is very good at is kicking ass. If you need a country blown up, America is number #1 at doing it.
Just living here doesn’t make you good with logic or math. Over 50% of Americans don’t pay taxes. They have no skin in the game. They just want more free money. It isn’t free. That money comes from someone else.
cnbc.com/…/57percent-of-us-households-paid-no-fed….
Flat tax is an income tax. In most proposals, deductions are eliminated, and you just pay a percentage of your income. It screws the rich as they use many deductions and the poor do not use any deductions. So I am not advocating the elimination of the tax, we need to run a country, but simplifying the system.
If we had a true living wage, we could simplify the system. Currently, only TANF is considered welfare. The other 12-13 programs are colloquially known as welfare but are not. We could eliminate all the other programs and just use TANF for emergencies but increase the payout to TANF to be life-changing.
I have always thought we need a fund to help people start a business. Liberals think if you open a business there is no risk and money just flows in. It isn’t that simple. I would like to make it easier and less risky for low income people to start a company.
Many years ago there was a band called Stormtroopers of Death with a song called Fuck the Middle east. The song came out in 1985. It is now 2024 and the song still rings true.