What was missing was the fact that taxes are going to have to increase in a rather extreme manner over the years to come.... This is an automatic red flag as to how the US positions itself with regards to building a new manufacturing base.... a house built on stone.... Just how can the US be competitive with high tax rates ? So the question becomes .... In which case would the US be able to deliver more competitively priced products....and more of them...? 1) A progressive structure resembling the Pre-Reagan years... 0 to 70%+ ???????? Combined with the highest corporate taxes in the world ? or 2) A 10% consumption tax only...... Combined with the lowest corporate taxes in the world....????? ...................................................................................... So this highlights the case whereby one believes that government by being ever more pervasive in terms of its tax take.....and its presumption that it can be more capitalistic in total....by enforcing a 0 to 70% progressive rate..... Can be more formidable.... Or would a 0% corporate tax rate .....combined with a 10% consumption tax....be able to deliver capitalism in a more formidable manner....?????? A house built on stone.....????? Or just another house built on a belief in mirages of stone ?????
If it positively absolutely MUST be destroyed overnight, leave it to the United States Federal Government.
Was Bill Gates more productive before or after he became rich? Did the income tax rate have any influence on Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla or Jonas Salk? Maybe if you removed the profits from Wall Street, there would be less "gambling" of financial instruments.
So you keep yourself in poverty by sending in most of your earnings every year, and you never check the "Personal Deduction" box on your tax return. Right?
Well said Libertad, Just because some people invented some things with no financial motivation, does not mean that is how the majority of people work. I want socialism so I can sit at home and not try anymore - and hit up some booze.
It does not matter what people like Gates do after they succeed, dumbass; it is the profit motive that first inspires them to succeed that is important. Yes, some people will succeed in their work regardless of profit (the Soviets first put a man in space, for instance), but the vast majority will not exert the effort necessary for advancement without the possibility of personal enrichment. This has been demonstrated time and time again from East Germany to Red China. As for your other ridiculous examples, there was no income tax for most of the careers of Edison and Tesla. If there was, it is certainly possible we would all still be reading by candle light.
The most important point is that it will be impossible to increase exports when half of the cost of the products are due to taxes.... Or is it the goal to make the dollar decline to the extent that this is not an issue....???? ie....US needs to be able to sell vehicles to China....not the other way around....