you are misssing the point. But I agree. My point is tax revenue should be blind (other than there is no point in taxing the poor so they should be exempt.) Most of the most benign exemptions are the most evil. For instance charitable contributions and mortgage interest. Like I said, Once you collect it you can engineer society any way you want. But when it comes to collecting it from me, just treat me fairly like any other tax paying citizen gets treated. And that means treating all sources of profit, whether it is selling your labor or selling your yacht equally with no exemptions (other than the exemption of being too poor to make it worth our while to collect taxes from you, since we will just being giving it right back (with a government cut of course.))
what separates me from all the other right wing nut cases on this site is, I believe the purpose of a healthy thriving economy is to take care of the poor. The poor are not a bottomless pit. They are a very small segment of our society. It should be an easy and efficient deal to make sure they have food, clothing and shelter. If the economy is thriving enough to take care of the poor, there will be plenty left over for the rich to fight over. And all this can be done with a reasonable tax code. Since for most of us right wingers who bitch, April 15th is our only real interaction with the dreaded federal government.
That means that every merchant should pay sale taxes which they do not. Why is the merchandise market taxed differently than capital markets?
I am very liberal. I could go for 50% poor 50% rich...no middle class. But I could compromise. Top 10%=rich. Bottom 10%=poor....80% middle class. The point is, you choose. It has nothing to do with quality of life. Many people in the bottom 10% can live quite well because they have made intelligent decisions. And many people in the top 10% live on the verge of bankruptcy everyday because they are a little over committed. What do you want the "middle class" to be? You just declare it. For instance, "From now on, Everybody who is above the 10% who are poor and below the 10% who are rich are now officially declared "Middle Class". And if you are middle class and want to know what your govenment can do for you listen to your local democrat candidate. Or, if you are libertarian and middle class ask your local libertarian candidate how much it is going to cost to take care of the poor.
I believe the only fair tax is an income tax, with a very broad definition of income. Why should a merchant be treated any differently than an employee?
it's defined by income. If you make more than most you are rich. If you make less than most you are poor. Pretty simple. Has nothing to do with quality of life. Some poor live better than the rich. It's just math to decide how much to tax, and how to keep the number of poor constant. Like no more than 10% of the population. It is really quite simple, and has nothing to do with food stamp recipients buying crab legs. It's all math.
so when it comes to paying the bills, I make no distinction. You don't get a break because you are solar and I am fossil. We all pay the same to keep the poor at no more than 10% of total population.